Raise Some L breaks some records
November 9, 2018More Cardinals than ever before came together Homecoming week to support the university during its annual day of giving.
Raise Some L, a 30-hour fundraising effort, experienced a record-breaking year as 1,544 donors, including alumni, students, staff, faculty and friends from 38 states, gave $503,426 in critical support for more than 100 areas of campus. RaiseRED dance marathon garnered the greatest number of donors with 372, followed by the College of Arts and Sciences with 229 donors.
More than 170 alumni, faculty and staff volunteered as social media ambassadors, sharing the great work taking place at UofL with family and friends to help shatter the 1,200-donor goal set for the day. Current students also played a crucial role. The Student Organization for Alumni Relations (SOAR) organized an on-campus fundraiser and recorded personal thank-you videos to send to donors during a designated hour of thanks. In addition, student employees staffed the campus call center, phoning alumni and donors asking them to give and show their support.
“This was an exciting day for the university, our alumni, fans and friends,” said Josh Hawkins, assistant vice president for alumni relations and annual giving. “It’s a special time for everyone to stand together and support our students, this institution and one another.”
The event kicked off at 6:02 p.m. Oct. 23 and ran through midnight Oct. 24 for a total of 1,798 minutes in honor of the university’s founding date. The online community was so energized that #RaiseSomeL was trending locally in Louisville on Twitter.
Erica Walsh is the marketing director for the Office of Communications and Marketing. Her job lets her share UofL’s good news in all avenues of communications including publications, advertising, content marketing and branding. Walsh joined UofL in 2014 after previously serving as the public relations specialist at Indiana University Southeast. Prior to her career in higher education communications she was an award-winning newspaper reporter. Red is one of her favorite colors and it’s a good thing, too, because she earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Western Kentucky University and her master’s in communication from UofL.