The Brandeis community raised a record-breaking amount of donations this past Tuesday, according to the Giving Deisday page, raising over $1 million, with over 2121 donors on Tuesday alone.
The university unlocked an extra $100 thousand after passing their goal of 1948 donors, in honor of the university’s founding in 1948. An extra $50,000 was also unlocked, with their additional goal of meeting 2,121 donors in honor of the soon-to-be alumni class of 2021, according to the page.
The greatest need for donations listed on their website was for COVID-19 readiness. The Greatest Need Fund supporting COVID readiness received $115,494.61 in donations from 420 donors as of press time, according to the page.
“Support of the Brandeis Fund will help maintain a COVID-ready campus that features robust testing and contact racing, retrofitting learning environments and community building amid a pandemic,” the page explained. Other campus priorities listed on the website included diversity scholarships, general scholarships and the student emergency fund.
All 10 varsity athletic teams had over 35 donors which unlocked each team an additional $1,000 in donations towards each program, according to their page. Women’s Basketball received the most donors, with 99 donors, followed by Women’s Soccer, according to the Team Challenge scoreboard. Women’s Basketball raised $17,573.70, according to the chart.
The largest number of donors were from the United States, with 2,094 gifts. The breakdown of the United States listed the top donation states as Massachusetts, New York and California. The university also received international donations from China, Canada, Israel, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Norway, Australia and Sweden, according to a graphic.
Donors could also choose to make donations towards campus units, varsity athletic teams, research funds, graduate student funds, the Rose Art Museum, pre-college programs, Hillel, various scholarships and academic departments according to the page. The minimum gift amount was set to $5. Donations were accepted past Tuesday for a limited time, and payments could be made to the Giving Deisday page.
Last year the university received $865,000 from 2,559 donors, according to a previous Brandeis Hoot article. The year prior the university received $438,000 worth of donations from 1597 donors, a 60.2 percent increase in donors and 97.4 percent increase in donation amount, according to the article.
As of press time, 2706 donors have donated a total of $1,105,797 to the university, according to the Giving Deisday website.
Editor’s Note: Opinions Editor Sasha Skarboviychuk is the Co-Chair of the Senior Class Gift Committee and did not contribute to the writing or editing of this article.
