Brennan LaBrie
News Editor
The seventh-annual Bjug Day of Giving smashed its previous record for both donors and donations on Oct. 21, continuing an upward trend in donations since the event’s inception in 2014.
By the end of the day, 1807 donors had donated a total of $1,062,783. This shot by the initial goal of 1,000 donors, as well as the extended goal of 1,250 that was set after the first goal was met long before the 24 hours were up. These numbers also greatly surpassed the previous Bjug Day record, set in 2019, of 1,359 donors and $932,116 raised.
“Every year we’ve seen a steady increase, but this year is the biggest jump that we’ve ever seen, with over 400 more donors than the year before,” Director of Annual Giving Andrea Michelbach said.
The increase occurred despite the Annual Giving staff lowering the donor goal to 1,000 from last year’s target of 1,400. They did this partially because of the financial burdens that they knew many donors are facing due to COVID-19. In addition, they expected many donors to prioritize campaign donations during the general election season.
“We were just amazed, grateful, and surprised that we beat all previous Bjug day records,” Michelbach said. “We didn’t know what to expect but the PLU community really showed up in a fantastic and surprising way. So it was heartening to see.”
This particular Bjug Day is especially important for the PLU community, Michelbach said, with the financial impacts of COVID-19 increasing need across the university. Scholarship need has risen by about $2,000 per student, she added. However, she was aware that PLU donors had contributed significantly to emergency COVID relief funds in the Spring, and wasn’t sure how much more they were willing to give to this cause.
It turns out- they had a lot to give. Donations poured in from 41 states with alumni making up 46% of all donors. The next biggest donor group was faculty and staff, followed by parents, friends of the university, and students, who contributed 5% of all donations. The “Scholarships and COVID recovery” category brought in $165,392, second only to academics, which got $208,638.
As usual, donors gave to a wide variety of causes outside of COVID relief, but Michelbach noted that donors knew their donations to different departments, clubs, and sports teams would be extra beneficial considering the pandemic.
Athletic Department’s Social Media Campaign Proves Effective
Athletics brought in $94,122, following a social media campaign to promote Bjug Day by the department, with student athletes across all sports donning “Bjug beards” and expressing the importance of donations for their team’s success.
Michelbach noted that athletics received $101,000 in donations last year, from over 400 donors, but that was largely thanks to one sizable donation. They nearly reached that number this year, but with 681 donors, showing an impressive growth in the donating community for PLU athletics, Michelbach said.
Tracy Robillard and her husband Brian were among those who donated to PLU’s baseball and softball teams, the second of which received the most donations of any sports team at 189. Their daughter Kennedy is a senior on the softball team, and son Kenton a senior on the baseball team. They’ve donated all four years that their children have been enrolled at PLU, but saw an increased need for their donations this year.
“I felt like donations were not an option this year,” Tracy Robillard said. “Not that they would be for our family, but I would say we gave extra this year because of the circumstances, and the lack of opportunities for the athletic teams to do any fundraising.”
The Keys to Continual Growth
PLU’s inaugural Bjug Day brought in $120,560 from 323 donors. Each year since then has seen steady rises in both donors and donations. Michelbach attributes this growth to an increased awareness of the event as it grows into a significant PLU tradition, as well as increased awareness of the needs of the university.
In addition, Michelbach believes that the ability of donors to donate to whichever causes they choose encourages mass donations. This is in contrast to many universities’ cause-specific days of giving, directed at football teams or engineering departments, for example.
“Our motto for Bjug day has always been ‘we all love different things about PLU so your support should go where you want it to go the most,’” she said.
Another important factor in growing giving events such as Bjug Day is reporting back to donors on where their money went. To that end, Michelbach said that Annual Giving’s campus partners have been very reliable at reaching out to donors with updates on the results of their donations.
Michelbach added that direct student responses to donors, with messages of gratitude and explanations of how donations impacted them, are instrumental in maintaining donor support. She asked that students interested in writing letters to donors do so on this page or contact PLU Donor Relations at donrel@plu.edu.
“This makes donors feel appreciated and more likely to give again in the future, and will help ensure Bjug Day continues to be a successful tradition year after year,” Michelbach said.
