All of us. All in: Mrs. Carter and her middle schoolers cheering at the drop off circle! (Sarah Neltner ’20/Media)
On April 4-5, Columbus Academy hosted its third day of #AllDay4CA, the annual event that began in the spring of 2017.
The 25-hour event brings Vikings of all generations together by contributions to the Annual Fund, and this year’s campaign saw record-breaking numbers that, once again, far surpassed the goal of funding.
From the Academy-themed lunch to the promotional videos released by the school, from the dress-down in spirit wear to the trustees roaming the halls and classrooms, the day truly captured the spirit of the school within these 25 hours.
Three countries, 30 states, and 1,054 Vikings contributed this past Thursday and Friday, ultimately raising $496,390, which met nearly 125% of the $400,000 goal put in place.
The 25 hours of funding was made possible by the eight members of the Development, Marketing/Communications and Alumni Relations team; however, Director of Development, Emily Campbell, stated that what really makes All Day 4 CA successful is the “dozens of advocates” who are reaching out to connect even more people.
Similar to past years, GiveCampus, a well-known fundraising platform, organized the event’s donations on their website. A promotional video, an about section, a list and map of donors and advocates, a class leaderboard, and a recap of the event made up the website’s interface. Similar to last year, the ideas for the videos were thought of by the Development, Marketing and Alumni Relations team, and alumnus Andrew Brush ’06 of Best Light Video helped film and produce the pieces.
The lasting effect of the day’s events will be the $496,000+ donated to the Annual Fund; specifically to arts, athletics, curricular innovation, faculty, financial aid, and facilities.
Donors could choose which area they would like to designate their funds to, and Campbell stated that the majority left their donations “unrestricted for the school to use however needed most.”
The pathways of financial aid, curricular innovation, faculty, arts. and athletic funding stick to their traditional causes; however, money donated to the athletics and the arts could potentially feed into funding for the new athletic facilities and the complete renovation of the Schoedingre Theatre.
Not surprisingly, Ohio led the state race for donors with a total of 838, and California and New York followed with 27 and 24 donors coming from these respective regions.
Of the alumni, the class of 1999 led in fundraising with a total of $10,400, with the class of 1989 second with $9,356.
Part of this fundraising process includes the “match” system. Campbell relayed that there were 18 different matches available during the 25 hours, and the power of the platform used allowed the team to “load a matching gift into the system and choose how to structure it in a way that we believe will be most effective.”
Matches could be on a dollar basis (e.g. a $20 donation received a $20 dollar match), a per-donor basis (e.g. each donor received a match of $40), they could have been based on graduating class, or by gift designation.
Campbell stated in the time after the event that one of the team’s biggest goals for this year was to inspire more “boots-on-the-ground advocates to help us spread the word.” They worked to achieve this by creating an online toolkit detailing ways that alumni and parents could encourage others to participate.
The group’s other main focus leading up to the event was to highlight how the gifts play an impact in the different sectors of the Annual Fund. Campbell expressed that in the weeks leading up to the day, the group used “direct mail, email and social media” to help share the impact of the donations.
With 114 more donors than last year, it is hard not to be optimistic about the growth of the event in the years to come.
