Giving Challenge raises more than $84K for students, programs and campus needs

Giving Challenge raises more than $84K for students, programs and campus needs
Giving Challenge
Detroit Mercy mascot Tommy Titan had to wear Golden Grizzly gear after Oakland won this year's Giving Challenge.

As the Oakland University men’s and women’s basketball teams prepared to square off against the University of Detroit Mercy this past week, alumni and fans of the two schools were engaged in the second annual Giving Challenge. 

While Oakland earned a split against its Metro Series rivals on the court, the Golden Grizzly faithful prevailed in the Giving Challenge.  

Oakland’s Giving Challenge win meant that Detroit Mercy mascot Tommy Titan had to wear an Oakland jersey during the men’s basketball game. The victory spelled redemption for the Grizz, who was forced to wear a Detroit Mercy jersey after the Titans won the first Giving Challenge in 2016.

 

This year’s challenge, which took place February 6-10, invited alumni and fans of each institution to make financial gifts to their university. Oakland had 626 donors make gifts, compared to 470 donors for Detroit Mercy.

 

All told, the challenge raised $84,572 for OU students, programs and campus needs, surpassing last year’s total by more than $30,000.

 

"We're extremely grateful to the alumni, fans and friends who showed their OU pride last week,” said Kelly Brault, director of Annual Giving at Oakland. “It felt great to make Detroit Mercy's mascot strut around in our jersey on their home court and to see the OU community’s tremendous generosity in support of student scholarships and enhancements to campus life.”

 

Oakland alumni and fans selected areas they wanted to support on campus, making gifts to benefit student-athletes through the Golden Grizzly Athletic Fund, along with a variety of other funds, ranging from academic to experiential.