More Than Just One Day

Moments before the final total raised in Bold & Blue was revealed, campaign co-chair Dana Dykhouse said, “Jackrabbits exceed expectations, because that’s what Jackrabbits do.”

The description fits with every facet of SDSU life, including the One Day for STATE giving day launched in August 2017.

For the first event, the SDSU Foundation set a goal of 500 donors in 24 hours, not knowing how people would react to the new concept. The response was overwhelming: 1,196 different donors combined to raise $298,000.

With each succeeding event, the totals grew, reaching 6,474 donors and $2.6 million raised in one day in 2023.

One Day for STATE harnesses the power of digital media to connect people around the world with opportunities to help SDSU. Challenge donors offer gifts that are unlocked by the number of donors who contribute, regardless of the gift amount. Academic colleges, departments, and athletics programs have friendly competitions throughout the day, tracking the number of donors and gifts made to each.

Donors even jockey for position to make the first and last gift, which now carries bonus funding for their program they support.

The day transitions into an early-evening Yellow and Blue Block Party on the Alumni Green across from the Campanile. The family-friendly celebration features the Pride of the Dakotas Marching Band, student groups, and student-athletes.

Meanwhile, social ambassadors feverishly send emails and create social media content to encourage donors to give – or give again – in the final hours.

One Day for STATE is fueled by nostalgia and camaraderie, serving as an introduction to students and recent graduates on the power of philanthropy.

Like most everything Jackrabbit-related, it always seems to exceed expectations.

Online Effort, Offline Impact

SDSU dominates social media platforms during One Day for STATE, as students and faculty shout from the digital rooftops to attract donors to their preferred cause.

In recent years, the School of Communication and Journalism – or COJO – has reigned supreme.

COJO staff are active from midnight to midnight each annual giving day, cranking out social media posts that encourage students and alumni to get involved and give back. Leading the team of staff-turned-influencers-for-a-day are professional adviser Erica Quam and School Director Joshua Westwick.

Relying on their platforms and unique talents for telling a story, the two COJO leaders credit their genuine enthusiasm for making a difference.

For Westwick, he draws inspiration from his experiences at SDSU. “My life was transformed by the amazing experiences I had as a student,” he said, “and I feel fortunate to have the chance to provide similar experiences for our students.”

By creating trendy videos and crafting chuckle-inducing posts, the COJO team has found success connecting to students and donors.

The dollars specifically raised for COJO have funded trips for students to attend conferences, workshops, and other experiences. The forensics team traveled to Ireland for its first international competition with help from One Day for STATE fundraising.

“The support allows our students to say ‘YES’ to academic and co-curricular opportunities without having to stress about the cost or decline altogether for financial reasons,” Quam said.

“Being a Jackrabbit is something special,” Westwick said, “and we celebrate this in big and bold ways on One Day for STATE.”

A Stampede of Support

One Day for STATE has created a platform for programs throughout the university to build a base of financial support. Perhaps none have harnessed the power of the day of giving better than SDSU rodeo.

Rodeo has a proud tradition, but struggled to gain traction beyond a handful of loyal donors. That changed in 2020, as Coach Ron Skovly honed in on the potential to transform marketing and fundraising efforts. The diehard passion was there; it wasn’t translating to fundraising dollars to address the program’s needs.

Rodeo boosters spread the word and focused on the power of numbers – not necessarily the size of gifts. It’s been a catalyst for support, exceeding 300 donors during One Day for STATE in 2023.

“It has given our rodeo program an amazing platform for our new and existing donors to support us,” said Skovly. “The increased support from the first time we participated has elevated us to a new level, allowing for practice equipment and travel expenses that we’d needed for years.”

The investments made possible by the event don’t stop there. One Day for STATE fueled the program’s ability to purchase a skid steer, used for animal chores and cleaning pens. Leadership also added over 100 feet of portable feed bunk line for practice stock, eliminating problems with feeding and maximizing day-to-day efficiency.

Big-picture goals include additional coaching and staff support, travel opportunities, and scholarship funding. Those ambitions might have sounded far fetched a few years ago, but appear within reach through the increased base of support established through One Day for STATE.

Philanthropy By Students, For Students

At its heart, the SDSU Foundation’s mission is to foster a culture of giving. For recent graduates, that pathway to giving is linked to One Day for STATE.

Take Anna Chicoine, for example. A 2018 English graduate, Chicoine was among the 106 students who donated to One Day for STATE in its inaugural year in 2017. Struck by that experience, she’s made a gift during it every year since.

“I can genuinely say that SDSU gave me some of the best years of my life,” Chicoine said. “The Jackrabbit community is a welcoming, lifelong family, and I give back so that future students can also find their Jackrabbit family and make their own memories.”

A former Hobo Day Grand Pooba, Chicoine views One Day for STATE as an opportunity to stay connected. “While we are all Jackrabbits and share the bond of attending SDSU, we each have our own unique stories; One Day for STATE provides an amazing 24 hours to share those with each other and ensure future students are able to one day have their own experience at SDSU,” said Chicoine.

Current students have embraced it. In 2023, 684 students contributed $11,616 in those 24 hours. The goal is to turn students like Chicoine into perpetual donors.

Meaningful Momentum: Challenge Donors Lead by Example

One Day for STATE unites Jackrabbits worldwide each fall for a 24-hour philanthropic frenzy, growing to nearly $2.6 million from 6,474 different donors in the seventh annual event.

Starting in 2017 and coinciding with the beginning of the Bold & Blue comprehensive campaign, One Day for STATE is a fundraising juggernaut. The number of individual donors has grown six-fold since the inaugural event; there were donors from all 50 states and 15 different countries in 2023. The amount raised is nearly nine times higher than the first year.

A key driver for the growth are donors who provide challenge gifts to incentivize others to give. Challenges ranging from $1,000 to $100,000 are unlocked throughout the day based on how many supporters make a gift. The number of participants – not the size of the gift – is what unlocks the challenge gifts.

There were 25 challenges for the inaugural 2017 event. That swelled to more than 100 by 2023.

Gordon Niva and Susan Lahr have offered challenge gifts since the program’s inception.

The couple has remained engaged with SDSU since graduation. One Day for STATE offered a fresh way to show their passion and raise funds for pharmacy, engineering, and Hobo Day.

Niva sees the allure as “the spirit of doing something meaningful together.”

“For Susan and me, it’s all about our desire to engage those early donors and start them in a habit of giving, no matter the size,” he said.

“You don’t get a second chance to get in on the ground floor of something big,” Niva continued. “We strongly support the notion of personally significant giving that gets started by a gift of any size. We wanted to do something to inspire that first gift.”