Fourth Annual UMassGives Campaign Collects Record Donations

The University of Massachusetts Amherst’s fourth annual UMassGives campaign, a 36-hour online fundraiser for the campus, has raised a record $162,182 from 2,138 donors. 

The campaign kicked off at noon on April 27 during the university’s annual Founders Day celebration and ran through midnight April 28.

In support of the campaign, the UMass Amherst Foundation Board donated $10,000 in matching funds, and an alumnus matched the first $1,000 in donations for Commonwealth Honors College.

The foundation board also contributed $2,000 bonuses for each group that had the largest number of donors during five challenge hours. The winners were: the Student Alumni Association, the College of Engineering, University Without Walls, the College of Information and Computer Sciences and Friends of Music.

Gifts were made to 115 different designations, with the largest numbers going to Isenberg School of Management, the College of Engineering, the Alumni Association, University Without Walls, and the College of Information and Computer Sciences.

The largest single gift was $5,000; the average, $75.86. Donors hailed from eight countries and 40 states, with the majority of gifts from individuals from Amherst, Northampton, Belchertown, Boston and South Hadley.

Of the total, 1,001 gifts came from people who listed their university affiliation as alumni; 367 selected faculty/staff; 310 student; 286 parent, and 278 friend. (Some donors were recorded in more than one category.

Gifts made during UMassGives are counted toward the UMass Rising Campaign, which surpassed its $300 million goal last spring and to date has raised $350 million. The campaign, publicly launched in April 2013 during the university’s sesquicentennial year, concludes June 30.

In 2015, UMassGives raised more than $100,000 from nearly1,700 donors.