Purdue Day of Giving leaps to $41.6 million, reaches six-year total of $146.9 million

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — In its sixth year, Purdue Day of Giving raised $41.6 million, set the fifth straight record for a 24-hour higher education fundraising campaign and reached a cumulative total of $146.9 million in gifts for Purdue University. 

Under the mantle “150 Years of Giant Leaps,” the university’s sesquicentennial theme, the social media-based event Wednesday (April 24) outstripped last year’s record-setting performance of $37.6 million, 18,663 gifts and 58 participating countries. Donors made 21,420 gifts from 60 countries, including first-time donations from eight new countries: Albania, the Bahamas, Barbados, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Greece, the Netherlands and Uruguay.

“Again this year, the Purdue family has come together in a one-day outpouring of generosity and spirit that is unmatched in the entire country,” said Purdue President Mitch Daniels. “We are so grateful to the organizers and to everyone who donated for supporting this remarkable day so wholeheartedly.”

From midnight to midnight, alumni, students, parents, faculty, staff, retirees and friends across the entire Purdue system – including Purdue Fort Wayne, Purdue Northwest and Purdue Global – joined together in support of their favorite campus, college, school, program or student organization. Corporations and foundations contributed as well. Through 30 hourly challenges and 10 full-day challenges, 72 academic and nonacademic programs competed for cash prizes. First-time Purdue Day of Giving participant Purdue Global, for example, earned an additional $1,000 during the 6 p.m. Random First-Time Donor Challenge. Two hundred ten student organizations participated in a challenge specifically for them. A YouTube video is available at https://youtu.be/PSioxV3KeG0.

In addition, to celebrate Purdue’s 150th anniversary, organizers used Goosechase, a smartphone scavenger hunt platform, to direct participating players to 150 “missions” across the West Lafayette campus, including activities like beating the Purdue Big Bass Drum, getting a 3D-printed Purdue Pete keychain and making a small donation.

Ranging in size from $10 to a $7 million anonymous gift made to the West Lafayette campus’s School of Mechanical Engineering, gifts targeted an array of initiatives and programs, funding scholarships and student enrichment opportunities, cancer research, Indiana 4-H programs, Military Family Research Institute initiatives and more. Approximately 90 percent of all donations were made online.

Among the gifts made through Purdue Day of Giving:

• Ben Simmons, former Purdue Northwest basketball player, made a $100,000 gift to the campus’s NCAA Division II athletics program in hopes of inspiring others to give back to PNW as well.

“From what I learned during my time at Purdue Northwest, you can accomplish anything,” Simmons said. “I like to inspire, rather than motivate. I want to inspire the whole (Northwest Indiana) region to give back.”

• Dr. Bill Iverson contributed $50,000 to name a student collaboration area in the West Lafayette campus’s STEM Teaching Lab Building. The new building, scheduled to open in August 2020, will serve more than 15,000 undergraduates each year.
• Kennametal, a global leader in material science, tooling and wear-resistant solutions, is committing $25,000 to the university’s Center for Career Opportunities (West Lafayette) and approximately $400,000 worth of tooling, machining and training resources to the Bechtel Innovation Design Center (West Lafayette), an advanced prototyping facility for students.

“Kennametal is proud to partner with Purdue University to help develop the next generation of advanced manufacturing talent,” said Pete Dragich, vice president, Kennametal Inc., and president, industrial segment. “By making our state-of-the-art technologies and training resources available to students at the Bechtel Innovation Design Center, we can help them bring their manufacturing concepts to life.”

• David and Sara Sullivan gave $50,000 to fund the Sullivan Family Digital Media Production Laboratory in the Brian Lamb School of Communication (West Lafayette). The lab is a remote-production vehicle – essentially a television studio in a truck – that will be equipped with everything needed for video, digital and multimedia productions.
• Dane Chapman, a junior in agribusiness at West Lafayette, gave $25 to the College of Agriculture and $25 to the Purdue Foundation Student Board.

“I realize the importance of private giving,” he said. “My Purdue experiences far exceed what I’m giving back.”

“What started as a test case in 2014 has become, in many ways, the heart of our philanthropy efforts at Purdue,” said Amy Noah, vice president for development. “Purdue Day of Giving shows just how special – how willing to pay it forward – our Purdue family is. Now, thousands of individuals, along with foundations and corporations, choose to make an impact on this day through their giving. We are ever grateful.”

To learn more about Purdue Day of Giving or to see a list of the hourly-challenge and full-day-challenge winners, visit DayofGiving.Purdue.edu.

Contact: Lisa Tally, 765-494-2181, lhtally@prf.org 

Sources: Amy Noah, arnoah@prf.org 

Mitch Daniels, president@purdue.edu