April 2016

SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 7, 2016— Backed by powerhouse results including more than $1 million in gifts for Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship and $853,000 for Bronco Athletics, Santa Clara University smashed its previous record for one-day proceeds from its third annual Day of Giving challenge, “ALL IN FOR SCU” April 6.

During the 24-hour period, the University raised a whopping $3,506,768 from 4,560 donors -- a 166 percent increase over the previous year’s record-setting showings for single-day proceeds.

“In one day, we unlocked an entire world of transformative opportunities for SCU and its students,” said James Lyons, vice president for University Relations. “And just as important, the energy and enthusiasm that Santa Clara University’s Day of Giving generated is worth many times the money we raised, driving home how we are all invested in the success of our students and we really are ‘All In for SCU.’”  

To foster a friendly competition among SCU’s loyal donor base, this year All In for SCU featured numerous challenges to donors to help their favored units win pieces of two challenge gifts totalling $250,000. Results, which can be found at https://givingday.scu.edu, were impressive:

• Twenty-five campus units will share pro rata in the $125,000 “dollar-based” challenge grant, including Miller Center ($39,700 in dollar-based challenge money earned), Santa Clara Fund ($6,300) and club sports ($2,600).
• The units will also share pro rata in a $125,000 "donor-based" challenge grant, including Athletics ($38,000 in donor-based challenge money earned), College of Arts and Sciences ($12,700) and Leavey School of Business ($8,000).

An additional $25,000 in challenge money was also successfully deployed:

• A young alumni challenge to secure at least 600 gifts generated 892 gifts -- yielding $10,000 for student programs
• A Facebook challenge to share a single post at least 165 times resulted in 288 shares and generated $5,000 for student programs
• Twitter and Instagram challenges to get at least 100 posts of #AllinforSCU were matched unlocking $5,000 each

Although All In for SCU is a one-day affair, it required weeks of planning by a staff of more than 50 who worked for weeks to pull off. Eighty different e-mail segments were sent in the weeks prior to the day to tens of thousands of alumni and supporters.

Among the other beneficiaries of the day:

• Athletics received gifts from the most donors (1,378), totalling $853,743.
• The next-largest gifts after the Miller Center ($1.034 million) and athletics, were to the School of Law ($636,131), Santa Clara Fund ($165,716), School of Engineering ($136,040), and the College of Arts and Sciences ($92,909).

The effort was also supported by the strongest social media campaign ever undertaken by SCU. Posts encouraging gifts and asking users to “share” messages to unlock the $5,000 challenge gift were posted at a steady clip throughout the day on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts of all the units on campus.

Almost 300 people shared the first post of the day, unlocking $5,000 for the cause. Other posts kept up the urgency by sharing the latest standings in the leaderboards and various challenges. Online donors were provided with All In for SCU badges to brag about their gifts on their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram accounts. Donors also used social media to encourage others to give, especially late in the day to push SCU over the $3 million mark.

About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its more than 9,000 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering; master’s degrees in business, education, counseling psychology, pastoral ministry, and theology; and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.

 Media Contact
Deborah Lohse | SCU Media Relations | dlohse@scu.edu | 408-554-5121