Luther College Giving­ Day connected service with giving

Luther College on Thursday hosted "Giving Day," a 16-hour fundraising event to support the Luther Fund.

The day featured a simultaneous 12-hour live feed beginning at 8:00 a.m. bringing entertainment, engaging stories and information from students, faculty and staff across campus to Luther family and friends across the globe. The community is invited to make a gift, view the live feed and get real-time updates on Giving Day at luther.edu/giving-day

This year, the Luther Fund team has a few surprises in store. Among the new challenges for this year is a match for volunteer service hours. Designed to encourage community service among Luther's alumni, family and friends, the volunteer challenge will add $10 for every volunteer hour (up to 10 hours) a donor completes during the two weeks prior to Giving Day as well as the two weeks following.

"We know Luther values community service and this is a great way to honor that. If a donor completes or pledges to complete volunteer hours, our challenge donors will add $10 to their donation for every hour. It really gives new meaning to #luthergives19 and we're excited to see this challenge take off," said director of development and current gifts Mariah Bringer Smith,

Another new feature of Giving Day this year is Power Hours. Throughout the day every gift will be doubled, thanks to Giving Day's generous challenge sponsors. During Power Hours, various clubs, music ensembles, athletic teams, majors and geographic locations will be featured and during these hours gifts will be tripled.

"Giving Day really showcases the best thing about Luther College - our community. This project is truly a labor of love and each year I am humbled by the number of people who are eager and excited to be involved. I look forward to spending the day celebrating this wonderful place with our Luther family worldwide!" said associate director of annual giving and Gnome-in-Chief for Luther's Giving Day Megan Torkelson.

All challenges and Power Hours are posted throughout the day on Luther's Facebook page, facebook.com/luthercollege; Twitter feed, twitter.com/luthercollege; and Instagram feed, instagram.com/luthercollege. Donors can also view posts on tagboard.com/luthergives19, and can participate in challenges, Power Hours and events throughout the day using #luthergives19 on social media.

Gifts given through Giving Day support the Luther Fund, where the money is put to work right away. Last year, more than 9,000 alumni, family and friends supported the Luther Fund with gifts ranging from $5 to $100,000. This $2 million+ in unrestricted giving provides scholarships, world-class teaching and supports the whole Luther experience.

A livestream interview being held at Marty's

The livestream tech crew at work at Marty's

Giving Day photo backdrop

Giving Day promotional goodies on display