Tuesday marks the University of Pittsburgh’s 10th annual Day of Giving.

The 24-hour fundraising challenge, which began at midnight, encourages Pitt community members to support the university through monetary commitments. It has become “quite the tradition,” said Jake Strang, associate vice chancellor for individual giving and university programs.

“Our goal every year is to engage as many donors as possible,” he said, across every gift size. “It’s about everybody getting involved and getting the community to come together.”

As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, 6,554 donors had given $1,225,483 — with nine hours remaining. Gifts can be made on the Day of Giving website, and they can be made to specific areas within the university.

Strang said he’s seen numerous repeat donors from year to year, but the Day of Giving is also one of the days Pitt sees the most new donors give as well, as students get very involved with their clubs and organizations — and bring in their social networks.

“It’s really become a core tradition at Pitt,” he said. “You can give anywhere that you want across the university — those different opportunities to give are really personal.”

This year the areas of greatest priority, according to Pitt, include:

  • Panthers Forward
  • General Scholarship Fund
  • Pitt Finish Line Grant Fund
  • Student Emergency Assistance
  • The Pitt Fund

For the 10th anniversary of the Day of Giving, Strang said there are opportunities for people’s donations to be matched by the university and its trustees through “challenge matches.”

On the Day of Giving website, the university is hosting various challenges — live leaderboards between certain schools, programs, clubs and organizations. It’s to find out “who can raise the most money and get those bonus funds,” Strang said.

“Giving today provides the opportunity for your gift to go further,” Strang said.

There are other in-person challenges as well for students on campus.

This year, Strang said, there are 20 Roc the Panther mascot stuffed animals hidden around Pitt’s Oakland campus for students to find. Each one is worth $50 to a fund of their choice.

During the 2025 Day of Giving, 11,423 donors from all 50 states, 23 countries and five continents gave to dozens of areas across the university — funding scholarships, research, academic programs, student organizations, athletics and other vital initiatives, Pitt said.

“(We) want to build on that,” Strang said.

These donors gave a total of around $3.2 million, according to Strang. But the goal isn’t purely a monetary sum — it’s also about getting “as many people as possible involved.

“It’s all about engaging as many members of the Pitt community as possible across all of our campuses,” he said.

Over the past nine years of Pitt’s Day of Giving, a total of $26.7 million has been raised to support Pitt by 47,075 donors, according to the university. Across Pitt, 1,560 areas have benefited from gifts.

Strang said the Day of Giving creates a “tremendous impact” across the university.

“It’s not just alumni … it’s really the Pittsburgh community that gets behind the university as well,” he said. “We see support coming in primarily coming in from our alumni. However, our current students, faculty and staff, and friends, too.”