Giving Tuesday

Giving Tuesday!!

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Today, December 3rd, is Giving Tuesday, a chance to support organizations around the world working with those in need. The needs seem greater than ever, and whether you are supporting education, healthcare, community organizations, peace efforts, or the environment, this Tuesday after Thanksgiving is a great day to find your generosity.  Over the years, thousands of alumni, parents, students, and friends have chosen to support their alma mater on this day. By giving to Wesleyan, donors have added millions of dollars to our  Financial Aid resources. This is the power of collective action. By joining others to help those with need, we all grow stronger.

Giving Tuesday is a powerful reminder of what we can achieve through collective generosity. Annually, Wesleyan alumni, parents, students, and friends make an incredible impact on a range of priorities at Wesleyan, from financial aid and first-generation student support to student life and athletic programs. 

Whether you choose to focus your generosity on Giving Tuesday, at calendar year-end, or on Wesleyan Giving Day this upcoming February during Engagement Month, I hope you will give to your favorite and most pressing causes this year, and I hope that Wesleyan will be among them. 

Please Support #GivingTuesday at Wesleyan!

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Tomorrow, November 29, is Giving Tuesday, a chance to support organizations around the world doing important work to alleviate suffering and create opportunity. This is Wesleyan’s ninth year of participating in #GivingTuesday. Over the years, thousands of alumni, parents, students, and friends have chosen to support their alma mater on this day. By giving to Wesleyan, donors have together unlocked millions of dollars in matching funds for Financial Aid. This is the power of collective action. By joining others to help those with need, we all grow stronger.

In this year’s challenge, Wesleyan Chair of the Board John Frank ’78, P’12 and Diann Kim P’12 will make a $100,000 gift when we reach 1,000 donors. WE CAN DO IT TOGETHER!

The collective action of alumni to support students has enormous power. Won’t you join us by using this link?

It’s Almost #GivingTuesday

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There is still turkey in my fridge, even though our guests are long gone. Mathilde seems to like the broth on her dog food, and I’ll be enjoying turkey soup for quite some time. I don’t do much shopping online, but I can’t avoid all the Black Friday and Cyber Monday ads. Tomorrow brings a different kind of post-Thanksgiving online transaction: Giving Tuesday.

There are so many ways to express gratitude, and I find a powerful one to be showing generosity toward organizations and people one cares about. A few years ago, my friend Henry Timms (now the president of Lincoln Center in New York) came up with the idea of a “giving day” to follow Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And so #GivingTuesday was born. It’s a simple idea. Just find a way for your family, your community, your company or your organization to act philanthropically. Then tell everyone you can about how you are giving. Generosity is contagious! Be a part of a national celebration of our great tradition of philanthropy.

#GivingTuesday has become internationally recognized as a time to show one’s support for the values and missions one cares about. People all over the world use the occasion to support their favorite causes. This is Wesleyan’s sixth year participating. During that time, thousands of Wesleyan alumni, parents, students and friends have chosen to make donations. Together, we have unlocked millions of dollars in matching funds for financial aid.

Every gift made through Tuesday, December 3, 2019 will be matched with a dollar-for-dollar contribution to Financial Aid, up to $100,000, thanks to the generosity of Stuart Ellman ’88 and Susan Berger Ellman ’90.

I hope you will be giving to your favorite causes tomorrow, and I am especially hopeful that Wesleyan will be among them. Don’t forget about WESUFM, and other university initiatives. There are many worthy causes out there, and this university is very grateful for any and all gifts.

#GivingTuesday: With You, More is Possible

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Now that we have expressed thanks, and, in many cases, shopped until we dropped, it’s time again to focus on Giving!  This is Wesleyan’s fourth year participating in #GivingTuesday. Thousands of Wesleyan alumni, parents, students and friends have chosen to make their donations on Giving Tuesday – and together, we have unlocked millions of dollars in matching funds for financial aid.

This year’s challenge – When 3,500 members of the Wesleyan community make gifts by Giving Tuesday, November 28, trustee Marc Casper ’90 will donate $300K to financial aid to support our students.

