The excitement on and beyond campus was contagious on November 28 when a small but mighty group of proud and generous alumni offered up a #GivingTuesday challenge over social media.
Now in its fifth year, Giving Tuesday harnesses the power of social media and the generosity of people to bring about real change. In the same way retailers take part in Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the community joins together on Giving Tuesday to support charitable causes.
Waterloo champions Cindy Forbes (BMath ’79), Steven Woods (PhD ’96), Paul Salvini (BMath ’92), Jay Shah (BASc ’11), and Dan Langlois (MAcc '92) inspired more than 350 people to make a gift to Waterloo by matching gifts made during certain hours. By day’s end, the total raised was just over $140,000* — the most we’ve ever raised on Giving Tuesday!
Our reach was extensive, engaging loyal supporters and building a new audience of alumni and friends. At the same time the social media campaign was running, students had the opportunity to connect with Advancement staff and donors in conversations about philanthropy. Many students wrote personal messages of thanks inside cards to be shared with donors.
Thank you to our champions, donors, volunteers, and students for making this Giving Tuesday our most successful ever!
*Final accounting still in progress — numbers subject to change.
