The second annual Mocs Give Day, a 24-hour digital fundraising initiative benefiting University of Tennessee at Chattanooga student scholarships, will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 5.
On Mocs Give Day, the extended UTC family of alumni, friends, faculty, staff and students comes together socially and online to support the University. The inaugural event raised more than $175,000—a UTC single-day record for gift giving—thanks to 600-plus donations coming from supporters in 42 states.
“We hope to exceed those numbers this year,” said Marty Smith, UTC senior associate vice chancellor of development and alumni affairs. “We have been planning Mocs Give Day 2 since March and, since we set the date, we have been working with all of the colleges to get their social media prepared for the day.
“Mocs Give Day will look a whole lot different this year. Last year, because of COVID-19, we couldn’t get out of the Development House. This time, there will be events on campus to engage students, faculty and staff.”
Smith said the second Mocs Give Day will include challenges as incentives to top last year’s totals. To raise student awareness of the day’s significance, goodies such as muffins and apple cider in the morning and ice cream sandwiches in the afternoon will be distributed at strategic locations on campus.
“I want to recognize the UC Foundation Board of Trustees for coming together to offer various challenges throughout the day, and the UTC Alumni Board has done something similar, too,” Smith said. “Most of these challenges will be around participation. Both boards have stepped up in a really significant way to encourage people to make gifts.”
Donors visiting mocsgiveday.utc.edu can designate their gifts to the University’s five colleges, athletics or individual scholarship funds, such as the Dr. Littleton H. Mason Scholarship Fund for minority students at UTC, the Gavin Townsend Travel Fund and the Terry Denniston Fund.
Smith said information about the day of giving can also be found by following @ChattanoogaAlum on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
“I think what’s most important for us is that we want our alumni, friends and parents to be engaged that day,” Smith said. “The size of the gift is not nearly as important as just making a gift and impacting students. We want individuals to recognize how important their gifts are to our students and want to make an impact.”