Student Council is ‘Sweet’ on Giving Back

Philanthropy: noun, the practice of giving money and time to help make life better for other people.

A new University of Central Florida student organization is launching a week long awareness campaign, called Philanthropy Week, to thank UCF donors. The Student Philanthropy Council will be handing out free treats like T-shirts, rubber ducks and lollipops to anyone who signs their “Thank a Donor” banner.

The council’s biggest event is set for Tuesday, now extended to Friday, when they will host a campus wide contest called “tag day” with a UCF tailgate cooler and UCF merchandise as the prize . Students must take photos in front of all four gold “tags” hanging on buildings across campus (Nicholson School of Communication, Burnett Honors College, Harris Engineering and the Fairwinds Alumni Center.) Participants must be following at least one of the project ’63 social media pages. After snapping their “tag day selfies,” students are asked to upload their photos to either Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, tagging the Project ’63 account and using the #project63 hashtag. The winner will be announced Friday, when the “Thank a Donor” banner is hung in the Student Union.

“I’m really excited to kick off Philanthropy Week. Until I joined [the council] I had no clue how much donors gave to UCF to make sure our students are able to receive a quality education. I’m happy to play a part in recognizing [the donor’s] contributions,” said council member Dulcy Brown, a college of sciences major.

The council is made up of a select group students from different areas of the school. There are members from the College of Sciences, the College of Medicine, the College of Health and Public Affairs, even the Rosen College of Hospitality Management. “We have such a diverse group of people. It’s fun to put all of our ideas together to create a big event, like Philanthropy week. Our adviser (Kara Stiener of UCF’s Foundation office) and council president (Annemarie Wess, College of Health and Public Affairs) do a great job helping us translate our plans into reality. ” said Brown.

Project ’63 is a private support and philanthropy awareness campaign launched by the Student Philanthropy Council at UCF in 2013. They seek to educate the student body about the impact of private support and philanthropy while creating a spirit and culture of giving back at the University of Central Florida.

For more information on Philanthropy Week, click the photo at the top of the page, or head to Project ’63’s Facebook, Instagram (SPC_UCF) or Twitter.