'The power of collective giving': University holds eighth annual GiveUNC fundraiser

Last Tuesday marked the eighth annual GiveUNC, a fundraiser where thousands of students, faculty and community members donate to support the University.

Associate Director for Annual Giving Carissa Sweet said that GiveUNC is an opportunity for everyone to give back to the University. 

On Tuesday morning and afternoon, GiveUNC held an event for students at the Bell Tower.

“It makes it fun,” Sweet said. “Specifically here on campus, we have this event where students can come get swag, win prizes and for the broader Carolina community online, we're able to communicate with them through emails. And it really shows the power of collective giving.” 

Caroline Shi, a junior who attended the GiveUNC event, said that she thinks that the event could inspire students to want to give back to the University. 

Abby Poirier, another junior at the event, said that she mainly came to receive Campus Life Experience credit but then realized the event was an actual campus life experience. 

“It allows for a lot of different schools and clubs, organizations, even the Student Stores to get a word out there about how they want to promote themselves to a wide audience of students that probably normally wouldn't see that,” Poirier said.  

This year, UNConditionally Carolina ’25, the University’s senior giving campaign, coincided with GiveUNC. UNC seniors and their families who donate $20.25 or more by April 29 will receive limited-edition Class of 2025 pins.

For GiveUNC, people donated to various opportunities including scholarship programs like the Carolina Covenant, professional schools like the Kenan-Flagler Business School and student resources like the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid. 

“It's been awesome to be out here mingling with the students, getting to meet with all of our different schools and units who are participating and on the website, seeing the numbers and the donations come in,” Sweet said at the Bell Tower event. 

Sweet said alumni make up a large portion of the people who donate, along with “Carolina friends” who have been impacted by the campus community without directly attending UNC.

Stevie Howland, associate director of annual giving, direct marketing for school and units, said she joined the team a little over a month ago and has mainly been working with the different schools across campus to help them set up for GiveUNC. 

“This year, we have been working with WRAL to advertise the event and a lot of other like local places, just making it more known amongst the Chapel Hill and Triangle community,” she said. 

On last year’s GiveUNC, 9,376 donors raised a total of $8.6 million in one day. This year, UNC received about $8.5 million from over 11,000 gifts.

Kenan-Flagler led for the most total dollars raised for a University school, raising right under $1.8 million. However, the College of Arts and Sciences received the most gifts.

Carolina Athletics received the most total dollars for University units, raising more than a million dollars, while the Carolina Parents Leadership Society received over 1,200 gifts.

North Carolina was the No. 1 state in gifts with over 5,000 gifts, followed by Virginia with just under 300. 

Kayce Stevens, associate director of annual giving, said that every dollar donated makes a difference.

“That's kind of the whole schtick of GiveUNC is that it's almost accessible, in that sense, for people who only have, you know, say, $5 and feel like they can't make an impact,” she said. “It's one day where everyone can come together and give those $5, and it does make a giant impact.”

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misstated a word in a quote from Carissa Sweet, stating the word youths instead of units.

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