Last week UP joined #GivingTuesdayNow in its global day of giving. Over 395 UP donors gave more than $200,000 and unlocked $25,000 in challenge gifts. We would like to especially thank UP employees for participating—at least 65 took this opportunity to support UP’s mission. Through this outpouring of support, UP can respond to the new and extraordinary needs of students as they prepare for their return in the fall. Thank you who participated in the success of this great day!
Development Office
New CASE Awards for Development Efforts
The University of Portland development office has been recognized with a 2019 CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) Educational Fundraising Award, an honor given each year to exceptional fundraising programs at educational institutions in the United States. UPN is among a select group of more than 90 colleges and universities receiving awards this year. The University is being recognized for Overall Performance, based on the judges’ blind analysis of three years of fundraising data submitted to CASE’s AMAtlas Voluntary Support of Education Survey (VSE).
In addition, the University of Portland is being honored with a Sustained Excellence Award, which is granted to those exceptional organizations that have been recognized with Overall Performance and/or Overall Improvement in three of the past five years.
For more information, contact Connie Ozyjowski, development, at ozyjowsk@up.edu.
Latest Murdock Grants Total $178,427
The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust recently awarded three grants totaling $178,427 to the University of Portland to support scientific research. The three grants include the following:
- One grant to the biology department to advance scientific understanding of how chemotherapy drugs affect immune system cells, potentially improving the ability of some of these cells to attack cancerous tumors.
- A grant to the environmental studies program to shed light on how the physical topography and rock hardness of the Oregon coast is related to biodiversity and the overall ecosystem.
- An award to the chemistry department to explore the immense diversity of a superfamily of enzymes’ functionality, which is important in many cell activities including DNA repair and creation of anti-viral and anti-bacterial compounds.
This grant marks a total of $2.6 million awarded to the University of Portland by the Murdock Trust since 2011.
For more information, contact development at x7395 or giving@up.edu.
Thank You, Pilot Family! #PilotsGive A Tremendous Success
The development office is happy to report that the Pilot family came together to raise over $1,108,000 for University of Portland students during #PilotsGive 2019. UP alumni, regents, students, faculty, staff, and friends made a total of 2,610 gifts, completing 37 matching challenges during the 24 hours of #PilotsGive. Special gratitude goes out to those who funded the giving challenges. Their leadership motivated the Pilot community to give generously to the causes they care most about.
For #PilotsGive, there were 12 campus campaigns: UP Fund and Scholarships, Clark Library, Moreau Center for Service and Justice, Salzburg and Study Abroad, Campus Ministry, Dundon-Berchtold Hall and programs, Shiley School of Engineering, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Education, School of Nursing, Pamplin School of Business, and Athletics. Throughout the 24-hour period, these campaigns connected with thousands of Pilots around the globe to support critical programming for students. Each of them also competed for bonus funds to support their incredible program offerings—click here to see the winners.
UP is so grateful to all those who campaigned, posted on social media, and made donations during #PilotsGive. It is our Pilot community that is taking UP to new heights everyday—through their generosity—students are getting the support and resources they need to thrive.
Thank you, Pilots! You did it!
Nominate Students For Diversity and Inclusion Annual Scholarship
The development office invites you to recommend one to two students for the Diversity and Inclusion Annual Scholarship. Nominees should be working to promote diversity on campus through their involvement in on-campus activities, in the classroom, and/or through their participation in community service. Which student(s) stand out to you as leaders in our efforts to make our campus more diverse and inclusive? The recipient will receive the scholarship for the 2019-20 academic year, so nominees should be freshmen, sophomores, or juniors. Please include a brief summary of why you are nominating them.
The nominated students will be invited to answer a short application which will be reviewed by a committee made up of faculty, staff, and students from the UP community. Once selected, the recipient will be recognized during the conclusion of Diversity Dialogues.
The Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship was created in 2016-17 by then Student Body President Brandon Rivera, in collaboration with other executive board members. This scholarship looks to not only continue the conversation of diversity and inclusion but to promote positive changes to the climate at UP. The topic of diversity is important because it allows a community to come together in unity and create a more inclusive place.
All student nominations are due by Wednesday, February 27, to Connie Ozyjowski, development, at ozyjowsk@up.edu.
Announcing Pilot Funder, UP’s New Crowdfunding Platform
The Office of Development is proud to announce the launch of Pilot Funder, the University’s first crowdfunding platform, at pilotfunder.up.edu. All registered UP student organizations, competitive sports and academic teams, full-time faculty, certain UP staff members, schools, colleges, institutes, and departments that have a project benefiting the UP community can use Pilot Funder.
