Augusta University is holding its 6th Annual Day of Giving today, an opportunity for supporters of the university to donate across a broad list of programs. This annual event is a community-driven initiative driven by social media posts and shares.
There are opportunities to support health care, education and research, and innovation. Funds can be designated for a specific area, such as the scholarship fund to support first-generation college students.
“That’s our Augusta Promise program that we’ve just started this year,” Kelly Schulte, the Director of Annual Giving, told ABD. “There are five students in that cohort currently, but we try to grow that each year and have five new students come in, as well as seeing those initial students all the way through. So, it’s a four-year scholarship program for them.”
The Day of Giving also supports major projects on campus.
It was through this event that donors were able to contribute to the fund to build the new research facility for the Medical College of Georgia (MCG).
In total, donors and philanthropists have contributed $30 million to the project. In addition to the Day of Giving, donations came from the AU Foundation, the MCG Foundation, and the City of Augusta. On March 6th, Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed his amended fiscal year 2025 budget, which includes just shy of $100 million for the building.
Earlier this year, when Kemp announced he was including the project in his AFY2025 budget, Dr. Russell Keen, President of Augusta University, told ABD he believes the local commitment was instrumental in the governor’s decision.
“Simply put, we would not be having this conversation without it,” he said. “Without local skin in the game, we would not have been able to move this forward. Because it is one of those things where we’ve got leadership in place throughout our government that understand that you got to be able to leverage public-private partnerships.”
“We can’t ask others to do things that we as a community aren’t willing to do ourselves,” said Schulte. “So, having everybody get behind this is huge. And I think that shows and then what comes out of the gold dome for us.”
Schulte said contributions through the Day of Giving help address gaps in funding and donors can choose if there is a specific program they want to support.
“We have all of the colleges and units and areas here, about 18 different ones that are participating in this. So, it really is initiatives that they need help with,” she explained. “Whether that’s financial aid for students who struggle to pay for college or critical research or sports programs or any new programs that they want to bolster.”
According to the Augusta Gives website, 1,030 donors contributed a total of just under $1.4 million in 2024. The fund drive receives international support.
“We do a furthest from AU challenge, and we’ve had gifts come in from the UK. We had gifts come in from Dubai,” Schulte said. “We do a 50-state challenge where we try to fill in the US map with donors from all 50 states. We had about 26 states last year. So, we have a way to go, but we’re really trying to get that accomplished this year.”
The Day of Giving is 100% online. It officially kicks off at 5:32 a.m. today and runs through midnight.
To learn more, or to contribute, go to https://give.augusta.edu/augusta-gives-2025/
