ACU had a giving day to bring locals together to support their community.

ACU Gives lasted for 1,906 minutes, or 36 hours, starting April 25 in honor of the founding year of ACU.

This year the number of organizations to give toward expanded from three to 42.

Messages and events across campus were encouraging students to get involved. Dr. Phil Schubert, president of the university, was the main participant in a dunk tank fundraiser as a way for students to give.

Samantha Adkins, director of donor relations and annual giving, said this year one of the main focuses was student engagement to help them feel a part of change on campus.

“We don’t want students to feel like they need to give to the university because we can’t fund something,” Adkins said. “We want them to feel a part of making ACU possible for every student that’s here now and will come after them.”

Adkins said the university adopted the giving day in 2017, the same year as the city, after seeing the success.

“About six years we decided to get in on the one day giving initiative just to give it a shot of what it could do for the university,” Adkins said. “We’ve just continued to adjust and mold the day given the circumstances and we’ve grown it significantly.”

One of the channels ACU Gives funds is an entrepreneur course, where students join a committee to advocate for funding of community nonprofits. The selective course is made up of about 10 students, who apply and are recommended by their peers or faculty. They reviewed nine nonprofits, funding six of them with a total of 50,000 dollars.

Lindsey May, 2022-23 student body president, said the committee course helped her find her voice in advocating for others.

“It taught me to stand my ground and stand up for nonprofits that I saw fit,” May said, senior marketing major from Farmersville. “We get the opportunity to explore what being on a community foundation would look like.”

ACU Gives mainly used an online medium to receive their donations.