From the Nominator

Within 24 hours of Emory University announcing a shift to remote learning and shutting down campus, we pivoted from activating Emory Day of Giving volunteer fundraisers to launching a crowdfunding campaign for the Student Hardship Fund. Four days later, we raised $10,000, solely through peer-to-peer outreach. A week later, we stewarded donors with an update on their impact: more than 50 students were granted immediate assistance from the Student Hardship Fund.

Over the next month, we launched crowdfunding campaigns to address COVID-19 needs, from student emergency assistance to patient care and medical research. 1,488 crowdfunding donors supported our two-month Feed the Frontline campaign. The program supplied healthcare workers in emergency departments and COVID wards at 19 Atlanta-area hospitals with nutritious meals made by a dozen local restaurants. In collaboration with Emory Principal Gifts and Corporate Relations, the Feed the Frontline program raised more than $1.1 million, and served 75,918 meals to frontline heroes. 

Our pivot culminated in #GivingTuesdayNow, an omni-channel campaign centered on our transformed crowdfunding platform. Fight the Pandemic was a cause-driven fundraising hub with central and peer-driven COVID-19 related projects. From March 12- May 12, we recorded $552,635 through 3,641 gifts (3158 donors) on our platform. Fight the Pandemic engaged more donors and raised more online dollars than our typical Emory Day of Giving. Most important, we provided emergency funds to students, took care of frontline healthcare teams, and supported businesses in Emory’s local community.

From the Judges

Emory's creativity in pivoting their Day of Giving planning to solely focus on the Student Hardship Fund (due to COVID-19) to better reflect the ever-changing needs of their students is palpable. As a result, Emory engaged more donors (3,158) and raised more online dollars ($444,651) through COVID-19 crowdfunding than during their 2019 day of giving ($329,000 from 2,730 donors). This impressive growth demonstrates their ability to effectively leverage omni-channel communications and volunteers as a means to reach more people and, as such, more philanthropic support.