24-Hour Challenge unites more than 5,500 donors for Rice

Feb. 29, 2016, may have gone down in the history books as leap day, but at Rice that date will be remembered more for the record-setting number of donors and $1.5 million raised for Rice during the university’s 24-Hour Challenge.

The Rice University Board of Trustees had issued the biggest single-day giving participation challenge in the school’s history to Rice undergraduate and graduate alumni, parents and current seniors. If 5,000 donors made a gift to Rice Feb. 29 between midnight and 11:59 p.m. CST, the board would donate $500,000 to the Rice Annual Fund.

More than 5,500 members of the Rice community accepted the challenge and contributed more than $1 million for the university. With the board’s additional gift, the total raised exceeded $1.5 million for causes across campus.

“This is an incredible accomplishment and a new record for one-day giving participation at the university,” wrote the Rice Annual Fund team on http://giving.rice.edu/1day1rice.

In emails thanking the donors, the team wrote, “It was so inspiring to see the global Owl network unite for Rice, including alumni and parents from China, England, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Norway, Singapore and the United States. These gifts will support many areas on campus, including the Annual Fund, the Association of Rice University Black Alumni (ARUBA), the Owl Club and the MOB.”

The Rice Annual Fund provides current-use, unrestricted funding for need-based scholarships, graduate student support and a range of other student initiatives and pressing needs.