Officials set a $1 million donation goal for the University’s second-ever Giving Day next week, which they said will be boosted by a matching challenge from a trustee.

The University raised nearly $1 million for last year’s first-ever Giving Day fundraising push, and this year, trustee Avram Tucker will match up to $250,000 in donations made as a part of Giving Day on Wednesday, officials announced in a release. Tucker, an alumnus of the School of Business who also serves as the Board of Trustees’ secretary, will also donate an additional gift of $100,000 if donors hit the $250,000 benchmark.

Officials said Tucker’s donation, named the “Tucker Challenge,” is also part of GW’s focused initiative to increase financial support for Pell-eligible students that was launched late last year in conjunction with the University’s bicentennial.

“Now is a particularly important time to support students because things are getting tougher for everybody – both in terms of people’s ability to afford college and the cost of college,” Tucker said in the release. “I feel the challenge will encourage people to give and increase GW’s ability to help very deserving students with access to education.”

Tucker pledged a separate $2 million donation in 2014, half of which was divided between GW Law and the business school.

The remaining $1 million went to the athletic department, leading the Board to dedicate GW’s home baseball field as “Tucker Field” in his honor, located at Barcroft Park in Arlington. Tucker played on the Ellipse as a center fielder for the Colonials from 1976 to 1977.

Jared Gans contributed reporting.