On April 9, UW-Madison held its first-ever Day of the Badger, an 1848-minute challenge during which alumni and friends could give to their favorite college, department, unit or cause.
The goal of the day was to unite Badgers to advance the mission of the university by bringing awareness to its achievements and raising funds to help it remain a world-class educational institution.
From 5 p.m. on April 8 through midnight on April 9 — 1848 minutes in tribute to the year the university was founded — Badgers around the world showed up to reinforce their support of UW by giving generously, wearing red and sharing their commitment on social media using #DayoftheBadger.
Exactly how successful was Day of the Badger for the College of Letters & Science? Let us count the ways — and the donations.
Dollar-for-dollar matches doubled the impact of hundreds of gifts during Day of the Badger. Every one of L&S’s individual units with matches met its goals during Day of the Badger, and many received exceptional support. Want to know how your favorite department or unit did? Check out the leaderboard, and be sure to include the UW Marching Band, which is part of the Mead Witter School of Music in L&S.
In total, the college received more than 1,700 gifts totaling more than $530,000 — the most of any college on campus! And university-wide, more than 5,000 gifts added up to more than $1.8 million.
How did it all happen? Throughout Day of the Badger — and in the weeks leading up to it — social media played a crucial and exciting role in connecting supporters with their most beloved parts of UW. In L&S, departments and units helped spread the word about #DayoftheBadger.
And the incredible L&S community both on campus and off responded with messages of support and what L&S and its departments and units have meant to them.
A “power hour” from noon to 1 p.m., during which the college provided a match of $10,000 for all Day of the Badger gifts made to the college and participating units, energized L&S supporters. They quickly and enthusiastically met the match!
Around the clock, L&S staff took to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to thank donors and offer updates through posts, photos and videos.
The dollars collected on Day of the Badger will support a wide variety of endeavors critical to the mission and success of L&S and its departments and units, including student scholarships and internships, laboratory supplies and outreach efforts that take important research out into communities across Wisconsin.
L&S Badgers, we can’t thank you enough!