Pilot Funder will run projects at least twice per year (excluding calendar year end and March/April for Pilots Give) once the program has gained significant interest and activity. Applications are currently being accepted. Typically, the most successful campaigns are community oriented and have leaders that are passionate about the project and its outcomes. Participants are given access to their Pilot Funder web page, as well as tools to help maximize the success of the campaign.
Visit the Pilot Funder website to learn more or reach out to Linda Miles, annual fund marketing manager, at milesl@up.edu or x7878 with questions.
#PilotsGive A Monumental Success!
Thanks to the hard work and generosity of Pilots all over the globe, #PilotsGive was a monumental success! The development team is working hard to crunch the final numbers but they can report that, in just 24 hours, 2,771 donors made a gift, raising $683,263 to support students, faculty, staff, athletics, and programs on The Bluff. We are humbled by this tremendous show of generosity and in awe of the what the Pilot community can do when we work together for a common goal. Thank you so much for helping to make this day so monumental.
Special appreciation goes out to the 12 campaigns for #PilotsGive. The spirit of this year’s event was about supporting all the great work the campaigns are doing—highlighting students, faculty, athletics, and programs. These campaigns gave it their all to demonstrate what is possible when Pilots put philanthropy into action. To help reward these campaigns’ efforts, contests were created to provide extra funds. Athletics won the Grand Challenge with 1,033 donors participating. School of Nursing won the Academic Challenge, College of Arts and Sciences came in second, and Pamplin School of Business came in third. For the Athletics contest, women’s soccer won first place, men’s tennis won second place, men’s soccer third place, volleyball fourth place, and men’s track and cross country took fifth place. Congratulations to all these campaigns for their great work on #PilotsGive and their dedication to UP students!
University Relations is proud to share this inaugural event with the campus community and is looking forward to building on this year’s success next year. To learn more about #PilotsGive or ask questions about how to participate next year, please contact Amy Eaton, development, at eatona@up.edu.
Get Ready for #GivingTuesday on November 28
On Tuesday, November 28, the University of Portland will join the global movement to celebrate generosity by launching the second UP Giving Tuesday campaign, according to Amy Eaton, development. Last year’s multi-media event resulted in the largest number of gifts to the University ever given in one day, with 258 gifts secured in 24 hours.
This year, we are setting the bar even higher, and Pilots near and far will come together to give back to The Bluff. The Senior Class Committee will be setting up stations at the Commons, Franz Hall, and the Clark Library with free hot chocolate and “philanthropy facts” for students to learn about giving. An anonymous donor is offering students the chance to win a $250 donation to fund a designation of their choice on campus. Find out more at this link.
Giving Tuesday is a great day for faculty and staff to make a gift to the University and help reach our goal. If you have already given, be sure to like and share the fun Giving Tuesday content with your friends and fellow Pilots.
The Office of Marketing and Communications is creating a Giving Tuesday tool kit that can be found here, with special social media images that easily be uploaded to show support for your part of campus. If you don’t see a graphic for an area of campus you want to promote, email upsocial@up.edu and one will be created for you.
The goal for the day is to reach 350 gifts. Three generous families have challenged our community to meet this goal and spread the word about the impact of scholarships at UP. When the goal is reached, the families will give $40,000 in scholarship support.
Keep your eyes open for these fun and inspiring activities around campus, online, and in your inbox. To learn more about Giving Tuesday and to follow progress throughout the day, visit giving.up.edu/givingtuesday.
Make an Impact. Give from the Heart. Go Pilots!
Farewell Party for Colin McGinty, May 31
Please plan to join the development office in a farewell gathering for Colin McGinty, who will leave the University to take on the position of president of Central Catholic High School. The gathering will take place on Wednesday, May 31, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., in the Pilot House. We offer our thanks and appreciation to Colin for his fifteen years of service at UP, and wish him well with his new endeavor.
Colin received his bachelor’s degree in sociology from UP in 1999, and completed his MBA in 2007. He met his wife Robbie here on the Bluff as an undergraduate, and they now have two children, Liam, 9, and Rory, 2.
While Colin has held many roles during his UP career, it has been centered on fundraising and external relations. He started out in the Office of Development with annual giving, then worked in the Pamplin School of Business. More recently, Colin has served as the associate athletic director for development. His last day will be June 2.
Silver CASE Award for Marketing/Development Team
The marketing and communications office worked with development to create the “Your Gift Sparks…” online end-of-year giving campaign, which won a Silver Award in Innovation in Fundraising in the 2017 Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District VIII Communication Awards competition. This latest award joins Portland Magazine‘s Bronze Award in in the category “Print General Interest Magazines, circulation less than 29,999.” CASE District VIII encompasses colleges and universities in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, and all of western Canada.
For more information contact marketing & communications at x7202 or mktg@up.edu.