Carleton University’s Giving Tuesday was an overwhelming success for the second consecutive year. This year, the university set a goal of $40,000, with an additional match of $20,000 from the Alumni Association and other donors. It was an ambitious target exceeding last year’s total raised of $33,000.
However, the full $40,000 was raised before noon. By 3 p.m., Carleton had raised $59,434, or $79,434 including the matching funds.
Donations came in for all types of initiatives, though most centred around the small, meaningful student and research projects in Carleton’s FutureFunder crowdfunding platform. Donors were invited to choose the project that matched their philanthropic goals, or give to other funds/initiatives that were meaningful to them.
Ultimately it was about impact – small gifts adding up to a big difference. There were 333 donations, with the largest being $3,000. Thanks to all of these donors, many of the projects online will now be fully funded, including:
- A scholarship was created for history students, named in honour of longtime staff in the History Department.
- Enough money was raised to purchase a listening device for hearing impaired students.
- Engineering students raised funds to build a Formula 1 race car for an upcoming engineering competition.
- Students will travel to Tanzania to work on water supply issues.
Social media was incredibly important to this year’s success. Approximately a third of donors came through social media, up from 20 per cent last year.
Carleton used a tool called Thunderclap to generate significant online buzz, and it ran a strategic campaign on Twitter and Facebook throughout the day.
The success in social media is evidence that Carleton’s community is engaged and collaborative. This day benefitted from sharing and peer-to-peer engagement, as proud students, donors and alumni encouraged their friends and family to participate.
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Steven Reid
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Carleton University
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613-265-6613
Steven_Reid3@Carleton.ca
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