UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — On Dec. 3, 2024, Penn Staters across the country and around the world joined together to celebrate the University’s 10th GivingTuesday. More than 9,700 donors collectively gave 11,986 gifts, together setting a new record for overall dollars raised during the event — more than $1.7 million.
"GivingTuesday is a day that never fails to inspire, and this year's results are truly heartwarming,” said Molly Gibbard, vice president for Penn State’s Student Philanthropy Network. “Witnessing students passionately support their causes and build meaningful connections with the community fills me with pride in Penn State and its unwavering spirit of generosity and unity."
GivingTuesday 2024 invited back popular campaigns from past years, ultimately welcoming more than 150 individual projects, programs and organizations as featured fundraisers. Dickinson Law’s campaign for The Penn State Fund for Dickinson Law led the way for dollars raised, with supporters giving $63,113. The Penn State Alumni Association’s campaign to provide free Blue and White Society memberships to first-year students from underrepresented communities earned the title for most participation with 276 donors, followed by the Penn State Blue Band (215 donors) and Penn State Sustainability’s campaign to install bird-friendly glass across campus (176 donors).
Student fundraisers continued to play a meaningful role in the overall event, with longtime participating organizations like performing arts group Harmony and Penn State’s Engineers Without Borders joining new campaigns like the Seed to Supper program at the Dr. Keiko Miwa Ross Student Farm to help drive more than $100,000 in giving. And more than 100 campaign advocates — community members who choose to champion a specific campaign by creating their own fundraising page — drove nearly 5,000 website visits and over 500 gifts to campaigns across the University.
Illustrating the power of collective impact, gifts made on GivingTuesday came from all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and seven additional countries. Almost 40% of all gifts were $25 or less, and more than 2,000 Penn Staters made their first gift to the University during the event.
“It has been an incredible experience over the past 10 years to watch GivingTuesday at Penn State grow from an idea into a signature event that thousands of alumni, friends, students and fans look forward to each fall,” said Ray Marsh, assistant vice president for external engagement and interim director of annual giving. “Our community’s choice to support each other so generously year after year — this is what we mean when we say, ‘We Are Penn State.’”
Gifts made on GivingTuesday advance the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach and economic development that grow our shared strength and readiness for the future; and increasing the University’s impact for families, patients and communities across the commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting raise.psu.edu.