For any college and higher education institution, there is a high value placed on the value of the community created both through the current students and staff, but also the alumni, parents and those in the community who can come together to celebrate.
Elizabethtown College fosters this sense of community in a variety of ways, but one of the most exciting and large-scale events is the Power of One Day and the related hashtag for this year of #OneEtown. For 24 hours on March 21, 2023, there is a giving challenge where the campus and those outside of campus come together to give even greater resources to the College. The Power of One Day is a long-withstanding tradition that has been occurring for the last nine years. It raises awareness of the College and funding for all areas of the school and reconnects alumni.
Director of annual giving Ben Osterhout commented on the origins of the event: “It started to rally support for Elizabethtown, and it was a new idea at the time for colleges and universities to do these big days of giving. We were one of the first that did it. It’s something that has caught on in fundraising and relationship building in higher education.”
Other colleges in the area, such as Millersville, have similar events that occur at different times in the year that have sprouted since the tradition arose at Etown, but the Etown College community finds ways to make the tradition their own and encourage high levels of engagement.
Last year alone, the Power of One Day at Etown had 1,822 donors which allowed the college to raise $507,112. That money goes towards scholarships, clubs, civic and community engagement and even specific schools. This year, there is an emphasis on the fact that donors can donate to what they love about Elizabethtown and when they go to donate online there is a drop-down menu that provides options about what to donate to.
Sophomore at Etown Aaron Oliver had this to say about the event and what it meant for the College: “I would say that it’s a time to show donors that there’s more to Elizabethtown than they think, for instances like music, athletics and the clubs as well. It shows that we are one school with multiple personalities”
The people in charge of this event are able to accomplish such feats not only through the power of the donators, but also due to the power of the market and communications department that helped them promote the event’s social media posts that got 2,104 engagements last year, and the 350 people, and most likely even more this year, specifically students and alumni touched by Elizabethtown, hired as ambassadors that shared their own personal experiences.
For this year, their goals are not ambitious; they simply hope that they can get even one more donor as even one more person from last year could make a difference. Within each demographic including students, staff and faculty and alumni in specific years, there is a hope that each group will donate more than the year prior and have higher rates of participation.
Although at the time of writing this not much has been put out about this event, students should keep their eyes out for upcoming social media announcements that will be happening after spring break which will bring up the special events that students can participate in and allow themselves to be more involved. Students should also check their emails for updates on the event and watch the promotional video that was sent out on Feb. 21 which features student ambassadors for the event describing the importance of the day.
