'Treasure the Gift of Giving' at Upper Iowa University April 11-12

Fayette, IA (04/05/2019) — For 1,857 minutes on Thursday, April 11 and Friday, April 12, Upper Iowa University (UIU) is encouraging alumni, faculty, staff, current and future students, and friends of the University to "treasure the gift of giving." As part of an overall goal of attracting 750 donors, UIU is highlighting seven unique Giving Day challenges at uiu.edu/givingday.

"It is exciting as we near our third annual UIU Giving Day," UIU vice president for external affairs Andrew Wenthe said. "In 2017, we set a goal of 160 donors and the UIU community showed us we needed to set our sights higher as we more than doubled our goal. We are confident our alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends of UIU will once again make a powerful statement by unlocking all seven of the Giving Day Challenges and hitting our 750 donor goal."

Approximately 550 donors participated last year, unlocking a dozen challenges and contributed over $96,000. Among the targeted funds benefitting from the generosity of the donors were the Student Life Cabby Dean's Fund, School of Science and Mathematics Churbuck Dean's Fund, School of Liberal Arts Dean's Funds, School of Business Firth Dean's Fund, Andres School of Education Betty's Team Funds, Peacock Athletic Fund, Team Peacock and UIU Annual Fund.

This year's beneficiaries include UIU Merit Scholarships, UIU Annual Fund, Enhance UIU (Capital Projects) Fund, Forever UIU (Unrestricted Endowment) Fund, Peacock Athletics Fueling Station Fund, and UIU Reunion (Homecoming and Other Events) Endowment.

Giving Day 2019 begins at 11 a.m. Thursday, April 11, and continues through 5:57 p.m. Friday, April 12. Once again, UIU will incorporate a number of interesting, fun challenges. As they are completed, these challenges often unlock major matching gifts from generous UIU donors.

Challenges are in some cases based on participation rather than the size of the gift; thus, a small donation has just as much impact as a larger one in beating the challenge and unlocking a large matching gift. As an example, UIU alumni Roger Mangan '62 of Littleton, Colorado; LaVerne McCoy '98 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Curtis Gunter '02 of Goshen, Indiana, have committed gifts totaling $8,000 if 150 donors participate in the Scholarship Challenge.

Event organizers suggest there are several ways people can show their support for UIU through Giving Day. In addition to making a gift of their choice during the event, participants can help spread the word by sharing the hashtag #UIUGivingDay and their favorite UIU photos via social media. Participants are also encouraged to follow the UIU Alumni & Friends Facebook page and other UIU social media to receive regular updates on the progress of individual challenges.

Those wishing to track the exciting progress or make a gift, can visit the UIU Giving Day webpage at uiu.edu/givingday. Anyone who has questions about Giving Day or would like to find out how they can be more engaged in the fun challenges, are invited to contact the UIU Alumni Office at alumni@uiu.edu or 563-425-5388.

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