Erin Corcoran (ercorcoran@ursinus.edu)
Spring is here, bringing warmer days, the end of the semester on the horizon, and an event beloved among students: Philanthropy Week.
Philanthropy Week, led by Students Today Alumni Tomorrow (STAT), runs from Monday, March 28th to Friday, April 1st. Students should be on the lookout for email communications regarding a campus-wide scavenger hunt about philanthropy where participants can enter in a raffle to win $50 in Bear Bucks. Additionally, STAT will have a table with food and prizes in Lower Wismer on April 1 to educate students about the importance of philanthropic initiatives and giving back to Ursinus.
During this Week, The Office of Annual Giving will also launch a new initiative, “Honor Your Experience: 2022 Senior Class Gift.” Targeted to the graduating class, this gives current seniors a chance to say ‘thank you’ to an honoree who made an impact during their time at Ursinus. Whether it be a professor, friend, roommate, or parent, the Office of Annual Giving wants to celebrate the impact they made in a student’s life. In this initiative, the college encourages seniors to make a gift of any size, suggesting the amount of their class year ($20.22), so the college can continue providing such experiences to future classes.
All donations support the Annual Fund. Honorees receive their name on a wall in Lower Wismer, a letter from the student donor, and a mention in The Grizzly. Contributors will receive a senior class t-shirt and commemorative ribbon. If interested, seniors can learn more and honor their experience at www.ursinus.edu/seniorclassgift.
The goal of Philanthropy Week is not just to raise money for the annual fund, but also raise awareness about the importance of it as well. As Vivian Viera ‘17, Associate Director of Giving, explains, “The annual fund, while it may seem vague, is a foundational element for us to be able to enjoy the other more specific things here at UC. To phrase it differently, the annual fund walks so that more ‘exciting’ individual funds could run. I dare to even be so bold to say that if we interviewed random students at Ursinus and ask, ‘What is your favorite thing about UC?’, the annual fund has played some degree of a role in that experience. Without question, philanthropy has played a role more generally.”
Aside from Philanthropy Week, interested students can give back to Ursinus in three ways: through time, advocacy, and monetary gifts. Those interested in volunteering their time can join STAT to advocate and teach other students how to stay connected to the school through education and awareness of campus history, traditions, service, and philanthropy. For more information about joining STAT, contact Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement, Heidi Jensen ‘14.
Viera also emphasizes the importance of philanthropy and involvement, saying, “Whatever you truly care about, perhaps it is an organization like Ursinus College that has been a transformative experience, or something else, I implore you to learn about how you can be involved. The students here today can be the philanthropists of tomorrow. When you think about ‘What matters to me?’ and ‘What will I do?’ What role is philanthropy playing in that internal dialogue?”