Campaign gives back to Washburn

The Washburn University Faculty/Staff Giving Campaign is an annual fundraising event that gives the faculty and staff of Washburn University a chance to give back. Even though the only staff/faculty included in the event this year are people who work at Washburn and Washburn Tech, the faculty and staff have not wasted a minute donating to Washburn.

“Once a year we solicit all staff and faculty members on campus for our annual giving,” said Julie Olson, Director of Doner Relations for the Washburn University Foundation. “The event is a four week campaign in which we give information to all faculty and staff members about giving and they have a chance to give back.”

Since the faculty and staff of Washburn work with students throughout the whole school year this event is of special importance and really pertains to Washburn’s school mission.

“They [the faculty and staff] work with our students and our programs everyday throughout the year and so they know the importance of putting money into things we believe in and the mission of the university,” said Olson.

People who choose to donate are split into four groups depending on how long they’ve been contributing to the annual giving campaign. Donors who have been participating for less than three years are “New” donors.  There are 68 new donors this year. There were 44 “3-year” donors who have been donating for more than three years, but less than five years. 

Two hundred and fifteen individuals represented the “5-year” donors, category which include people who have donated money to the campaign for a total of 5-9 years. The last group of donors, “Bod Buddies,” includes individuals who have given $500 or more to the campaign. This group was started roughly three years ago have grown from 61 to 87 in the short time that it has been around.

Each year total amount of money given to the campaign continues to rise. Olson said that this year’s amount, $116,802, is more than last year’s. Donors also have the option to chose where they would like the money they contributed to be distributed. Most usually send it to scholarships, program funds, departments on campus. Those who don’t have a preference as to where they would like their money to go have it sent to general unrestricted fund which gives rights the Foundation and Washburn to allocate the money where they think the need is the greatest.