School of Dentistry Director of Development Karen Coombs provides an update on the Day of Giving and shares a message of appreciation below.
To our dental school community:
WOW! What an amazing day and demonstration of support! The fourth WVU Day of Giving is in the books, as they say, and we could not be prouder of the show of support from our School of Dentistry alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends.
This year we raised $393,164.36 from 70 gifts and qualified for bonus dollars in three categories:
· We placed 8th across all University units in total dollars raised, which earned the School an additional $12,500.
· We placed 23rd for participation, which earned the School an additional $1,700.
· And, thanks to our Twitter users, we earned an additional $750.
This more than doubled prior years. The first year of the University-wide event, in 2017, the School of Dentistry Alumni Association used the day as a spring board to challenge fellow alumni to support a much-needed Faculty Enhancement Fund for continued professional development. Their $100,000 challenge was exceeded that year, resulting in over $200,000 for the fund; the first recipient of support through that fund was Dr. Matt Harper. The following year, 2018, resulted in 80 gifts totaling $180,000, and 2019 brought 61 gifts totaling $143,055.
This year again, the SOD Alumni Association pledged $125,000, which was met with matching commitments from two board members – Dr. Mike George and Dr. Loring Ross – to name the Urgent Care patient registration and waiting area for the Alumni Association. We thank them for their leadership in the renovation cause, and for their many other displays of support for our students each and every year.
We saw faculty members and outside donors work together to endow a charitable care fund for our patients. We saw alumni and friends of the school commit to “tagging” a locker in memory of or honor of someone they respect or loved. We saw scholarship support. We saw research support. We saw...SUPPORT!
We cannot thank you all enough for any part that you played in making the event a success for the School of Dentistry, whether it was giving outright, pledging for next year, sharing messages on social media, or sending emails to remind people of Day of Giving.
THANK YOU!
Karen Coombs
WVU School of Dentistry
Director of Development
kcoombs@wvuf.org