On December 2, the NIRSA Foundation participated in #GivingTuesday—a national movement that encourages charitable giving during the holidays—for the very first time. This pioneer grassroots effort seeks to harness the collective power of charities, businesses, families, and individuals to transform how people think about, talk about, and participate in the giving season.
The NIRSA Foundation’s 2014 #GivingTuesday fundraiser yielded a vibrant and exciting response from NIRSA membership. Generous donors made a number of year-end donations to the NIRSA Foundation and members shared why they support #campusrec on Twitter—several even joining in on the #unselfie movement.
Overall, donors contributed $1,800 to the NIRSA Foundation on #GivingTuesday. 61 total tweets—including retweets—used both the #campusrec and #givingtuesday hashtags, and 25 tweets—also including retweets—used both the #campusrec and #unselfie hashtags. You can view many of these posts on the NIRSA Foundation Facebook page or at the NIRSA Foundation Twitter account.
The movement has gained a tremendous foothold in only its third year of existence, with more than 26,000 partners from around the world coming together to celebrate the unifying power of giving. PayPal actually reported an amazing 66% year-over-year increase in total payments to charities in Canada and the US on #GivingTuesday.
The hashtag #GivingTuesday was tweeted 754,000 times from December 1–3, 2014—which represents a 180% increase over usage last year—and #unselfie was tweeted 39,700 times during that same time period. This is a 183% increase over the appearance of #unselfie in 2013.
It’s not too late to support campus rec by giving to the NIRSA Foundation
Make your year-end gift today! Your support helps uphold the NIRSA Foundation’s ongoing commitment to “Supporting Today. Ensuring Tomorrow.” Contributions help fund research for the collegiate recreation profession as well as NIRSA professional and student member scholarships to NIRSA professional development events—including the Annual Conference & Recreational Sports Expo.
As the New Year fast approaches, join in the spirit of the season and give the gift of education and professional development! Gifts to the NIRSA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, may qualify as tax deductible.
Thank you for your support of the NIRSA Foundation. Enjoy the holiday season and best wishes for an outstanding New Year!
For more information on how you can support the NIRSA Foundation, please contact NIRSA Leadership Programs Assistant, Sarah Leskovec.
