The Senior Campaign has begun recruiting a group of Senior Campaign Ambassadors to educate their peers on the importance of giving back to NC State as students and alumni.
The Senior Campaign is looking for one to two graduating seniors from each college on campus who have been impacted by philanthropy to extend the Senior Campaign’s reach on campus.
Each year, the Senior Campaign encourages members of the senior class to donate an amount of money equal to their class year to something that has made an impact on them during their time as a student. For example, seniors graduating in 2018 are encouraged to donate $20.18. The online donation gives students the opportunity to select where their donation goes.
Matthew Cherry, a fourth-year studying business administration, heads the campaign, and sees it as a way to help future students.
“It is your opportunity to give back to NC State in a way that you’re picking where your money goes, and you’re making an impact on the future generations that are going to come to NC State,” Cherry said. “When you donate money to Study Abroad or the libraries, you’re providing new technology or new study abroad opportunities for students who are coming behind you.”
In 2008, the model of each senior class donating a single senior gift back to the university became the current model for individual donations in which the donor selects the destination.
“[Running] the Senior Campaign this way is something that’s relatively new to NC State,” Cherry said. “Last year, we got quite a few gifts, but this year, transitioning into having a Senior Campaign Chair and someone who can solicit students on campus to push it forward is something that we’re really trying to do.”
Cherry also stressed the importance of private donations.
“A lot of students will say ‘I already pay tuition’ or ‘I already pay fees,’ but in reality, by the time that we include tuition, fees and the government funding, we get what only covers two-thirds of what it takes to run the university,” Cherry said. “The other third comes from people who are giving money back to the university as private gifts.”
Last year, the Senior Campaign raised over $40,000 from 862 donations. Kara Mulligan, a graduate student in nonprofit management and assistant director of the NC State Annual Fund, says the campaign has even bigger goals for this year.
“We want the class of 2019 to be the first class to break 1,000 donors,” Mulligan said.
Donating seniors who donate $20.19 or more receive philanthropy cords to wear at graduation, their name in the commencement program as a donor and the opportunity to come to a recent alumni donor event in downtown Raleigh.
The Senior Campaign Ambassador Application can be found here. For more information, Cherry can be reached at seniorcampaign@ncsu.edu.
