Jill Smith
Staff Writer
[email protected]

The Office of Development raised over $170,000 in donations during the Give Bold campaign. 

The Give Bold campaign, which ran from March 6-12, was a week of giving to honor the March 8, 1922 passage of the Normal School Enabling Act. 

According to the Murray State website, the Normal School Enabling Act led to Murray being selected as the new home for the Western Kentucky Normal School. 

Director of Annual Giving Christian Barnes said he wanted to honor the history of the University. 

“We wanted to do something special to celebrate and honor [donors] contributions,” Barnes said. “Giving has always been an integral part of what Murray State is, where it began,” Barnes said. “That transformative power and movement continues today, and so we wanted to celebrate all that with a special week of giving, which we have called Give Bold.”

According to the Give Bold website, the name comes from two former Murray State presidents. 

“Founder Rainey T. Wells and first President John W. Carr had a bold vision for Murray State,” according to the website. “Over the span of 100 years, what began as a small, rural Normal School has evolved into a nationally recognized, comprehensive university offering 145-degree programs, a campus comprising nearly 200 buildings on over 1,700 acres, students from 49 countries and nearly every state and approximately 80,000 alumni.”

Barnes said he wanted to ensure donors resonated with the history of the University. 

“[Wells and Carr] had a bold vision, and we wanted to incorporate their bold vision and  …  what they would hope … would turn into the campaign branding …  and just to help resonate with our donors, our alumni and our friends who help—whether it’s during giving or whether through volunteer support or through engagement,” Barnes said. “We wanted to have something that would resonate well with our constituents.”

Barnes said this campaign was only open for a week to generate more excitement among donors. 

“It helps generate some motivation for people who want to give now or today or this week, it kind of creates that general sense of urgency,” Barnes said. “We wanted to honor this week specifically and highlight this week because of what it is and what it represents.”

Planning for this campaign included designing a logo, social media graphics and building the website to make the process as engaging as possible for the donor. 

“I always keep the donor and our alumni—our constituents—at the forefront of my mind, in making sure that however they want to be involved in something like this, to make it as easy as possible for them to be involved,” Barnes said. “So whether that’s the number of clicks to get to the website, or how many minutes it takes to make a gift.”

Donors can specify where they would like their gift to go and how it can be used.  

Barnes said he was happy with the amount of engagement the campaign saw. 

“We have seen quite an increase in giving this week, and I think that’s just because of the message of the campaign, getting people involved and people wanting to be involved in something like this,” Barnes said. “It’s our centennial. We only get to celebrate it once, and we want to do it right.”

People who want to find out more information on how to give a gift to Murray State should visit murraystate.edu/give.