By Emily Glory Peters
The Scripps community once again showcased its mighty capacity for generosity this November by surpassing the College’s 2022 GivingTuesday donor goals. In addition to meeting all of the campaign’s ambitious challenge matches, participants exceeded the 300-donor target, reaching 340 in total. Collectively, participants raised more than $118,000 for direct student aid.
In addition to Scripps’ annual Day of Giving event each spring, GivingTuesday is frequently the only other time the College’s alums, parents, staff, faculty, and friends crowdfund on behalf of current and future students. This year, several generous donors raised the stakes by offering $35,000 in matching challenge funds, including a special $5,000 appeal to alums of the last 15 years from new Scripps President Suzanne Keen. The challenges were fulfilled well ahead of GivingTuesday’s official date on November 29.
“When giving opportunities come around, it can be easy to assume others will fill the gap, or to feel like your gift doesn’t really make a difference unless it’s over a certain amount,” says Karina Chappell, Scripps’ director of leadership annual giving and The Scripps Fund. “Whether someone made a gift or helped spread the word about GivingTuesday as an advocate, the participation we saw this year proves how the opposite is true.”
Roughly 63 percent of this year’s donors were alums, including a new influx of younger alums making their first GivingTuesday gift to Scripps. Parent participation followed at 22 percent, with faculty and staff at 10 percent, and friends of the College and current students rounding out the total.
Top gift designations included scholarship aid, academic programs, racial justice and equity initiatives, and The Scripps Fund, the primary operational fund that helps meet the College’s most pressing needs. These “current use” gifts will be made immediately available to support students as they head into the coming spring semester.
“GivingTuesday is this special opportunity for people to accomplish something bigger than themselves, and few things are more life changing than obtaining an education,”says Chappell. “Thank you to the Scripps community for making an exceptional college experience possible for our students.”
If you did not have a chance to participate in Scripps’ GivingTuesday campaign but would like to contribute, please make a gift here.