NED HESSER
STAFF WRITER
I Love Franciscan has returned to Franciscan University for the second year in a row.
Last year, I Love Franciscan set out to raise $50,000 to help financially support students who would be otherwise unable to return to the university.
After exceeding last year’s goal, the organizers have almost doubled this year’s goal to $80,000 to finance a Franciscan University education for 20 students.
I Love Franciscan aims to collect small donations with a large cumulative impact. In order to encourage this giving, the campaign seeks to demonstrate the impact of a Franciscan University education on a student’s life.
Promotions included special “I Love Franciscan” shirts that were distributed on campus. Students were encouraged to post pictures of themselves in the shirt on social media using the hashtag “#ilovefranciscan” as well as to promote the Franciscan spirit through acts of love and kindness.
A page was created on give2gether.com for the campaign. The website features a video of students, faculty and staff highlighting their favorite aspects of the Franciscan University community, campus life and academics, along with a link to donate to the fund.
After donating, the website also has a feature through which one can submit a comment to be displayed below the progress bar on the homepage.
One donator, identified as “Daniel” wrote, “I serve as a Youth Minister in Pennsylvania. Franciscan University has meant so much to our high school youth over the past six years that we have attended summer conferences.”
Another donator, identified as “Steven,” wrote, “We love Franciscan because everyone has embraced our daughter and loved her. She has grown spiritually and academically, and matured as a young adult amongst wonderful peers.”
Others included prayer intentions, offerings of thanks for the impact of the university on Catholic culture, or donations in honor of deceased loved ones.
The site also features an option to become a “champion” for “(T)hose who have a special, vibrant love for Franciscan University and want to share that love with others” by creating one’s own fundraising page through give2gether.com.
A Facebook page has also been created in order to allow others to follow the progress. As of Saturday, April 2 the I Love Franciscan campaign had reached $70,088 of its $80,000 financial goal.