Want to see what's actually driving Giving Day results right now? Now in its fourth year, the annual Givey Awards recognize the most effective, record-breaking Giving Day campaigns across Encoura’s ScaleFunder partners.
This year’s data from top-performing higher ed institutions highlights three core strategies driving high-converting campaigns:
- Removing Checkout Friction: Integrating modern digital wallets (Apple Pay, Venmo, DAFpay) and automated tracking made giving effortless for donors while freeing staff to engage on campus.
- Authentic, Peer-Driven Advocacy: Empowering ambassadors and students through custom department pages, targeted volunteer incentives, and student-led video storytelling drove genuine community buy-in.
- Targeted Urgency and Gamification: Unlocking momentum with time-bound power hours, early-giving challenges, and specialized secondary Giving Days for athletics and capital projects maximized participation.
Out of all our partner institutions, 29 winners stood out for their creative approaches to donor engagement and revenue growth. Below, explore the winning strategies, view live campaign pages, or watch the recorded announcement webinar to see how these institutions scaled their results.
2026 Giveys Winners and Highlights
Category: Creative Giving Day Theme
- Baylor University: Baylor captured a Givey for tapping into nostalgic written communication with their "Baylor Giving Day Messengers" theme. The university executed a cohesive visual strategy across their site, featuring stamped envelope icons for giving areas, postcard-style social feeds, and rebranded "Bear Races" challenge pages. They also renamed their ambassadors to be called “Messengers” to align with their theme
- University of Houston: The University of Houston won for leveraging their basketball culture into a week-long, March Madness–style bracket competition that pitted schools against each other for daily donor totals. Their interactive campaign went a step further by engaging donors with a retro digital video game and an online Giving Day newspaper detailing the campaign's impact.
Category: Gamification Excellence
- Iowa State University: Iowa State drove high-impact giving by pairing an unprecedented 5-to-1 match for Lake LaVerne revitalization with out-of-the-box campus challenges. They energized their community by offering unique experiential incentives, such as adopt-a-monarch-butterfly opportunities, funding treats for campus therapy dogs, and hosting an interactive cash cube on campus.
- UMass Amherst: UMass Amherst unlocked continuous engagement by spreading strategic power hours across their entire giving day rather than concentrating on a single window. By pairing these timed challenges with dedicated department pages, they allowed individual campus communities to maintain strong momentum and participate on their own schedules.
- West Virginia University: West Virginia University mastered gamification by pairing straightforward, easy-to-understand matches, challenges, and leaderboards with dynamic social media contests. Campaign highlights included their popular "Country Roads" singing video competition and interactive contests that encouraged alumni to post photos featuring campus gear, pets, and the Day of Giving flag prop (mailed as a Day of Giving Save the Date).
Category: Ambassador Excellence
- Kappa Alpha Theta: Celebrating 10 years of giving with a beautifully designed campaign, Kappa Alpha Theta excelled by offering creative, non-traditional ambassador incentives that volunteers actually want. Moving beyond standard T-shirts and socks, they motivated their advocates with practical branded items like clear pencil bags, pocket mirrors, and nail files.
- Monmouth University: Monmouth University empowered their advocates through a comprehensive ambassador toolkit complete with sample messaging across channels, communication timelines, and ready-to-share social graphics. They drove strong peer-to-peer engagement using a "You + 2" challenge, rewarding ambassadors with exclusive branded merchandise once they brought in two additional donors through their personal link.
- St. Catherine University: St. Catherine University energized their volunteers with an all-inclusive toolkit featuring animated social assets, a free t-shirt just for signing up, and high-value grand prizes for top performers. After rewarding their previous top ambassador with campus performing arts tickets, they raised the stakes for their upcoming campaign by offering a smartwatch to the highest-performing advocate.
Category: Creative Social Media
- Oakland University: Oakland University boosted campaign visibility by leveraging Scalefunder custom events and Walls.io to turn social media activity into an interactive Giving Day challenge. By encouraging their community to post using the campaign hashtag for a chance to win a randomly selected $250 gift toward the fund of their choice, they seamlessly transformed followers into active brand advocates.
- UC Irvine: UC Irvine elevated their social media challenge by integrating the recognition phase directly onto their ScaleFunder Giving Day site. By actively publishing contest winners and featured community posts on their live page, they created an evolving user experience that gave donors a reason to return throughout the day to celebrate their peers.
Category: Best Campus Involvement
- Indiana State University: Indiana State captured the campus spirit by showcasing high-energy, authentic photography that highlighted genuine student, faculty, and staff participation across campus. Their vibrant visual storytelling, featuring enthusiastic on-campus events and fun campus pets, demonstrated a unified, school-wide celebration that actively drove donor engagement.
- Western Washington University: Western Washington University executed a massive campus-wide effort by partnering with 161 collaborators to build out 106 department pages that supported 385 program funds. By empowering individual units to own their content, create unit-specific social media countdowns, and launch tailored challenges, they gave every department a personalized voice while fostering true institution-wide buy-in.
Category: Giving Day Event Engagement
- UNC Charlotte: UNC Charlotte earned top honors by hosting a dynamic slate of diverse events tailored to every segment of their community for their Niner Nation Gives campaign. From faculty and staff kickoffs and student celebrations to an alumni book launch fireside chat and a featured baseball game, their multi-faceted event strategy maximized in-person donor stewardship and drove widespread campus participation.
