Small Acts, Big Impact!
How the University of Victoria’s student engagement strategy is connecting a community around philanthropy
Once every year, the University of Victoria’s quad comes alive with excitement around giving. A day when the red, blue, and yellow colours of the university’s school spirit cut through the muted grey tones more typical of November in the Pacific Northwest.
Take a walk by the university’s central fountain on this particular day and you’re certain to encounter a unique kind of energy not commonly experienced at the beginning of the winter exam period. There’s a sense of joy, camaraderie, and satisfaction as students donate, share, or play-to-win an opportunity to provide a little extra funding to their favourite causes on campus.
Giving Tuesday—branded the world’s largest generosity movement—is a fixture in the calendar of many philanthropic organizations, providing opportunities to amplify the transformative potential of every act of generosity.
In 2016, a volunteer committee of University of Victoria (UVic) employees formed to develop and pilot their unique spin on Giving Tuesday, which would come to be known as Project Add Sprinkles.
“Right from the beginning, we wanted Giving Tuesday to be something that was exciting to students and fun for our community—on top of the core fundraising we were already doing,” Cora LaRussa (she/her) remembers. “We wanted to involve students in ways that would be meaningful to them, and might carry through into their alumni relationship with us.”
Cora is an Annual Giving Officer at UVic who manages the university’s appeals and special projects. She joined UVic’s Giving Tuesday planning committee just as Project Add Sprinkles was getting off the ground. In those early years, the committee focused their efforts on raising awareness of philanthropy on campus through promoting one general fund to support student activities. “Students could apply to this fund to host an event or cover expenses related to their club activities. That was how the sprinkles messaging first came about—it was the sprinkles on top of the university experience.”
As Project Add Sprinkles began to gain traction within the UVic community and more stakeholders saw an opportunity to leverage Giving Tuesday to support their work, the committee changed tack and broadened the scope to include more funds. As of 2022, UVic’s Giving Tuesday represents 24 priority funds—one for every hour in a day. With this shift from general discretionary funding for student activities, to 24 targeted funds, some of which support important pillars of the university experience, came a change in the significance of #AddSprinkles. “Sprinkles came to signify all the donations, large and small, that add up to make the university experience special,” Cora recalls.
Communications in the lead up to Giving Tuesday have included award-winning videos to educate the campus community about the role of various types of funding, as well as social media engagement, campus door hangers, signage with QR codes, and emails explaining how people can help “sprinkle impact across campus for our students, programs and community.”
UVic’s Giving Tuesday engagement strategy initially focused on donation top-ups on campus coffee purchases and attention-getting activities like an inflatable, sprinkle-filled snow globe, which students could enter with their donation.
During those pilot years, the Project Add Sprinkles team realized that providing engaging activities to raise awareness of philanthropy among students was only one part of the equation. “Things are so tight for students,” Cora explains. “It was harder to engage them in philanthropy, especially when they weren’t 100% certain of its importance.”
With this important realization came the development of an innovative sponsorship strategy aimed at providing the necessary funds, called "sprinkle bucks," which students can unlock in a multitude of ways, such as by sharing social media posts or participating in on-campus and virtual activities.
Sponsors, many of whom were identified from among UVic’s own alumni community, have been eager to take part. According to the Sprinkles’ past partnership chair and current team lead, Cortney Baldwin (she/they), the value proposition is undeniable. “Not only are sponsors getting the marketing leverage within a community that will have increasing capacity, they’re playing a key role in teaching the next generation about how to be philanthropic.”
Project Add Sprinkles’ success among students was ultimately secured in 2019 with the introduction of Philanthropoly, a life-sized reimagining of Hasbro’s popular game, Monopoly, in which academic faculties and departments take the place of properties.
“Philanthropoly really changed the game,” Cora remembers (pun intended). “It enabled students to participate in philanthropy and to visualize how donor funding supports the things they’ve participated in and value on campus. Watching students make those connections in real time is quite magical.”
