From the Nominator

’Cats Say Thanks is Davidson College’s annual week of gratitude. It aims to thank donors, volunteers and all Wildcats, while sharing the broad impact of philanthropy and engagement. This campus-wide initiative, held November 13-17, focused on building Davidson’s culture of philanthropy by engaging students in the process of thanking the college’s donors. At campus events, students wrote thank you notes to donors and learned about the many ways donors support students and campus life every day. Staff members thanked students for being a part of Davidson and handed out sweet treats and informational flyers highlighting the many ways donors support campus and students.  Throughout the week, segmented groups of donors, volunteers, and friends of Davidson received targeted emails, handwritten cards from students, and ThankView videos with heartfelt messages of gratitude. Members of the Davidson community were engaged through social media, College ENews, and our new ’Cats Say Thanks webpage. In total, 34,881 ThankView messages were sent to groups of Davidson constituents, 343 notes were mailed to donors, and targeted emails were sent to Davidson’s student body, faculty, and staff, all to meaningfully engage every member of the Davidson community.

From the Judges

This was a well-crafted, well-executed, exciting venture for all. Strong week-long campaign—we liked the timing, the various segments, and the use of video to reach a large audience. We also liked the very targeted approach using handwritten notes to different groups. It's hard to measure the culture of philanthropy on campus, but seeing record-breaking results at the following Giving Tuesday was great!