Giving is easy! Just visit the homepage for #GivingTuesday: www.wesleyan.edu/givingtuesday

Thanks in advance for making an impact by adding resources to financial aid!

 

Support Financial Aid on Giving Tuesday

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Holidays focus our attention. We may be grateful during various times of the year, but on Thanksgiving many of us really focus on what we are thankful for. At our house, I ask each person at dinner to say a few words about what inspires her or his gratitude. Sure, I get my share of eye rolling — in some moods, taking a moment to say out loud what we appreciate and are grateful for feels pretty odd. But once we get in the rhythm, I think, it feels pretty good.

For a long time here in America we have liked to attach commercial transactions to our holidays. Why not have a sale, or some other special event to get folks out and shopping. Although I righteously stayed away from stores on Friday (phobia more than virtue, actually), I have to admit that I was online Monday, looking for some of those cyber deals. But today presents an opportunity for a different kind of transaction.

Today, December 2, is Giving Tuesday. The brainchild of Henry Timms, now director of the 92nd St Y, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving has become recognized as a special day to act philanthropically. People all over the world are going to make donations to their favorite causes. Why not join in this campaign to take a pause from the momentum of the commercial to give a gift to a not-for-profit organization?

Here at Wesleyan, we have a special opportunity on Giving Tuesday. When the Wesleyan community reaches its goal of 1,000 gifts on Giving Tuesday, Catherine Klema P’13 and trustee David Resnick ’81, P’13 will establish a scholarship for an incoming frosh in the class of 2019. All the gifts given to financial aid on December 2 will add to this scholarship and help fund four years of Wes for this new student.

We know that lots of people aren’t able to make big gifts, but we are hopeful that many, many people will support our students with donations that suit their budgets. Please join the campaign to increase financial aid.

GIVE NOW

 

Thank you in advance for your support of Wesleyan’s students on Giving Tuesday – Because a Wesleyan Education is Our Cause.

You know why.

This is Why.

 

From Shopping to Giving — Support GIVING TUESDAY

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As we move into Thanksgiving-Hanukkah week, many of us are struggling to finish academic work (studying, writing papers, grading) while also thinking about the holidays to come. The newspapers have squeezed out even more substance to make room for advertisements, and we may also find ourselves thinking of the gifts we have to buy. We have plenty of encouragement to do so. After all, there is Black Friday, when we are to line up early to grab deals in our favorite stores. Then there is Cyber Monday — when we can feel hipper about rushing to find gadgets without having to line up with the techless.

A couple of years ago, The 92nd St Y helped launch Giving Tuesday, an effort to turn attention away from buying stuff we may not need to giving resources to those who really do need them. This is from the organization’s website:

We have a day for giving thanks. We have two for getting deals. This year help us create #GivingTuesday. A new day for giving back.  On Tuesday December 3, 2013, global charities, families, businesses, community centers, students and more will come together to create #GivingTuesday.

It’s a simple idea. Just find a way for your family, your community, your company or your organization to come together to give something more. Then tell everyone you can about how you are giving. Be a part of a national celebration of our great tradition of generosity.

Wesleyan signed on as a partner institution for Giving Tuesday this year. On that day, Tuesday, Dec. 3, the Wesleyan Fund is conducting a one-day campaign to support our alma mater through contributions. Your gift through the Fund, no matter how small, helps the university with its current needs, including financial aid. Without the $5, $10 and $25 gifts from thousands of alumni (that accumulate to more than $10 million each year), the Wesleyan experience would not be what it is.

Of course, there are many worthy causes to support on Giving Tuesday. If Wesleyan is our cause, we are likely to have many others. From supporting the fight against long-term perils like climate change and extreme poverty to dealing with acute crises like the situation in the Philippines, there are many ways to participate in Giving Tuesday. As we celebrate the holidays, let’s remember to sustain our causes with energetic generosity! Whether you support financial aid at Wesleyan or other great organizations led by Wes alums, like  SHOFCO, MINDS, RefugePoint, Brighter Dawns; tutoring in Traverse Square; or volunteering at Green Street Art Center and Macdonough School… PLEASE PARTICIPATE in Giving Tuesday.

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