– Jane Potentier (she/her), Associate Vice-President
Alumni & Development, University of Victoria
Philanthropoly is now a mainstay of every Giving Tuesday. From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the quad transforms into what Cora and Cortney fondly describe as “a spectacle,” complete with branded outfits, décor, and treats. To play Philanthropoly, students take turns rolling oversized dice and navigating their way around the colorful board to unlock 10 sprinkle bucks that they can give to their fund of choice. There are also two opportunities on the Philanthropoly board to spin the Wheel of Generosity and win a sprinkle cookie, participate in UVic-related trivia, or do a good deed. “Students love the Wheel!” Cortney shares. “Some people play Philanthropoly multiple times just for a chance to spin the Wheel!”
Students have been central to the development of Project Add Sprinkles from the beginning, brainstorming alongside the core project team—playfully dubbed the Sprinkle Squad—on how to elevate their Giving Tuesday performance each year.
Student input has identified key upgrades, such as clear communication around the types of funds Project Add Sprinkles endorses. Their feedback has also resulted in a greater diversity of in-person and online opportunities to participate, to great effect.
“We were blown away by how many people engaged with Project Add Sprinkles online, especially during the pandemic. We did not expect that much student participation,” Cora reflects. “We learned that the online games are an easy way for students to engage in spaces where they already are—for instance, on Instagram.”
“If a student takes the time to give us feedback in some way, shape, or form, we will incorporate that feedback,” Cortney adds. “Because that feedback makes Project Add Sprinkles better.”
Victoria Jackson, a fourth-year undergraduate studying recreation and health education, joined Project Add Sprinkles two years ago as a student volunteer. She came to the project through her work as a Vikes Nation Ambassador and stayed on because of the community she found among the Sprinkles team.
“My favourite part of Project Add Sprinkles is being with like-minded people,” Victoria says. “Everyone is super-positive and fun and working together towards the same goal—spreading kindness and helping others.”
Thanks to her involvement with Project Add Sprinkles, Victoria’s concept of philanthropy has changed. “I always knew giving back was a good thing to do, but it felt like it was something you had to do. UVic’s Giving Tuesday is changing that mindset. It’s showing students that it can be something you want to do. It can be rewarding for you and for others.”
As of June 2023, Project Add Sprinkles has raised over $728,000 for students, research, and programs at UVic. It has also garnered numerous accolades for its ingenuity in engaging students in philanthropy, including CASE District VIII’s own Virginia Carter Smith Grand Crystal Award in 2022.
When asked to share a few learnings from their experience in developing a strong student engagement program, the Sprinkles team offered the following:
1. Build on what you’ve learned from others.
Choose one thing to start that might be innovative for your institution. Just go a bit further than what other people are currently doing. – Cora LaRussa
Make sure you look around and see what other folks are doing. What’s out there? What’s working? What’s not working? – Cortney Baldwin
2. Create space for creativity and curiosity.
There is a ‘the sky is the limit’ mentality among our Giving Tuesday committee; a culture of creating space where you can try out all of the ideas you’ve been thinking about but could never find a way to do. We say, “Let’s make it work!” – Cortney Baldwin
We work on ideas in a really supportive environment. It is constructive, not critical. We’re all thinking through things together. – Cora LaRussa
3. Draw on the strengths of your entire academic community, not just your development team.
Project Add Sprinkles is a true team effort—across our entire campus community—with everyone working creatively and collaboratively, with a clear vision and a common goal, and feeling a sense of ownership and pride over the results. – Jane Potentier
4. Make it fun!
We make sure that whatever we roll out will be well-executed and fun. Sprinkles and tutus may be involved. – Cortney Baldwin
Planning for Giving Tuesday, and participating on the day of, is some of the most fun I’ve had in my job. We have fun being creative and supportive of each other. – Cora LaRussa
Learn more about all of the 2022 Best of CASE VIII Awards recipients on our awards website.