Engaging in philanthropy is a powerful way for students to explore their values, build community on and beyond campus and develop as global citizens.
Student philanthropy empowers students to be a part of creating positive social change. It increases student awareness of social problems and their understanding of how they can make a difference. A 2011 study found that students who participated in a philanthropic experiential learning program at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) were more aware of social problems and more likely than peers to give to charity and volunteer (Olberding, 2011).
By understanding how students engage with philanthropy, you can create more effective and impactful philanthropic programs and remove barriers to participation. If you're looking to begin tracking student philanthropy, here's how to get started.
What Is Student Philanthropy?
Student philanthropy refers to efforts by students to support charitable causes. While the word philanthropy is sometimes used in relation to volunteering, it typically describes fundraising efforts.
At your college or university, this may look like a student-led initiative to partner with a local community organization or a campus-wide crowdfunding campaign. Increasingly, institutions of higher education are also designing experiential learning opportunities that offer students the opportunity to study community challenges and then invest money in a solution.
Why Is Tracking Student Philanthropy Important?
When students engage in philanthropy on campus, it's essential to track their efforts. Tracking student philanthropy helps gauge the efficacy of fundraising endeavors and identify any barriers to success. It may also help you pinpoint equity issues: for instance, if two student groups are fundraising for the same organization while others go unsupported.
Tracking and demonstrating student philanthropy helps to create momentum on campus. When students see their peers give back, they're more likely to do the same. This can create a ripple of donations that benefits everyone involved.
Tracking student philanthropy may also provide data on how your college or university supports student development and retention. Are the students who are most active in fundraising efforts students who have participated in service-learning courses or opportunities? Do those students graduate at a higher rate or experience other positive outcomes?
By tracking student philanthropy, you can also offer greater transparency to your students, faculty, staff and community partners. By demonstrating how much your campus community raises and donates each year, everyone clearly understands their contributions. And when it comes to developing an annual report on institutional community impact, this is excellent information to include.
How Can You Track Student Philanthropy?
A service-learning management platform provides an intuitive, all-in-one solution for tracking student, faculty and staff volunteering and fundraising. Professors, teachers, educators, staff and community engagement centers use GivePulse to streamline the logistics of managing community partnerships and tracking student engagement in service-learning courses.
But GivePulse also has a comprehensive set of tools to manage donations and fundraisers. Many student groups, including Greek organizations, make student philanthropy a key part of the student experience. Your institution can support this by using GivePulse to empower student organizations to set up individual or group donation campaigns and accept donations online — all with the industry's lowest transaction fees.
Alternatively, you might set up a campus-wide crowdfunding campaign to challenge students, faculty and staff to contribute to a fundraising goal. Whatever approach you choose, GivePulse will track each gift, providing you with a clear picture of how much money you're raising and who it's going to.
Tracking Student Philanthropy with GivePulse
By offering an all-in-one platform to track donations, manage and schedule volunteers and integrate with your learning management system (LMS), GivePulse makes monitoring and managing student philanthropy easy.
Want to learn more about how our platform can help you track and scale student philanthropy efforts? Schedule a demo with GivePulse today.
About GivePulse
GivePulse's mission is to enable everyone in the world to participate and engage in lifting their community to new heights. We do so by providing a platform to list, find, organize and measure the impact of service-learning, community engagement, philanthropy, corporate social responsibility and volunteerism.
Founded in 2012 in Austin, Texas, GivePulse works with 650,000+ groups, including colleges and universities, nonprofits, businesses, K-12/school districts and cities and municipalities. Together, we connect millions of people in an effort to create positive social change.
Start making a difference today by visiting www.givepulse.com.