By Emily Glory Peters
The Giving Season is a year-end campaign to raise support as our students enter the new year. To learn more, click here.This past November, Scripps College launched “The Giving Season” which sought to inspire 300 donors to make a gift before midnight on New Year’s Eve. Thanks to the generosity of our alumnae, parents, staff, and friends, the campaign raced past that number before the deadline with a total of 403 donors giving $224,578 in support of our students.
Among the most popular giving areas were scholarship aid, academic programs, campus enhancement and preservation, mental health support, and racial justice and equity initiatives. Donors designated the greatest number of gifts to The Scripps Fund, the College’s prime mover that supports essential programming and affects every Scripps student.
“When you give at years’ end, you play a significant role in securing our footing as we enter the second half of the academic year,” says Associate Vice President for Philanthropy Enrique Gonzalez-Salgado. “Donations to The Scripps Fund will go straight to work sustaining the resources our students rely on and will reinforce our financial cushion as we tackle a constantly evolving COVID-19 environment.”
The use of a dedicated campaign website this year made goal tracking easier than ever. Donors could give through popular pay apps, such as PayPal and Apple Pay, and had the opportunity to become “advocates.”
When you publicly share why you give and encourage others to join in, you help others discover the importance of our shared mission
Some participants—including current and past staff members as well as alums—created their own mini challenges and matches, while others helped spread the word on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This social element is critical to the success of these campaigns, says Gonzalez-Salgado, adding that he hopes the Scripps community will continue to spread the word.
“A women’s college is a rarity today, and Scripps is exceptional in its ability to develop young leaders in an intimate liberal arts environment fortified by The Claremont Colleges’ consortium. When you publicly share why you give and encourage others to join in, you help others discover the importance of our shared mission,” he says. “But whether you give anonymously or as part of a challenge, every gift is powerful. We’re grateful to everyone who made The Giving Season such a success.”