UMBC students understand the importance of charitable engagement and giving back: they know that making a difference in the lives of others is what makes the world go around. That’s why we’re celebrating our students and our community on National Philanthropy Day. This special day is a unique opportunity to acknowledge the importance of giving, volunteering, and charitable engagement to our society and our world.

So, in honor of National Philanthropy Day, UMBC is proud to highlight three student initiatives that are lending a helping hand:

Making connections, building friendship.

Students will spend the week at the ARC of Carroll County, where they’ll get to know and offer support to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Learn more and support this project.

Examining the stigma, lending a hand.

Students will make a difference right here in Baltimore as they learn about the experiences and challenges of homelessness and reflect on approaches to addressing the issue through public policy and community action. Learn more and support this project.

Clowning around to change lives.

UMBC students explore alternative healthcare and interact with patients to bring laughter, joy, and creativity as an integral part of the healing process. Learn more and support the project.

 Celebrate National Philanthropy Day and support a student project! 

UMBC students understand the importance of charitable engagement and giving back: they know that making a difference in the lives of others is what makes the world go around. That’s why we’re celebrating our students and our community on National Philanthropy Day. This special day is a unique opportunity to acknowledge the importance of giving, volunteering, and charitable engagement to our society and our world.

So, in honor of National Philanthropy Day, UMBC is proud to highlight three student initiatives that are lending a helping hand:

Making connections, building friendship.

Students will spend the week at the ARC of Carroll County, where they’ll get to know and offer support to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Learn more and support this project.

Examining the stigma, lending a hand.

Students will make a difference right here in Baltimore as they learn about the experiences and challenges of homelessness and reflect on approaches to addressing the issue through public policy and community action. Learn more and support this project.

Clowning around to change lives.

UMBC students explore alternative healthcare and interact with patients to bring laughter, joy, and creativity as an integral part of the healing process. Learn more and support the project.

 Celebrate National Philanthropy Day and support a student project! 

Thanks to your generosity, our student callers raised nearly $60,000 for UMBC this year!

UMBC students called, and generosity answered.

The UMBC Phonathon program began its third year of calling on Sept 15, 2013.

By June 30 2014 (the end of UMBC’s fiscal year), Phonathon callers secured 1,076 gifts for a total of nearly $60,000.

Logan Wern, UMBC’s Phonathon Coordinator, is excited about the impact the gifts will have on the campus. “I’m very grateful for our generous alumni and parents and our hardworking student callers,” said Wern.

It’s true that success is measured in numbers, and giving is up since students began making calls in 2011. However, relationships built by UMBC’s Phonathon are just as important.

“What I love most about being a student caller is the connections I build with alumni and parents. I love sharing exciting news about UMBC, and getting the alumni excited about their alma mater,” says student supervisor Irum Zar ’16. “Giving back to a place that gave you so many opportunities is very important to me, and I love being able to share that passion with other callers as a supervisor.”

A sincere thanks to our generous alumni and parents. We appreciate your support and commitment to UMBC. Because of you, UMBC continues to grow more and more innovative by the year. Thank you!

Help support other student initiatives!

Thanks to your generosity, our student callers raised nearly $60,000 for UMBC this year!

UMBC students called, and generosity answered.

The UMBC Phonathon program began its third year of calling on Sept 15, 2013.

By June 30 2014 (the end of UMBC’s fiscal year), Phonathon callers secured 1,076 gifts for a total of nearly $60,000.

Logan Wern, UMBC’s Phonathon Coordinator, is excited about the impact the gifts will have on the campus. “I’m very grateful for our generous alumni and parents and our hardworking student callers,” said Wern.

It’s true that success is measured in numbers, and giving is up since students began making calls in 2011. However, relationships built by UMBC’s Phonathon are just as important.

“What I love most about being a student caller is the connections I build with alumni and parents. I love sharing exciting news about UMBC, and getting the alumni excited about their alma mater,” says student supervisor Irum Zar ’16. “Giving back to a place that gave you so many opportunities is very important to me, and I love being able to share that passion with other callers as a supervisor.”

A sincere thanks to our generous alumni and parents. We appreciate your support and commitment to UMBC. Because of you, UMBC continues to grow more and more innovative by the year. Thank you!

Help support other student initiatives!

UMBC is an incredible and diverse community of thinkers, creators, and innovators. When we work together, we can accomplish great things.

