The Day of the Badger returned for the sixth year to fundraise for the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The fundraiser is a two-day online giving event raising funds for UW, according to the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association Director of Annual Giving, Betsy Massnick.
“The Day of the Badger spans throughout 1,848 minutes, which is added on to every year since the University was founded,” Massnick said. “Campus partners can sign up to participate and then everyone reaches out to their networks of alumni and supporters, encouraging them to make a gift during those minutes.”
To donate funds, individuals can visit the Day of the Badger website — those who wish to donate can search over 150 areas of campus to support and can then create Badger gifts online. While the Day of the Badger fundraiser ended at 5 p.m. April 9, gifts continue to be accepted through the website after the deadline.
Most of the funds collected through the Day of the Badger are discretionary funds or they are used by the leadership of specific areas and programs on campus, Massnick said. Funds can also be used for emergency student support and scholarship funds, making sure schools and colleges have the proper resources to provide, expand and improve education for students, Massnick said.
“There are things like the arboretum or Lakeshore nature preserve [you can donate to], so any kind of schools and colleges at UW have their own funds,” Massnick said. “It’s [your donation] really for anything you care about.”
At the conclusion of this year’s Day of the Badger, more than 4,411 donors contributed to more than $1.7 million raised and over 7,000 total gifts, according to an emailed statement from the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association.
In the history of the Day of the Badger, a total of $8.5 million in funds have been raised, with over 30,000 gifts handed out to specific funding initiatives on campus.
In this year’s Day of the Badger leaderboard, the Wisconsin School of Business funding cause received the most funds, $69,585. The College of Letters and Science took first place among UW schools and colleges with a total of 2,666 gifts and $377,697.
The biggest development for this year’s Badger Day is the program attempting to make a “bigger splash” on campus to garner more attention for the event, Massnick said, including a squishy Bucky hunt, where 20 Bucky plushies were hidden across campus. Additional clues were attached to the plushies, leading to the rest of the hidden Buckys.
Further, this year, the Day of the Badger program installed a disco ball on campus, prompting students to use social media to share the Day of the Badger cause.
To stay updated on the Day of the Badger program, Massnick recommends watching their website, as well as their social media account, which can be found @WisAlumni on Instagram.
