The Spirit of Giving: Texas A&M University’s crowdfunding platform connects the community with Aggie projects

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When Texas A&M University’s Aggie Dance Team set their sights on the 2021 College Classic National Invitationals, there was just one hang-up: they would have to cover 90% of the cost to attend the competition. Determined to attend nationals for the first time in 20 years, the team set to work raising money through profit-shares and dance clinics for high school students. Then, they heard about a new fundraising opportunity: Texas A&M’s Spirit of Giving crowdfunding platform. The team joined the platform’s second cohort of projects and raised $8,550 in six weeks, surpassing their $5,000 goal. Boosted by this support, the team blazed through nationals, bringing two first-place titles home to the Brazos Valley.

The Aggie Dance Team is only one of the Spirit of Giving platform’s many success stories. Established in 2020, the crowdfunding site expands the reach of current Aggie’s projects beyond the university to an audience across the Bryan College Station community and around the world.

Launched by the university last November, the program allows Texas A&M student organizations, programs, and departments to crowdfund through the site. Groups submit an application for their project, and those selected are posted on the site for a 30- to 45-day fundraising period. Project members can share their initiative’s link with their networks and on social media, similar to popular crowdfunding sites such as Go Fund Me. The platform was inspired by other universities’ success with their own sites, according to a Texas A&M Today article.

“It’s a really accessible site,” says Vicki Dobiyanski, Texas A&M associate vice president for student affairs. “It gets projects out there that people may not know about that are happening on our campus.”

To date, the site has hosted 27 projects in three cohorts that raised a combined total of $243,252 through 2,185 gifts. Projects have included a peer-to-peer suicide prevention program, the university’s 2021 Physics and Engineering Festival, a sea turtle conservation effort at Texas A&M University-Galveston, and BUILD, a student organization that transforms shipping containers into medical clinics. The site was also used for a special fundraising challenge with the University of Texas to aid students affected by the 2021 winter

storm. The initiative raised $57,698 for Aggies and increased to more than $72,000 with a match from the Texas A&M vice president for Student Affairs.

The platform’s convenience makes it a useful fundraising tool, says senior Malia Galicia, the director of external relations for Fish Camp 2021. The orientation camp was part of the platform’s third cohort in April and May, and staff included QR codes to their page when they sent fundraising letters to friends, families and Aggies. “Our world is so technology-forward and moving in that direction where everything is online rather than handwritten checks or cash donations,” Galicia explained. “So I think it was really cool to have a platform that made it easy for somebody to do it at the palm of their hands.”

Through the platform, Fish Camp raised more than $63,000 for scholarships to help more than 250 freshmen attend the tradition. “I am so excited by the amount we made and so grateful,” Galicia said. “It is so cool to see the Aggie Network and Aggie family come together and support these freshmen to ensure they get the opportunity they may not have had in the first place.”

The community support displayed through Spirit of Giving was also empowering for the Aggie Dance Team, says head coach Amy Liefer. “It really means a lot to me, and I know even more so to [everyone on the team],” she adds. “It’s just nice to have your alumni supporting the current students chasing their goals and dreams and really getting behind the success of the students at their former school.” IN

The platform’s next cohort of projects will go live Oct. 1 for a 31-day fundraising period. For more information, visit spiritofgiving.tamu.edu