As the holiday shopping season looms, the University of Victoria is gearing up to remind us the holidays are not just about getting, but giving as well.
This year Giving Tuesday falls on Dec. 3 and UVic has a lot planned to mark the occasion, with a variety of games and activities on campus. Through a life-sized game of Monopoly, a virtual treasure hunt, and giving grams, students can help direct funding to many student-centered organizations.
While the fundraising is student-centred, the impact goes beyond just UVic, “We have a very engaged community and we have a lot of people who rely on the support of the donor community,” said Jane Potentier, the associate vice-president of alumni and development who oversees giving at UVic and the activities related to Giving Tuesday.
“We’re building momentum for sure,” Potentier said. “It's grown in terms of the Giving Tuesday day and the celebration of that, a group of leaders at the university are involved in making thank-you calls, there’s a real spirit of gratitude.”
Since first participating in Giving Tuesday, UVic has generated over $870,147 to support a variety of programs across the university. These in-person activities are especially important in a year where giving is more difficult than usual.
“With the mail strike ongoing as we speak, it’s affecting a lot of organizations, so I really encourage people to look online and to give online, because the mail strike is certainly affecting a lot of people in different ways,” said Peter Elson, a professor in the School of Public Administration at the University of Victoria and an expert in non-profit (government) policy.
“A lot of particularly local organizations really rely on mail as a way to reach out to donors. If there is an organization people believe in and want to support they should reach out and connect with their on-site donations.”
This in-person aspect of giving is important to UVic’s Giving Tuesday success as well. “Obviously we tend to focus on the number, the big ‘how much did we raise?’ which is great,” said Potentier.
“In this particular initiative it’s all of the impacts, it’s the engagement. This sounds really sort of silly but it’s the smiles on the faces. We literally see people coming in, engaging in-person and spending some time together.”
Beyond that, focusing on how students and programs are benefiting is a major metric for UVic’s Giving Tuesday success. Although the initiatives are mostly student-centred the program has benefited the wider community by connecting students with organizations focused on giving.
“We see a lot of engagement with not-for-profit causes, we see alumni going into that kind of work,” said Potentier.
“It helps students to make those connections that they might not have otherwise. If they haven’t had exposure in their lives necessarily to thinking about how donations and the not-for-profit sector contribute so significantly to the well-being of the community, this gives them a sight line to that.”
