As November rolls on, the third Annual Lawrence Giving Day is right around the corner. On Nov 15, 2016, students, parents, alumni and friends of Lawrence alike will get the opportunity to participate in this one-day fundraising event organized by the Annual Giving Office here on campus. Every contribution made by the vast network of Lawrentians will be entered into the university’s donation repository, The Lawrence Fund.
The Lawrence Fund has played a key role over the years in keeping the legacy of Lawrence alive throughout the hundreds of years it has been around. The money in the fund, which exists solely on the contributions of alumni, parents and friends of Lawrence, is distributed amongst many areas of the campus, including the Seeley G. Mudd Library, Björklunden, the Conservatory, the athletic department, residence hall funds and many other facets of the Lawrence experience. Most importantly, some of the Lawrence Fund goes to student scholarships.
All the money raised on Giving Day will go to the Lawrence Fund in general, but there also is the option to donate directly to a certain department that had fundamentally altered the lives of parents and students personally. The outstanding part of contributing on Giving Day is every gift will be matched by a network of donors called Game Changers.
Parents and alumni that graduated in ‘99 and earlier will have their donations matched dollar-by-dollar. This means if a parent donates $100 to the Lawrence Fund on Giving Day, the Game Changers will also donate $100 to match that gift. Alumni who graduated in ’00 or later will have all their contributions matched by a base donation of $500. So, if an alum who graduated in ’07 gives $15 to the Lawrence Fund, the Game Changers will turn that donation into $515. If these alumni or current students decide to give more than $500, their gifts will just be matched dollar-by-dollar.
Additionally, current students will have the opportunity to give to their Class Color Legacy Scholarship fund. This tradition was started by the class of 2016 to raise money to keep the Class Color tradition that comes from Milwaukee-Downer College alive at Lawrence. Current students will be able to donate directly to their class color, and money will then be used to fund students in the next class that bears the same class color. For example, the donations made by the Yellow Class of 2016 are being used to support a current freshman in the Yellow Class of 2020, and the money that this class raises throughout the four years they are here will go to supporting freshmen in the Yellow Class of 2024, and so on. This also applies to the red, green and purple classes.
The Lawrence Giving Day will have a live show streaming online during the day to showcase what makes Lawrence truly unique and a good place to give back to. The show will be 12 hours long, running from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST on Nov. 15. Students, faculty, staff, clubs and administration alike will be taking the stage throughout the stream to showcase the hundreds of programs on the Lawrence campus, and proving why giving back to the university is so important. There will also be performances from the Fiddle Club, the Dance Team, the Stratos Quartet, the Sax Ensemble, the Deep Listeners, Didj and Porky’s Groove Machine.
The Annual Giving Office is looking for full participation from students, alumni, parents and friends of the school. Most of the things that make this university excellent to so many is the generosity of the vast network of people who have been impacted by Lawrence in one way or another. Annual Giving is encouraging current students to advertise the event on their social media pages, and is even offering a “Lawrence Giving Day Social Media Kit” on their page on the Lawrence website. This page has pre-designed Facebook and Twitter profile pictures and cover photos to advertise the event. The even have pre-generated posts that you can copy and paste to your Facebook timelines and Twitter before and on Giving Day to help spread the word.
This one-day event is sure to make a huge impact on the Lawrence campus, as well as serve as a reminder to all generations that it is always a great day to be a Lawrentian.
