There is a lot of anticipation leading up to the 6th annual Day of Giving on May 16, 2019. The money donated on this day helps to bridge the gap between the tuition paid and the deliverance of an excellent education at BSM. “The message is pretty simple: BSM is an amazing place and we need to raise money each year to fill the gap,” Annual Fund Director Mary Lenker said.

The Day of Giving is a 24-hour online campaign where the BSM community, alumni, students, grandparents, and friends are asked to consider donating to the school. “This kind of giving day is wonderful for people who are regular donors and it’s a huge marketing and promotional day and a time for us to tell everybody how cool BSM is,” Lenker said.   

What many people may not know is the tuition that you pay doesn’t actually equate to how much it costs to educate a student at BSM. The annual tuition is approximately $15,990 but it costs approximately $17,620 to educate each student. This means there is a funding gap of $1,630 for each student. The purpose of this day of giving is to raise money to fill this gap. “Our goal is to raise $250,000 for BSM on the Day of Giving,” Lenker said. However, BSM has raised about $1.600,000 each year from generous donors.  

The title of the event: Day of Giving encapsulates the whole concept of the event. “It’s a 24 hour online giving campaign. People do call in sometimes. Some people send a check and we count it but that day we will have students and staff making reminder phone calls,” Lenker said. The day has been very successful in the past thanks to our many donors.

The majority of donors are current BSM families or alum.“People who are making gifts usually have some kind of relationship with the school either they’re alum, parents, grandparents and sometimes they’re friends but mostly they have a personal relationship which is what motivates them to be involved,” Lenker said. Gifts range from $5 to thousands of dollars per donor each year.

BSM’s team that works with annual giving has been working vigorously for the past year preparing for this day. They do a number of promotional activities to get the word out about the Day of Giving. “We do a mailing, we do the Crown and Shield, we do emails leading up to the day, we do the Knightly news, and we do social media posts. We’re doing a student video produced by senior Matt McGonigle again the day before and I think what’s new this year is a larger scale video that highlights what’s good about BSM” Lenker said.

This larger scale video that they’ve decided to do is called a “Lip Dub”. The students, faculty, and staff took part in this Lip Dub on Friday, May 3rd. The concept of a Lip Dub is to highlight all the energy and opportunities at BSM as well as recognizing the faculty and staff that keep it running smoothly. This 4-minute video includes fun danceable songs which featured students lip-synced while dancing. The video shows the fun, prideful, and light-hearted community BSM is and shows donors why it is so special.

The Day of Giving is quickly approaching and BSM is looking forward to the funds that it will bring in. BSM is extremely thankful for any contributions towards the annual fund because it helps ensure growth and opportunities for its students. BSM thanks you for considering donating on May 16th.