Give-N-Day raises over $75,000 for campus organizations

With over 800 participating donors, Nicholl State University’s first ever Give-N-Day event has raised a total of $75,221 for various student organizations and departments on campus.

Jeremy Becker, director of the Nicholls Foundation, said that the total is set to reach over $82,000 once additional donations are processed.

“We received over $6,000 in gifts since it closed, and we’re going to update them as soon as we can,” Becker said. “Eventually, we’ll be over $82,000 raised.”

Give-N-Day took place on Tuesday, though people were able to give advance donations as well. The event was highlighted by a tailgate before the home baseball game against Mississippi State, where an additional $1,500 in prizes from sponsors was dealt out to several organizations.

“We had a good, decent crowd…I think a lot of people went, had a good time and the food was good. Entertainment was fantastic, and then we gave away $1,500 to organizations that day,” Becker said.

Becker said students embraced the fundraiser once they understood how it worked, especially those who may have never thought they could raise money in such a way.

“I’m excited because I’ve seen so many organizations on campus excited, people who I don’t think ever thought they could raise money like this, and they really used the system the way it should be used, and they saw success,” Becker said.

Some organizations even found themselves in friendly competition for the event’s various prizes.

“Two of the sororities, Sigma Sigma Sigma and Delta Zeta had battles for who would get the prizes for most gifts during a certain hour, and each of them won one, and they tied another,” Becker said. “It was fun to watch the students’ organizations really figure out what this day is and then move forward with it.”

At $6,460, Colonel Catholics raised the most money overall. Sigma Sigma Sigma’s 112 donors were the most of the day.

Moving forward, Becker said that he would like to see the overall goal for donations set higher, as well as more prizes from sponsors.

“Next year, we want 1,000 donors and $100,000 [raised],” Becker said.