A Successful 2024 Give To St. Kate’s Day
By Skylar Mattson
Give To St. Kate’s Day on Wednesday, November 13th marked a big day for giving at St. Kate’s. $534,450 was raised to support current and future students.
Give To St. Kate’s Day is an annual day of giving at St. Kate’s, and the goal of the day is to raise funds for scholarships and programs through campus partner and alumni donations that help students during their educational journey at the university. This year, the goal was to raise 100 student scholarships. This goal was exceeded with 106 scholarships raised with the help of 607 donors from all 50 states, the majority being from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois.
A day of giving this big requires collaboration from the entire Institutional Advancement Division including the communications team, operations team, campus events team and the gift officers who help with reaching out to donors early to launch the big day. The Student Philanthropy Club also help promote the event to current students through tabling events and encouraging students on the day of to participate in festive activities for the chance to win prizes.
Christy Donovan Jeppersen. credit: Christy Donovan Jeppersen
Lead project manager of Give To St. Kate’s Day, Christy Jeppersen, MBA ‘21, said that collaboration is key to the success of the day. However, her individual work is also essential for coordinating the entirety of the event. On top of managing the big day itself and being responsible for post-event follow up, she facilitates campus-wide collaboration.
Jeppersen is a proud Katie alum from the MBA program and has been working at the university for almost ten years. In her current role as Director of the Annual Fund her “primary responsibility is to raise annual donations for the Katie Fund, which supports scholarships and enhances the student experience at St. Kate’s.”
Jepperson shared that planning starts in July with the gathering of Give to St. Kate’s Day spokespeople. This year, these individuals included President Evans, Mia Timlin ’25 (English/Political Science), and Lauren Petersen ’10, DMSc, MPAS, Director St. Kate’s Health and Wellness Center. All three have been featured in video, print, and online promotional materials.
Jeppersen explained, “Like any large project there is a lot of coordination that takes place but the satisfaction of seeing the community come together to support students and raise funds for scholarships makes it all worthwhile. It’s a huge team effort, and the results make the hard work pay off!” She made it clear that her work in coordinating Give To St.Kate’s Day is ultimately for the students. “Students are the heart of St. Kate’s, and this day is a chance for our whole community to come together and support them. It’s about helping students succeed now and giving them the tools they need to become the leaders of tomorrow.”
For students who would like to get involved in Give To St. Kate’s Day, Jeppersen recommends joining the Student Philanthropy Club (SPC) or signing up to be a Give To St. Kate’s Day ambassador.
Maria Rose Johnson. Credit: Maria Johnson
Maria Johnson’27 (English) is the vice president of SPC and is also a student supervisor for the Digital Engagement Center (DEC). Her roles at the DEC include making sure that student employees are calling correctly, looking over notes to ensure that everything gets into the computer system okay and trying to keep things in the calling center lively to prevent boredom. As vice president of SPC, Maria works alongside the president and helps out wherever she is needed. She shared that one of her favorite things she gets to do is making a Kahoot for every SPC meeting.
Johnson told me that she is passionate about Give To St. Kate’s Day and hopes that other students will be too because “it’s what keeps our scholarship program running.”
To get involved with SPC, join one of their meetings every second Thursday of the month from 12-1pm in CDC 362. You can just show up!
Coming up, seniors can help out the SPC by donating for the senior class gift. Johnson hopes that seniors will consider giving back to their school by donating five to seven dollars. She said to think about this donation as purchasing a coffee.
