Athletics Raises Record $4.13 Million on Giving Day
10/25/2018 2:10:00 PM | General
The athletics program finishes second among all Columbia University schools and surpasses its 2017 total by nearly $1 million.
NEW YORK - Columbia Athletics continues to the raise bar on Columbia Giving Day as the department raised a record $4.13 million on a total of 4,999 gifts, Campbell Family Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Peter Pilling announced Thursday.
The figure recorded over the 24-hour-event on Wednesday, October 24, 2018 surpassed the previous Columbia Athletics' fundraising Giving Day record of $3.17 million set in 2017. Columbia University as a whole raised $20.15 million.
"The Giving Day donations from the Columbia Athletics Community are inspiring," Pilling said. "We would like to thank everyone - alumni, staff and friends of our athletics program - who contributed to our success yesterday. The money raised benefits all 800 student-athletes, all 31 varsity sports programs, our facilities and resources and all of our club and intramural sports programs. Because of the outstanding support we have here at Columbia, we once again were able to surpass last year's total and set a new benchmark for the seventh consecutive year. These funds will enable our department to enhance support for our sports programs and student-athletes. It was truly an '#OnlyHere' 24 hours."
"A successful Giving Day is the result of effort, pure and simple," Senior Executive Director for Development, Columbia College, Arts & Sciences and Athletics Katie Day Benvenuto said. "I'd like to recognize the Athletics Development team for their tireless planning and effort, the coaches who put so much work into outreach, the staff who supported us and made their own gifts on Giving Day, and the student-athletes who not only gave back, but created and produced amazing creative content. And of course, a huge thanks to the alumni, parents and friends who made the effort to be generous to us on this very special day of the year."
Head coaches of Columbia's 31-varsity sports were all pleased with the results.
"Fencing looks at Giving Day in the same way as a fencing competition," head fencing coach Michael Aufrichtig said. "We go all in and give everything to perform our best. We had a goal of 600 donors and $150,000. We reached our goal as a team! Everyone preformed, from our student-athletes, coaching staff, team managers and the rest of the fencing family."
* In comparing figures with Giving Day 2017, Columbia Athletics experienced a 30.3 percent increase in dollars raised and a 7.5 percent increase in number of gifts. Last year, Columbia Athletics raised $3.17 million on 4,644 total gifts.
* This is the first Giving Day in which all 31 varsity sports raised at least $23,000.
* Columbia's Fund for Excellence raised over $70,000 from 89 gifts.
* Columbia Athletics finished in second place among University schools, finishing only behind Columbia College.
* Columbia Athletics won five hourly challenges including the Most Overall Donors during two time periods (10-11 a.m. and 3-4 p.m.), the Most Faculty/Staff donors, Random #ColumbiaGivingDay Hashtag (12-1 a.m.) and Furthest Gift from Campus (1-2 a.m.).
* In addition to its varsity sports programs, Columbia Athletics also raised money for club sports, the Bubble at Baker, the Campbell Championship Fund, Sports Medicine and various other projects.
* #ColumbiaGivingDay was trending on twitter for a period of time and Columbia Athletics leveraged a theme of #Lions360 to drive the effort.
For more information, please visit: https://givingday.columbia.edu/pages/athletics, or, to make a gift online today, go to https://athletics.givenow.columbia.edu/#.
The figure recorded over the 24-hour-event on Wednesday, October 24, 2018 surpassed the previous Columbia Athletics' fundraising Giving Day record of $3.17 million set in 2017. Columbia University as a whole raised $20.15 million.
"The Giving Day donations from the Columbia Athletics Community are inspiring," Pilling said. "We would like to thank everyone - alumni, staff and friends of our athletics program - who contributed to our success yesterday. The money raised benefits all 800 student-athletes, all 31 varsity sports programs, our facilities and resources and all of our club and intramural sports programs. Because of the outstanding support we have here at Columbia, we once again were able to surpass last year's total and set a new benchmark for the seventh consecutive year. These funds will enable our department to enhance support for our sports programs and student-athletes. It was truly an '#OnlyHere' 24 hours."
"A successful Giving Day is the result of effort, pure and simple," Senior Executive Director for Development, Columbia College, Arts & Sciences and Athletics Katie Day Benvenuto said. "I'd like to recognize the Athletics Development team for their tireless planning and effort, the coaches who put so much work into outreach, the staff who supported us and made their own gifts on Giving Day, and the student-athletes who not only gave back, but created and produced amazing creative content. And of course, a huge thanks to the alumni, parents and friends who made the effort to be generous to us on this very special day of the year."
Head coaches of Columbia's 31-varsity sports were all pleased with the results.
"Fencing looks at Giving Day in the same way as a fencing competition," head fencing coach Michael Aufrichtig said. "We go all in and give everything to perform our best. We had a goal of 600 donors and $150,000. We reached our goal as a team! Everyone preformed, from our student-athletes, coaching staff, team managers and the rest of the fencing family."
"I am truly humbled by the support shown to our University, athletics department and program," said field hockey head coach Caroline Nelson Nichols. "Giving Day 2018 was an amazing demonstration of what our community can accomplish together. The sky is the limit for our team and athletics as a whole with all of the incredible support surrounding them."
A highlight of Giving Day 2018 was a match challenge for women's sports underwritten by Trustee co-chair Jonathan Lavine and his family, which matched a percentage of every Women's Leadership Council-level gift made on Giving Day. The match helped drive 169 leadership gifts from women donors who contributed more than $861,400 to Columbia Athletics; and helped every single women's sport acquire at least one WLC-level woman donor.
* In comparing figures with Giving Day 2017, Columbia Athletics experienced a 30.3 percent increase in dollars raised and a 7.5 percent increase in number of gifts. Last year, Columbia Athletics raised $3.17 million on 4,644 total gifts.
* This is the first Giving Day in which all 31 varsity sports raised at least $23,000.
* Columbia's Fund for Excellence raised over $70,000 from 89 gifts.
* Columbia Athletics finished in second place among University schools, finishing only behind Columbia College.
* Columbia Athletics won five hourly challenges including the Most Overall Donors during two time periods (10-11 a.m. and 3-4 p.m.), the Most Faculty/Staff donors, Random #ColumbiaGivingDay Hashtag (12-1 a.m.) and Furthest Gift from Campus (1-2 a.m.).
* In addition to its varsity sports programs, Columbia Athletics also raised money for club sports, the Bubble at Baker, the Campbell Championship Fund, Sports Medicine and various other projects.
* #ColumbiaGivingDay was trending on twitter for a period of time and Columbia Athletics leveraged a theme of #Lions360 to drive the effort.
For more information, please visit: https://givingday.columbia.edu/pages/athletics, or, to make a gift online today, go to https://athletics.givenow.columbia.edu/#.
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