STUDENT GRATITUDE Based on the outstanding success of our Thank a Donor Day efforts, ThankU was designed as our overall student gratitude marketing plan. We want UGA to be known for its thankful students, and ThankU is our part in creating an “attitude of gratitude” at UGA.
THANK A DONOR DAY Associate Director of Donor Relations and Stewardship To create a culture of philanthropy at UGA, Donor Relations and Stewardship instituted UGA’s first ever Thank a Donor Day in 2012. The entire UGA community is invited to observe this day of gratitude. The purpose of Thank a Donor Day is to educate students about the impact of private giving by demonstrating the difference
THAN K A D O N O R D AY PAR TI C I PATI O N
it makes to their educational experiences while emphasizing the importance of thanking donors for their generosity. The occasion is also a perfect opportunity to collect student
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thank you notes, photos, video messages and other expressions of gratitude that can be used throughout the following year to acknowledge the generosity of our donors in a personal way. As we approached the ninth annual Thank
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a Donor Day, our circumstances limited us from continuing
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our traditional day on campus with students, faculty, and staff. Although we were forced to celebrate from a far, that did not stop our students from expressing their sincere gratitude to UGA donors! Usually, our oversized card is filled with student signatures, we nearly run out of t-shirts and cookies to give away to participants, and over 600 postcards are mailed to individual donors – but this year, our hearts were overfilled with the number of students who took time out of their lives to record and write personal messages from home. We hope to utilize this event to collaborate with units campus wide and educate our students about the impact of private giving to UGA in person next year.
Thank a Donor Day began in FY12. 2020 Thank a Donor Day was canceled due to COVID-19. 54 video messages and 35 thank you notes were collected from students at home, instead. 32
