A new tool at the Emporia State University Foundation to help students, faculty and staff raise money for projects received a workout during the 2018-19 academic year.
“We began using giveGOLD to create exciting opportunities for ESU faculty, staff and students to raise money for smaller projects with big impact,” explained Shane Shivley, president and CEO of the ESU Foundation.
These Foundation-backed crowdfunding projects run through EverydayHero, a secure peer-to-peer fundraising platform. This platform was chosen because it is tailored to the specific needs of nonprofits, unlike many other popular crowdfunding platforms.
Emporia Marching Hornets tested EverydayHero with a project in late spring 2018. The group raised $8,000 for a new sound system. On Giving Tuesday last November, the Foundation officially launched the giveGOLD platform across campus. Over $5,000 was raised for nine student groups on that single day.
The next campaign by the Lady Hornet basketball team was even more successful. Using crowdfunding best practices — setting up separate webpages for each team member and encouraging them to share through their own social media networks — more than $13,000 was raised to send the team to play basketball in Puerto Rico in December. That campaign included a generous $5,000 gift from Kansas Strong, a nonprofit organization voluntarily funded by oil and natural gas producers in Kansas.
“With the average oil company in Kansas having only three employees, the industry is primarily made up of individuals living in your communities. They care about your community and invest in your community,” said Kansas Strong Executive Director Warren Martin. “It is an honor to support such a historic program as the ESU Lady Hornets. The fundraising platform ESU is utilizing makes it simple and easy.”
“There are funding opportunities of all sizes across our campus that donors can support,” said Shivley. “The need may be a special piece of lab equipment or travel expense assistance for students to attend high-impact conferences or competitions. We recognized an opportunity to collaborate with our campus partners to help them achieve their goals.”
Other ESU groups who used the platform include Beta Alpha Psi students to raise money to attend a national conference; the ESU football program for new black home jerseys, winter workout sweats and new training equipment; Emporia Marching Hornets to travel to the Corsicana Bowl; ESU women’s soccer for a new sound system at the ESU Pitch; nursing students for travel expenses to the spring 2019 National Student Nurses Association Convention; and ESU track and field and cross-country for new pole vault poles, throwing equipment and specialty shoes.
New opportunities to support Emporia State projects through giveGOLD will come in fall 2019.