If you follow any of the University of Oregon’s social media accounts I am sure you saw for the last few weeks or so that they were posting about this event called Ducks Give. While it is assumed by the name that it is an event that aims to encourage Oregon ducks to donate, I was personally unsure as to exactly where those donations were going.
After a bit more research on it I found out that Ducks Give is the sixth annual day of giving hosted by the University of Oregon. For 24 hours alumni, parents, and friends of the U of O can donate to an area on campus of their choosing and that donation has the chance to be matched by either a company or another donor.
In general the event is created to encourage donations by using incentives like it being matched and it going straight to the cause of your choice. Through posting about it and all the areas on campus that have the potential to receive donations voicing their gratitude they are able to call on social media and marketing tactics to encourage donations.
This year the U of O was able to raise up to $2,295,690 with that money coming from over 1,000 individual gifts. Those donations will be dispersed around campus to the designated departments and organizations.
While I think that the event was a great way for the duck community to get involved and give back I do think that the school severely missed the mark of marketing what this event was. Again, while the name is self explanatory the actual details of what was happening were never really explained. I think if the school would have properly explained it then they may have seen more donations come in.