GiveBIG raises $46,177 for Whitman in 24 hours

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" says John Bogley, Whitman's vice president of development and college relations. 

His thanks acknowledge the generosity of almost 200 alumni, parents, faculty, staff and other friends of the college for the $46,177 given to Whitman's Annual Fund on May 15 during the GiveBIG event. It also acknowledges The Seattle Foundation, which this year included Whitman in its highly successful GiveBIG endeavor.

GiveBIG is a one-day online fundraiser designed to inspire people to give generously to nonprofit organizations such as Whitman that contribute to the region in positive ways. It provides a "stretch" incentive, meaning dollars are added to the totals raised by all participating nonprofits. Whitman's stretch "bonus" amount is $4,169.79.

"Response to GiveBIG definitely exceeded our expectations," said Brian Dohe, director of annual giving. "To put this in perspective, in the last calendar year, our two largest days for online gifts were June 30 and Dec. 31. We received 93 gifts on one of those days and 95 gifts on the other day. Through GiveBIG, we received 194 gifts in a 24-hour period. We are delighted and grateful, and very impressed with the response from our donors."

Among the 1,300 nonprofits that participated in GiveBIG, Whitman was 30th in number of donations received and 38th in dollars raised.

Contributions to GiveBIG ranged from $5 to $5,000 and were transmitted electronically from all across the country. Donors also made gifts from abroad, in countries including Turkey, the United Kingdom, Australia and France. The first gift was registered at 12:02 a.m. and the final gift was made at 11:30 p.m.

All gifts to Whitman will benefit today's students through strengthening the academic and co-curricular mission of the college.

To learn more about giving to Whitman College, visit the Now Is the Time Campaign site.