“Gather to Give” raised nearly $80oK

On the internationally recognized “giving Tuesday,” the Harding community gathered to give, setting the goal of raising $450,000. At the end of the day, $775,864 was raised for projects all over campus.

“We call this day ‘Gather to Give’ as we challenge our community to gather together and give to help Harding and our wonderful students,” Vice President of Advancement Bryan Burks said.

In 2014, the first “Gather to Give” event aimed to raise $24,000 in 24 hours. Every year, the goal has been raised and, in the end, exceeded every year.

This year, in addition to the monetary goal, the entire campus got involved. Colleges and departments set internal initiatives and used their own connections and platforms to encourage people to fund specific projects as a part of “Gather to Give.” Donors could contribute to 20 different college- and department-specific projects all over campus.

“This not only increased giving, but it increased our donors for this event by 50 percent to almost 500 [people],” Burks said. “For example, the College of Bible raised over $18,000 for the Dr. Ken Neller Bible Scholarship. Almost $100,000 was given to these 20 different projects this year.”

This year, at the end of the 24 hours, a total of $775,864 had been raised by 492 different donors, far surpassing the goal of $450,00.

“This event is all about the generosity of our donors who believe in Harding and how this place is preparing our students to make a difference for God in this world,” Burks said. “We are extremely thankful for our donors. Each of these programs as well as our students in general will be blessed because of the generosity of our donors.”