GW officials are taking more than 2,500 alumni’s checks to the bank this week — and two of them total more than $60,000.
An anonymous alumnus pledged $50,000 to GW if 2,015 alumni donated during June, and the University met that goal. The last week of June, Jeffrey Feinstein, a 2005 alumnus of the GW School of Business, offered $12,500 if another 500 alumni made donations — a goal that alumni also reached.
University spokeswoman Maralee Csellar declined to say how much money was raised in the month-long period because that figure will not be available for several weeks. The donation website shows that 2,529 alumni made donations.
The fundraising blitz comes about a year after officials launched the University’s largest-ever fundraising campaign. GW has raised about $740 million toward that $1 billion goal. More than 56,000 people have donated to the campaign, a key indicator of efforts to grow the University’s donor pool.
Experts have said that short-term fundraising campaigns offer a sense of urgency for donors to give. Csellar previously said that the most popular times to donate are during June and December.
The June fundraising push is just one of the University’s recent fundraising pushes. For example, University officials held their first “Flag Day” in April, which encouraged current students and young alumni to donate.