ISU’s Giving Tuesday driven further by social media

Posted on November 28, 2017
Gifts and donations are measured by a map from red being the most donations, pink giving some donations, and grey giving no donations. (Photo courtesy of Sean Copeland/WJBC)

 

By Sean Copeland

Illinois State University has now participated in Giving Tuesday, the national pseudo holiday which follows black friday and cyber monday, for the last four years.

The event is supposed to inspire people to donate money or gifts, in this case to ISU to be put towards scholarships and academic programs.

Executive Director of Annual Giving, Lora Wey said every year supporters continue to give more, it reinforces how much of an impact these donations really make within the community.

“More and more people are participating and getting excited about this day. Certainly technology plays a big part in the success of this day because its social media driven. If you can make a giving website quick, easy, and informative; it certainly helps to increase gifts,” said Wey.

The benefits of social media Wey adds, is the accessibility it provides especially for young people to get involved in the drive.

Updates will be given throughout the day on Illinois State’s website in addition to its social media pages on facebook and Twitter, and the drive will close at midnight November 28th.

Last year’s total count was over half a million dollars in donations and gifts.

Sean Copeland can be reached at [email protected].

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