Category: Awesome Greek Organization
- Kappa Sigma Fraternity: Kappa Sigma stood out by launching a specialized second Giving Day tailored specifically to advance an ongoing capital campaign. Their innovative site strategy featured a live construction cam, interactive progress thermometers, and project naming opportunities built into the platform layout — ultimately helping them raise over $1 million. Their annual Weekend of Giving campaign also raised over $1 million with an impressive 77% of total funds secured directly through online gifts.
Category: Awesome New Giving Day Partners
- Eastern Washington University: Eastern Washington University hit the ground running with a clean, professional platform design and streamlined checkout options, including digital wallets like Apple Pay, PayPal, and Venmo. They maximized donor interest by featuring a wide breadth of giving opportunities across athletics, stadium renovations, emergency funds, student food pantries, and the arts.
- Illinois Wesleyan University: Switching platforms to eliminate manual back-end tracking and technical friction, Illinois Wesleyan University achieved a record-breaking $3.6 million Giving Day. ScaleFunder's automated match and reporting tools allowed their team to step away from their desks and engage directly with donors on campus while real-time site updates ran seamlessly in the background.
- Ithaca College: Ithaca College surpassed their inaugural campaign goals by crossing the $1 million mark despite an unexpected, last-minute campaign pivot just a week before their event. Their team showed immense resilience and agility, launching a polished Giving Day site and delivering an outstanding performance in their first year on the platform.
Category: Frictionless Giving Experience
- Cleveland State University: Cleveland State University won for leading the way as an early adopter of new, streamlined checkout technology on the platform. By rapidly integrating Chariot DAFpay and Double the Donation alongside standard digital wallets just days before their campaign, they established a seamless, multi-channel giving process for their donors.
Category: Engaging Giving Day Videos
- Montclair State University: Montclair State University celebrated a decade of giving with a video that highlighted the evolution of their campaign over 10 years. They brought their history full circle by pairing past and present campus moments, complete with lighthearted student activities, with a dedicated thank-you video to steward their community.
- Northwest Missouri State University: Northwest Missouri State University drove authentic engagement by putting students front and center in their Giving Day campaign video. Rather than relying on institutional talking points, the video featured students sharing personal stories about why they chose the university and how donor support impacts their everyday lives.
- University of North Texas: The University of North Texas brought their "Unlock Ambition" theme to life through a dynamic single-student perspective. The video journeyed through classrooms, science labs, campus theaters, and the football field to illustrate how philanthropy unlocks opportunities across every corner of the institution.
Category: Creative Early Giving
- The Ohio State University: The Ohio State University saw great success with early giving by launching exclusive, pre-campaign challenges that could only be unlocked before the official Giving Day launch. By setting achievable participation targets, such as securing 10 to 15 donors for $1,000 challenge rewards across key campus areas, they built early momentum, ensured site activity was already humming on launch day, and created opportunities for smaller donors.
Category: Incentivized Giving
- Central Michigan University: Central Michigan University drove donor participation by tying specific giving thresholds to fun, branded giveaways. Campaign incentives included glitter stickers for the first 100 donors, custom keychains for alumni membership upgrades, a sweatshirt for the 133rd donor, and a crowd-pleasing "Squishy the Squirrel" collectible for gifts of $33 or more.
- University of South Carolina: The University of South Carolina flipped the script on traditional incentivized giving by focusing their rewards squarely on motivating ambassadors. Peer-to-peer advocates were driven by tiered milestones—earning "Give 4 Garnet" socks, mascot block sets, and bonus challenge funds for the areas of their choice based on the number of donors they recruited.
Category: Creative Site Design
- Butler University: Butler University captured a Givey by launching an action-packed comic book theme that seamlessly connected their site design, ambassador dashboard, digital marketing, and physical direct mailers. They elevated volunteer engagement by rebranding their ambassadors as "Heroes", while also driving major results with new platform technology, securing a record-setting $25,000 gift through their Chariot DAFpay integration.
Category: Athletics Giving Day
- Whittier College: Whittier College demonstrated the power of built-in affinity by hosting a dedicated Athletics Giving Day driven by targeted team matches and friendly competition. By creating program-specific gamification and matching challenges for individual sports teams, they successfully rallied their athletic alumni and fan base to drive high-impact results for their secondary giving event.
Category: Giving Tuesday Campaign
- University of Mary Washington: Mary Washington differentiated their Giving Tuesday campaign from their spring Giving Day by introducing tailored site visuals while maintaining a cohesive brand identity. They engaged current parents near the end of the semester by inviting them to include personal encouragement notes alongside a gift of Hershey's Hugs & Kisses for their students during finals week.
- University of Cincinnati: The University of Cincinnati has built a Giving Tuesday tradition by offering a collectible Bearcat ornament for gifts of $20 or more. They extended campaign momentum onto their crowdfunding platform with a Cyber Monday project, allowing donors to secure the current year's ornament alongside past collectible editions.
Category: ScaleFunder Partner of the Year
- UC Berkeley: UC Berkeley earned the ScaleFunder Partner of the Year award for their intentional, highly strategic approach to expanding their Giving Day ecosystem across three distinct annual campaigns. Beyond their flagship spring "Big Give," the team successfully launched and scaled two focused giving events to support specific campus communities: "Oski's B-Day Bear-a-thon" in September and "Go for Gold" in August, which grew year-over-year from $91,000 to over $275,000 raised.
Whether you are planning your institution’s very first Giving Day, launching a targeted athletics drive, or looking to streamline your checkout experience with modern digital wallets and DAF options, the strategies modeled by this year's Givey winners show just how powerful an intentional, donor-centric campaign can be.
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