Wes Community Gives Back on Giving Tuesday

A rallying call of “Because Wesleyan Is Our Cause” united alumni, parents, and current senior students on Giving Tuesday Dec. 3. Together, they contributed more than $54,000 to the Annual Fund during the global day of giving back.

This was Wesleyan’s first year participating in Giving Tuesday, which encourages people around the world to kick off the holiday season with gifts of money, service or time to their favorite causes.

“The response was wonderful,” said Chuck Fedolfi ’90, director of the Wesleyan Fund. “Support from alumni, parents and friends is what keeps Wesleyan strong; it’s our edge, our margin of excellence.”

Altogether, 292 individuals contributed $54,135.76 during the one-day fundraising effort. All gifts count toward Wesleyan’s $400 million multi-year fundraising campaign, with support of financial aid its most important goal.

“There’s nothing mysterious about this. The more support we get from the Wesleyan community, the better we’ll be able to provide access to students in need,” said Fedolfi, who himself received financial aid at the University as an undergraduate.

Giving Tuesday was established by the 92nd Street Y in New York as a national day of philanthropy, in counterpoint to the retail industry’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Last year more than 2,000 “partner” organizations raised about $10 million on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving; this year more than 10,000 organizations signed up as partners, according to the Giving Tuesday website.

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