Giving Day Toolkit

Giving Day is a 24-hour fundraising event to enhance student success at UC Santa Cruz. Giving Day raises funds for vital campus resources that help ensure students have access to financial support, secure sources for basic needs, mental health support, opportunities to participate in cutting-edge research, and connections that catalyze their social mobility. 

Below you will find important information to consider when filling out the Giving Day registration form:

What makes a good project?

All Giving Day projects must be officially affiliated with campus, and funds must be used for campus purposes; we cannot fundraise money to be given to a different organization. The success of Giving Day projects lies in your community. You should have a team of people excited to reach out to their networks and spread the word about Giving Day and your project. Projects perform better when they have a clear use of funds, as opposed to a general fund. You want donors to be excited about where their money will go and the impact they will have. 

Point of contact

This email will be used to set up your profile on the Giving Day platform, so make sure this person will be available to receive communications throughout the summer and fall. 

Project Title

The title of your project will be used on the Giving Day website and in outreach to potential match donors. Your title should include your organization or information directly related to your project. The search tool sorts by the project title, so make sure to include what donors will be searching for when they are looking for your project. The title character limit is 50, including spaces.

Description

The description of your project needs to be finalized as it will be used for pre-promotion and when reaching out to potential match donors. This should be 3-5 sentences and cover four key points:

• Who you are: What organization are you a part of? 

• What you're doing: What does your organization do? What is the project you are raising funds for?

• Why it's important: What impact will your project have? Will it create hands-on opportunities for students, help save the planet, or create community? Think about the bigger picture.

• What funds will be used for: How will you actually use the funds? Will it cover transportation costs to an event? Registration for a conference? Supplies for an art project? When donors understand where their money is going, they are more likely to make a gift.

You will still have the opportunity to populate your project page with a longer written description after registering.  

Email list request

If you are interested in receiving a list of alumni/donors to reach out to for Giving Day, you will need to fill out the email list request form. You will also need to attend a training on our new email tool (no longer iModules which has been used previously). You will receive more information about training after filling out the email list request form. 

Designation/FOAPAL

A designation code is used to indicate where funds will go on campus after a donor makes their gift. A FOAPAL is needed to create a designation code, but it must be a gift-accepting FOAPAL, which not all are. Gift fund numbers typically begin with a 4 or 5. You can search for existing designation codes here. If you are unsure if you have a designation, please provide your FOAPAL. If it is not a gift-accepting FOAPAL, a new one can be created with your information. The organization code will be required to establish a new gift FOAPAL.