Houghton College hosted its second 24-hour fundraising campaign entitled “I am Houghton: Houghton’s One Day Giving Challenge” on Friday, April 24, exceeding last year’s record giving day by garnering over $1.1 million from over 1,700 donors.
The campaign challenge included two main key components: all gifts made on April 24 toward the Student Scholarship Fund would be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $200,000, and if 1,500 donors made a gift that day to any project, Houghton would receive additional gifts totaling $300,000 for multiple projects across campus.
“I am once again overwhelmed by the faithfulness and generosity of our alumni and friends who rallied together for the purpose of supporting our current and future students and advancing Houghton College by giving and spreading the word for the record-setting One Day Giving Challenge,” said Rick Melson, vice president for advancement and external relations. “My heart is filled with gratitude and thankfulness to our alumni and friends who gave so generously.”
This year’s campaign began on Friday morning at 12:01 a.m. and ended that midnight raising about $400,000 more than last year’s campaign with over 400 additional individual household donations.
Throughout the day, Houghton used email marketing to alumni and a heavy social media campaign packed with hourly updates and videos to promote the event. The College’s main Facebook page alone had over 100,000 post reaches, over 25,000 post clicks, and over 3,500 post likes, comments, and shares for the day.
The goal of raising $200,000 for the student scholarship fund matching was achieved by early evening, but the needed 1,500 donors came down to the 11 p.m. hour with a surge of last-minute gifts putting the needed total past 1,700.
Students, faculty, and staff also played a significant role by making financial gifts at giving stations in the student center. To date, over 75 percent of the faculty and staff have given to the student scholarship fund this year.
“We are so thankful to everyone who helped to make this One Day Challenge a success,” said Houghton College president, Shirley Mullen. “This is a great affirmation of support for Houghton and our mission of preparing students for national and global engagement in the ever-changing world of the 21st century.”
See the day’s events here.
