TAG, you’re it! October 17 was TAG Day at Western New England University—as in Thank-A-Giver Day. It was an opportunity for students, faculty, and staff to show their gratitude by writing hundreds of thank-you postcards to donors.
The campus was covered with signs and “tagged” with price-tag shaped posters to visualize the impact of donors’ annual support for The Fund for Western New England University. Participants shared TAG Day photos —along with messages of appreciation—on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for a chance to win prizes.
Postcards were written at four “TAG stations”: the St. Germain Campus Center, the Center for the Sciences and Pharmacy Atrium, the Alumni Healthful Living Center Lobby, and the Court Café in the Blake Law Center.
This was the University’s first TAG Day, and it’s safe to say that this event will become an annual tradition, according to Annual Giving Officer Rachel Griffin ’11. “It was an enormous success,” she said. “Everyone really spread the word leading up to TAG Day, and it showed.”
Student volunteers for the Advancement Division also gave out 400 packages of Ramen Noodles as a follow-up to the TAG Day slogan, “Ramen, coffee, donors… they’re all helping us get through college. Now it’s our turn to thank our generous donors for their support.”
The University community responded en masse, offering hand-written words of thanks to donors. Erin-Nicole Conti, a senior Creative Writing major, wrote on her postcard the University has given her “the chance to grow and develop as a leader and into a confident young adult excited for life after graduation.”
Czarina Sabitsana, a freshman Communication major, wrote that she is grateful for “the college experience I have dreamed of. This is such a great community of people. I love it here. I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”
Maya Wick, a freshman Electrical Engineering major, said that TAG Day was a great idea “because when someone gives money to the University, that person may not consider how the gift might affect particular students. To be able to thank them makes it much more personal.”
The impact of donors on campus often feels intangible, according to Deidre Swords ’05, associate director of annual giving. The idea of TAG Day is to remind everyone how much the University really relies on fundraising, and to show how grateful we are for their donors’ contributions. “We were trying to complete that circle of philanthropy in a new, creative, and engaging way, and it worked well,” said Swords.
All the postcards will be mailed to donors who have made gifts in the past 12 months.
