Brandeis recently announced it surpassed its goal of 1,948 donors on Giving Tuesday this past Dec. 3, according to the University’s website. Additionally, donations nearly doubled from last year's contribution total reported on the University’s Giving Tuesday page.

Giving Tuesday, celebrated the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, is often referred to as the “global generosity movement,” according to the Giving Tuesday Directory. Started in 2012 to encourage people to do good, the directory describes the day as an opportunity for collaboration between individuals and corporations to spread the importance of kindness, generosity and community. 

According to last year’s Giving Tuesday Page, Brandeis received a total of $438,449 from 1,597 donors in 2018. The University exceeded its goal of 1,250 donors in 2018. This year the University gained roughly 1000 donors and nearly doubled last year’s contributions.  

This Giving Tuesday, the University challenged community members to donate. If the University could surpass its historic goal of 1,948 donors, it would receive a donation of $100,000 from President of the Brandeis National Committee and member of the Board of Trustees Madalyn Friedberg, per Support Brandeis. In a video posted by Brandeis for Giving Tuesday 2019, the University stressed that “donations of any size” would be welcomed and used at Brandeis to support what mattered most to donors. The University also said that it would accept gift matches and gifts online or by phone. 

By the end of the day, the University had raised $865,558 from 2,559 donors, reaching its donor goal and unlocking the donation of $100,000, according to the Brandeis Giving Tuesday website, which Friedberg matched in a donation to the University.  

According to the website, the Heller School for Social Policy and Management met its Donor Challenge with 120 gifts which resulted in a match of $10,000 from parents and families. Additionally, Alumni Association President Lewis Brooks '80, P’16 and his wife Denise Silber Brooks '84, P’16 matched the undergraduate alumni donations of $5,000. 

The University collected data to show the distribution of non-anonymous donors across the country and the world. Within the United States, the data showed donors came from California to Maine. Internationally, donors were from China, Spain, Peru, India, Canada, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Greece, Georgia, Thailand, South Korea, Slovakia and Switzerland.  

The University thanked all of its donors on its website, saying it was, “in awe of the continued support from the community.” The website said that all gifts would go toward “dollars for scholarships for deserving students, excellence in teaching and research, support for the first-rate Brandeis Library and everything we love most about the university.”