Giving Day is Back (and we’re issuing an official JMUSB challenge)!

If Ms. Good doesn’t get you fired up for Giving Day, nothing will!

So the ginormous success that was JMU’s inaugural Giving Day is coming back next week and expectations are rightfully sky high. Last year at this time JMU had no idea how their first 24-hour challenge would go. Expectations were low for all five funds included in the Dukes first foray into the recent trend of an all-out sprint for much needed financial lifeblood to be pumped into universities after years of declining state and federal funding. A kid from the Breeze even wrote a misguided opinion piece slamming the event.

And the Duke Club as the only athletics-specific fund was particularly nervous. They fired Men’s Hoops Coach Matt Brady on this day last year and they’d recently lost Everett Withers to allegedly FBS Texas St., replacing him with up-and-coming, but generally unknown Mike Houston. In fact, when we discussed promoting the event with the Duke Club’s hardworking and open-minded Meredith Cox a few weeks before the event, we specifically noted our hesitation because we thought the potential firing of Brady would be a bigger story to us than a silly fundraising challenge with an inexplicable treasure hunt theme.

Needless to say, both JMU and your ridiculous, moronic old-guy bloggers could not have been more wrong about the excitement a 24-hour lovefest of all things Dukedom would generate! When it was all said and done, JMU would crush their goals for the day and the Duke Club would absolutely destroy their humble goal of one full in-state scholarship, or $24,500 by raising an astonishing $128,735.00.  The University as a whole raised a whopping $338,964.00 from 2840 different donors. And most surprising of all to everyone involved, JMUSB would play a small role in the stunning haul, apparently referring enough folks and building passion for Giving Day in such a way that we would win the only non-douchebaggery “major award” we’ll ever win from the Duke Club along with considerably more famous Dukes Arthur Moats and Justin Partlow.

This year, four things have changed. First, the goals for Giving Day have shot through the roof after last year’s success and all the love flowing around the university in no small part thanks to that then-unknown ball coach. Second, JMU is scrapping the ridiculous theme from last year in favor of the much more Dukes-appropriate “Dukes ALWAYS show up!” (apparently they also wisely scrapped part two of that “for the tailgate!”). Third, Giving Day is taking place next Tuesday, which happens to be Pi Day – needless to say if you’re dork enough to write a blog about JMU sports for eight years you’re dork enough to celebrate Pi Day every year and this year we now have extra motivation. And finally, we are in absolutely no way skeptical about this event this time around. We can wholeheartedly say a) PARTICIPATE at any level you can and b) we’re not selling out by saying that for this insanely worthy cause.

Seriously, an actual award

On that note, our individual donation levels will never win us awards or club seats, and we can hope for no more this year than a few Rootin’ Rewards, but we are hereby announcing the major very small JMUSB Official Giving Day Challenge. For every donor that notes us as their “referral” or “how did you hear about Giving Day” when they make their donation, we will donate $1 for JMUSB in addition to our personal donations up to $100. In other words, if 100 folks note us as their referral source, we will donate an additional $100 to the Duke Club. Please comment on this post or #JMUSBchallenge us on Twitter by 10:00 p.m. Tuesday (so we still have time to get our donation in even though there’s no stopping Giving Day till the stroke of midnight) to let us know. Added bonus, if anyone joins the Duke Club from the state of New Mexico at the $25 level or higher (we’re looking at you Nat Conley), we’ll match that as well. For the record #JMUGivingDay and #ProudandTrue are the actual official JMU hashtags for the day.

Dukes won the ‘ship in football, women’s hoops hosting the conference tourney this weekend, softball and lax nationally ranked and looking at huge seasons and the love for JMU is an all-time record high, so it truly is time to SHOW the eff UP next Tuesday! Go Dukes!

Finally, fair warning we’re going to be insufferable on Twitter next Tuesday. But if it’s anything like last year, it’s going to be an amazing day.