The NIRSA Foundation is proud to again join forces with the #GivingTuesday movement, a global day of giving aimed at harnessing the collective power of individuals, communities, and organizations to encourage philanthropy and celebrate generosity worldwide.
Occurring this year on November 29, #GivingTuesday is held annually on the Tuesday after the United States’ Thanksgiving holiday and the widespread retail events of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. #GivingTuesday is an opportunity to kick off the holiday giving season and inspire people to collaborate in improving their local communities by giving back to the charities and causes that they support.
About the #GivingTuesday movement
The 92nd Street Y—a cultural center in New York City that has been bringing people together around its core values of community service and giving back since 1874—conceptualized #GivingTuesday as a new way of linking individuals and causes to strengthen communities and encourage giving. In 2015, the fourth year of the movement, #GivingTuesday brought together over 45,000 partners in 71 countries and helped raise nearly $117 million in online donations in the United States alone.
#GivingTuesday inspires people to take collaborative action to improve their local communities, give back in better, smarter ways to the charities and causes they celebrate, and help create a better world. #GivingTuesday leverages the power of social media to create a global moment dedicated to giving around the world.
NIRSA participation
We encourage campus recreation students and professionals to show their support for campus recreation this #GivingTuesday because as NIRSA student member Rachel Jones, Intramural Sports Graduate Assistant at Clemson University, says:
“Your donation to the NIRSA Foundation will have a tremendous impact on someone’s personal and professional development. Your contribution can give an emerging collegiate recreation professional an opportunity they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford. Attending conferences and networking with others in the field has a great influence on one’s career growth in this field. Your donation is paying it forward so that emerging professionals can continue to grow and enhance the collegiate recreation profession for years to come!”
The NIRSA Foundation’s commitment to providing members with meaningful opportunities for scholarship, research, and personal and professional development is at the core of its mission. Join your colleagues and make a donation in support of the NIRSA Foundation’s #GivingTuesday campaign. Doing so will help provide members with meaningful opportunities that will help to evolve the profession!
The NIRSA Foundation is committed to investing in the personal and professional development of members at all the different stages of their careers, and NIRSA Foundation Scholarships are available to both professional and student members. Applications for 2017 professional development opportunities are due on October 17.
In addition to providing scholarship opportunities each year, and supporting the publication of the biannual Recreational Sports Journal, the NIRSA Foundation contributes to the future of collegiate recreation by supporting research within the field. You can view the full research agenda online. The NIRSA Foundation also contributed significantly to the Institutional Data Set (IDS), NIRSA’s powerful benchmarking tool that provides members with access to current and relevant data on the facilities, programs, and services offered by NIRSA member institutions.
Armand Buzzelli, Director of Campus Recreation at Robert Morris University describes the IDS as “a comprehensive, one-stop source for benchmarking campus recreation programs. Prior to the IDS, our office relied on an inefficient process of searching multiple sources for data and then transferring it to another virtual location.” Armand goes on to add, “With the IDS our process has been streamlined and we’re more confident in the accuracy and meaning of the data that we are presenting to our institutional administration.”
A triple-double goal for the 2017 NIRSA #GivingTuesday campaign
The NIRSA Foundation first teamed up with the #GivingTuesday movement in 2014, and we were thrilled to see donations during our end-of-year giving appeal—which runs from November 15 to December 31—spike to 23 donations totaling $1,800. In 2015, the Foundation saw a 116% increase over the same period in 2014, with 54 donors contributing a total of $3,900. The NIRSA Foundation has set an ambitious goal of $7,000 for Giving Tuesday, November 29, 2016. Reaching or exceeding that goal will go a long way towards helping us reach our overall end-of-year giving appeal goal to more than triple the amount raised in 2015; we would like to reach $11,027 in donations while doubling the number of individuals who donate! Help the NIRSA Foundation reach that triple-double!
#GivingTuesday allows you to share with your NIRSA family the spirit and commitment that you feel for NIRSA every day. Details about an #unselfie campaign will be shared in the coming weeks, but begin planning for your donation today. Your contribution will strengthen the NIRSA Foundation’s ability to provide more opportunities for our members. Most importantly, all gifts matter so please support the NIRSA Foundation and join us in sharing this support on #GivingTuesday.
Those who are interested in joining NIRSA’s #GivingTuesday Campaign by making a donation to the NIRSA Foundation can visit the NIRSA website. You can also visit the NIRSA Foundation Facebook page or follow @NIRSAFoundation on Twitter.
- For more information about the NIRSA Foundation’s participation in #GivingTuesday, contact NIRSA Foundation Coordinator Breeana Myatt.
Suzi Smith, member of the NIRSA Foundation Board of Directors, is currently the Director of the Bryan Williams, M.D. Student Center at UT Southern Medical Center.
