About The Day Of Giving

On our 2024 Day of Giving, we are asking the Wabash Nation to #CelebrateWabash by joining together and giving in support of our students.

By making gifts on 04.24.24, we will celebrate all that we love about Wabash. We’ll encourage people in our networks to #CelebrateWabash by making gifts, spreading the fame of her honored name, and elevating the College to even greater heights. Together, we will show our students and the world that this little College can do giant things.

All gifts made on 04.24.24 will count toward our Lead Challenge goal. Wabash stands to receive $500,000 for students and their life-changing education from a group of leaders when alumni and friends make 5,000 gifts in a single day.

In addition to automatically counting toward the Lead Challenge, each gift can also contribute toward an Affinity Challenge. These are challenges issued by individuals and groups who have put their personal philanthropy on the line to inspire other members from the Wabash community to support the Day of Giving. You can select one Affinity Challenge per gift using the dropdown menu while on the Day’s giving form.

You might call them kudos, tributes, props, shout-outs, or snaps. As we celebrate Wabash on the 2024 Day of Giving, we’re calling them “Celebrations.” After making your gifts, follow the prompts to celebrate the people, programs, and on-campus places that make Wabash so special. Celebrate someone or something extraordinary and elevate the College to even greater heights.

The celebrations count on 04.24.24 includes gifts, attendees at on-campus and regional Wabash Club events, celebration posts, social media uses of #CelebrateWabash, and more.

While the 2024 Day of Giving is primarily an online effort (wabash.edu/celebrate), the College will count checks or IRA/QCD gifts received via postal mail before, on, or after the Day with 04.24.24, Day of Giving, or Celebrate Wabash noted on a memo line. The College will also count gifts that donors pledge to make through Donor Advised Funds or via appreciated securities.

Alumni and friends can let the College know they are making these gifts by sending an email to celebrate@wabash.edu or by calling 877-743-4545 on or in advance of 04.24.24. We will include these gifts in the totals on the day, but individual donor names may not appear on the real-time honor roll of donors until after the gift has arrived.

We will allocate gifts made on the 2024 Day of Giving to the Annual Fund unless otherwise noted in the comments section on the online giving form. The Annual Fund supports scholarships and financial aid, faculty and academic programs, student experiences, and the College’s most pressing financial needs. The College will allocate gifts with Athletics challenge codes to the Athletic Director’s Fund unless otherwise noted.

Yes, many companies offer programs that will match contributions to Wabash. Your 2024 Day of Giving support to the Annual Fund will meet most matching requirements and can multiply your impact on Wabash students. Companies will often match gifts from spouses, parents, retirees, or partners. Contact your human resources office or visit wabash.edu/matching to find out if your employer has a matching gift program.

An affinity challenge is a pledge made by an individual or group that “challenges” others with whom they are associated to make a gift on 04.24.24. If the challenge terms are met, they will give an additional gift. For example:

“Bob Donor ’95 was a proud member of the Pep Band while at Wabash in the 1990s. Bob will make an additional $1,000 gift when this challenge reaches 100 gifts on our 2024 Day of Giving.”

Affinity challenges can represent any group of the Wabash community. You can lead one for a class, living unit/fraternity, a group of spouses or partners, metropolitan area, field of study, sports team, student club, scholarship fund, memorial fund, or in honor of a professor/coach/student.

Each gift made to meet an Affinity Challenge goal also automatically counts toward meeting the overall Lead Challenge.

Complete the form at wabash.edu/celebrate/add-challenge. Once submitted, we will review the details and contact you about its approval. Once active, your challenge will be listed in an Affinity Challenge table on the main wabash.edu/celebrate page. Also, the challenge code will appear on the giving form dropdown menu. Throughout #CelebrateWabash, spread the word to your social media contacts, by email, and phone, and tell everyone you know that your challenge is on!

Either the Dean for College Advancement, the Dean of the College, or the Director of Athletics will review Affinity Challenges that request gifts be allocated to a restricted designation (non-Annual Fund). We recommend submitting these as soon as possible for review and approval.

Send us an email at celebrate@wabash.edu and tell us who you would like to contact. We’ll send you a list of classmates, teammates, and other Wabash connections to reach out to and help elevate #CelebrateWabash.

The 2024 Day of Giving is a great way to celebrate all that you love about Wabash and your belief in our time-honored mission. If you have given this year, thank you! Making another gift on 04.24.24 will count toward the 5,000-gift goal for the day and will help the College achieve the Lead Challenge of $500,000. In addition, celebrating Wabash on 04.24.24 adds to the momentum as we approach the College’s bicentennial in 2032.