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Tag! You're It! : Teaching the Spirit of Philanthropy
If you walked around campus on Nov. 16, 2016, you no doubt saw numerous signs posted throughout University grounds and inside buildings. These signs, or “tags,” carried information on them that highlighted the impact philanthropy has had on each student’s college experience.
“We wanted to educate students about philanthropy by bringing tangibility to it,” said Assistant Director of Annual Giving Crystal Hubbard ’00, MBA ’08. “The room you are studying in bears the name of someone who cared. As a student, you normally don’t think — or even know — about that fact.”
Teaching Annual Giving Day, or TAG Day, was Hubbard’s brainchild. She wanted to introduce students to the importance of philanthropy in a way that would resonate with her target audience. “To put it in front of them and gamify it, so to speak,” she explained. Thus, TAG Day was born.
On Nov. 16, tags were posted at various locations across campus which best exemplified how private donations make a difference to Radford University. Students were then invited to take a selfie with as many tags as possible. Each TAG Day selfie entered the student into a raffle to either watch a home men’s basketball game or have lunch — student’s choice — with Radford University President Brian O. Hemphill. “We felt this was a great way to get the new president involved with the students,” Hubbard explained.
Raffle winners were also able to designate a $500 gift, generously donated by the Radford Athletics Club, to the club, team, program or department fund of their choice. Junior Ashleigh Cochran won the scavenger hunt raffle an designated the group Disciples on Campus, of which she is a member, to receive the donation. Cochran, majoring in deaf education, said that she thought participating in the scavenger hunt “was a great way to support my group.”
Cochran also chose to have lunch with President Hemphill. “President Hemphill seems really cool and I wanted to learn more about him,” she said.
Students were also encouraged to sign a TAG Day banner and give their thanks to supporters via video message. The banner, which held the messages and signatures of well over 100 students, was ultimately hung from the walking bridge between Dalton Hall and Heth Hall.
While TAG Day was Hubbard’s idea, she is quick to point out that it would never have happened had it not been for the work of several different Radford University departments.
“We started planning TAG Day over the summer. We had a scavenger hunt raffle, a banner, a thank you video, 15 different building tags, and 12 different campus signs as well as the prizes for the raffle,” she explained.
“TAG Day had a lot of moving parts and required assistance from numerous Radford University areas: University Relations, Web Communications and Strategy, Facilities Management, the Office of the President. Without the collaboration of those departments, we wouldn’t have had a TAG Day.”
As for whether or not she felt the months of work it took to bring TAG Day to life had been worth it, Hubbard maintained her characteristic optimism.
“If even one student better understands the impact that philanthropy has had on their education, then I believe it was a success. They can then pass that message on to others.” ■