Alums enjoy the IT & Engineering Happy Hour and Fundraiser

Case in point? Just today, a group of our Information Technology and Engineering alumni raised enough money to fund a student scholarship. They decided to shoot for $1,600, and they raised 105% of that goal with two days left in their campaign.

As they say, the proof is in the pudding. This is one story among many of the generosity of our alumni and the ways in which they change UMBC for the better each year.

As our fiscal year comes to a close today, this demonstration of support is especially timely. Gifts made now will have the most immediate impact on our students as we get to work planning for an amazing new school year.

Give today and watch your gift go to work immediately
for our students.

Support our UMBC students!

Did you know that last year more than 65% of UMBC’s full-time undergraduate students applied for financial aid?

Unfortunately, more than a quarter of those students didn’t receive all—if any—of the support they so desperately need. What’s worse is that it’s often a very small amount of money that holds students back from getting the education they need to survive and succeed in today’s economy.

That’s why we’re turning to you. The great thing about Retrievers is that you know the importance of community support.

Together, we can make sure that our students finish school and get the degree that will help them throughout their lives.

Every gift, no matter the size, will move us forward. Please support UMBC students with a gift, today. When you do, you’ll change someone’s life.

Please support our students today!

UMBC is looking to hire a new Assistant Director of Annual Giving. We need someone to help us take our program to the next level.

The new assistant director will lead fundraising efforts for the university’s crowdfunding platform; collaborate with UMBC’s Alumni Relations team and other on-campus groups to develop a robust student philanthropy program; request and manage complex data files; proactively provide an ongoing analysis of fundraising progress and reporting; manage the university’s matching gift efforts; and more.

Do you think you have what it takes? Check out the job listing and apply today.

If you spend any time at UMBC, it doesn’t take long to realize that Retrievers are remarkable people. They are smart and creative and they care about their communities.

We are so proud of and thankful for those who give of their time, talent and treasure at UMBC, in our community, and around the world. So, in honor of National Philanthropy Day, we wanted to recognize just a few of the ways that Retrievers give back:

Denene Yates ’10,  health administration
Yates, a Newcombe Scholar, has made a career of helping others. During her time at UMBC, with the aid of a professor, she founded a non-profit organization called Safe House of Hope in the Curtis Bay. Through this, Yates works to assist sex-trafficking victims and those engaged in prostitution in their efforts to become vital, healthy members of the community. Her work has been so critical that she was named a 2013 fellow of the Open Society Institute – Baltimore.

Lee Blaney, assistant professor, and the students of Engineers Without Borders-UMBC
Blaney and the student members of Engineers Without Borders are changing lives across the globe. This January, they’ll travel to Isongo, Kenya, to install a clean water system to provide sanitation and hygiene information to the residents. “Helping communities in need is exactly why the students in this group give so much of their time and energy. Engineers Without Borders projects are great because the ultimate goal is to give the project over to the community,” explains Michael Brown, a student engineer. Learn about the project (and how you can help!).

Visual arts students and associate professor Stephen Bradley
Bradley and his students became mentors and brought art into the community through a mural project with Masonville Cove and students at Benjamin Franklin High School. Students worked on various designs for the mural that would remind the visitors to MCEEC of the fragile ecology of the place and to improve the visual landscape. Throughout the creation of the mural, the UMBC students found themselves talking and making art with the BFHS students working through their anxiety and contending with other obstacles they face in their lives.  Learn more about the project.

Madie Eshete ’07, biological sciences
For many of us, a 30th birthday celebration means balloons, presents and parties with friends and family. For Eshete, however, the milestone birthday meant a lasting change for hundreds of rural Ethiopians without access to clean water. A first-generation Ethiopian-American, Eshete raised more than $10,000 for charity:water, which aims to help an estimated 800 million people worldwide without access to clean water by providing freshwater wells, rainwater catchments, sand filters and other lasting solutions. Read more.

Rugby alumni
UMBC Rugby players past and present joined together for the first UMBC Rugby Day of Service, partnering with Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake and Habitat for Humanity Sandtown to demolish and clean up one site, and to build a new home on another.  Close to 30 players from the men’s and women’s club participated. “As an organization, we were looking for an event that would allow us to bring all of the teams together, past and present, to do something positive in the greater Baltimore community,” said Tracy Williams, Jr. ’06. Learn more.

How do you give back to your community?

Tell us on Facebook or Twitter!