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�������ϲʿ����������ͼ last weekend called on Aggies everywhere — including students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni and friends — to give on the first-ever �������ϲʿ����������ͼ Give Day, which coincided with the university’s largest event of the year, Picnic Day. Benefiting students, programs and initiatives in nearly all �������ϲʿ����������ͼ colleges, schools and units, the event themed “Every Aggie Counts: Together We Add Up” raised more than $1.2 million from 3,022 gifts. 

The totals include more than 150 gifts for �������ϲʿ����������ͼ Health, providing more than $140,000 for centers and programs.

“On behalf of the university, I want to thank all who made contributions on �������ϲʿ����������ͼ Give Day,” Interim Chancellor Ralph J. Hexter said. “In 29 hours, our community displayed incredible pride and support for our world-renowned education, research and public service. These gifts truly help our great university solve the most pressing problems of our time.” 

To encourage participation in the event, �������ϲʿ����������ͼ Give Day featured more than 50 donor challenges across the university that ranged from $2,500 to $110,000. Give Day was also made possible by hundreds of volunteers who helped promote the event. There were more than 600 original social media posts about it and more than 2,600 shares. Volunteers sent nearly 2,700 referral links to encourage giving from their families, friends and colleagues. 

“Through challenge gifts and outreach, our established donors, volunteers and others found creative ways to inspire support from all corners of �������ϲʿ����������ͼ’ worldwide community,” said Shaun Keister, vice chancellor of Alumni Relations and Development. “We are very pleased with these results, which show that together we can make a huge difference for �������ϲʿ����������ͼ, �������ϲʿ����������ͼ Health and the world.” 

Give Day benefited �������ϲʿ����������ͼ Health, all schools and colleges, student programs including Picnic Day, Intercollegiate Athletics, the �������ϲʿ����������ͼ Library, We Are Aggie Pride, the Cal Aggie Alumni Association, the Arboretum and Public Garden, and several other campus units.  

AD Blue’s hair will be changing colors

Intercollegiate Athletics received the most gifts, more than 1,500 — amounting to more than $270,000 among all sports, Team Aggie and sports medicine. Staff and coaches also successfully met Athletic Director Kevin Blue’s challenge; he pledged to dye his hair blue and gold if all of them participated in Give Day. 

“�������ϲʿ����������ͼ Give Day gave students, alumni, parents, grateful clients and patients, among others, the opportunity to contribute to �������ϲʿ����������ͼ’ world-changing research and community-oriented initiatives,” said Sankalp Sinha ’20, a first-year biochemistry and molecular biology major who received a Regents Scholarship and the Cal Aggie Alumni Association’s 2017 Blue & Gold Scholarship.  

He added, “And as a student and scholarship recipient, I am personally grateful to all who participated because philanthropy offers students like me a wider range of opportunities to learn and develop our career interests.”