Thank you, donors, for the Libraries’ best-ever Day of Giving

The Libraries focuses on supporting student success and wellness and on making education more affordable for the Wolfpack. Donors responded in record numbers to that mission with a variety of generous gifts to the Libraries on the 2023 Day of Giving on March 22. Since the Libraries serves every student at NC State regardless of their college or department, these gifts add up to a university-wide triumph.

Donors gave 230 individual gifts, our most ever, that totaled $1,943,261—the highest-ever amount raised for the Libraries on the annual Day of Giving—including a record-setting, anonymous endowment gift.

“This day was a remarkable celebration of the Libraries and our efforts to drive student success at NC State,” says Libraries Executive Director of Development Jeremy Allen. “We saw a number of exciting new endowments created, along with meaningful gifts of all sizes. Our Libraries community really stepped up.”

Six new Libraries student employee scholarships were established through both outright gifts and pledges, and estate gifts, including:

• the Dale Cousins Scholarship Fund on Behalf of Libraries and Librarians established by Friends of the Libraries Board member Dale Cousins
• the Timothy R. Jenney Memorial Libraries Scholarship Fund established by Friends of the Libraries Board member Pete Dyke and his wife Theresa
• the Nancy J. Kuivila and W. Robert Maddin Scholarship Fund established by Friends of the Libraries Board member Nancy Kuivila and her husband Rob
• the Charles Aycock Poe Jr. Family Libraries Student Scholarship established by Libraries supporter Pat Poe.

Additionally, Dr. Jim and Mrs. Ann Goodnight made a generous donation to the Susan K. Nutter Innovation Endowment, a fund that allows the Libraries to respond quickly to campus needs and directly support student success.

Libraries staff also joined in the fun of the day. University Library Specialist Justin Haynes and Support Services Associate Katelan Haynes were one of five winners of the “Where's Mr. Wuf? Scavenger Hunt” social media challenge, garnering an additional $400 for the Libraries.

Other donations went to the Libraries’ Student Resource Fund, which provides technology- and textbook-lending programs to promote more affordable education. As heard in this video testimonial, students have come to depend upon Libraries' laptops, chargers, WiFi hotspots, textbooks, and other resources—all for free—to reduce barriers to their success, including financial insecurity.

Donors also made gifts to the Libraries’ Student Scholarship Endowment on Day of Giving. This endowment supports a growing, needs-based scholarship program for Libraries student workers that reduces the financial burden of their education. Since 2018, we've awarded 35 scholarships of varying amounts totaling $119,000. For the academic year 2022–23, philanthropic support for the Libraries Student Scholarship Fund has allowed us to support 10 of our talented students with scholarships worth $36,000 in total—and thanks to 2023 Day of Giving donors, that number will grow.

Read about some of our Libraries Student Scholarship awardees like Simone Smith, who aspires to be a meteorologist, Callie McAdoo, who wants to do humanitarian work in Japan or South Korea, and Brianna Bui, who hopes to go into engineering consulting in manufacturing. Read more about how scholarship awardees and Libraries donors connected at a recent event here.

"We are so grateful to Libraries donors for making Day of Giving a great success,” says Greg Raschke, Senior Vice Provost and Director of Libraries. “We connected with record numbers of Libraries donors, providing crucial support for current needs and extraordinary growth for endowments that will support generations of students and researchers. Your contributions help NC State's groundbreaking research have more impact, and provide students with resources to help afford their education and master skills to give them a competitive advantage when they graduate."