Day of the Badger 2021: Give Back, Wear Red, Stay Connected

Save the date for Day of the Badger 2021!

After being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Day of the Badger campaign is back on for April 6-7, 2021. Day of the Badger is an annual campus-wide, multi-program fundraising event that brings friends and alumni of the University of Wisconsin – Madison together for 1,848 minutes of giving back.

In 2019, the Day of the Badger raised a total of $1,863,080 through 5,061 gifts. The School of Journalism and Mass Communication raised $28,801 with 129 individual gifts, the third highest total in the College of Letters and Science. This impressive total included donations from alumni, friends of the school and a generous matching fund made possible by a group of SJMC Distinguished Service Award winners.

This year, with the overwhelming challenges of COVID-19 impacting us all, we know things are different. However, we are no strangers to overcoming challenges, and the Day of the Badger is a chance for us to come together as a community, support current students and share our J-School pride.

The impact of gifts made during the Day of the Badger are far-reaching and make a meaningful difference for students. In 2019, Day of the Badger funds helped cover the cost of renting PBS Wisconsin studio space for the Badger Report broadcast.

Alesha Guenther (left) and Alyssa Hui (right) ready to begin The Badger Report broadcast.

“The space has helped students like me who are very passionate about broadcast journalism to actually gain hands-on experience,” says Alyssa Hui (pictured on the right with classmate Alesha Guenther).

When the Great Vilas Flood destroyed the graduate student lounge, Day of the Badger funds bought new furniture. Funds also helped strategic communication students learn Salesforce, a customer relationship management system used for marketing.

“In these turbulent times, discretionary funds like those raised during the Day of the Badger allow us to better prepare for the unknown,” said Hernando Rojas, SJMC Director. “We continue to be committed to providing the highest quality educational experience for our students, and the generous contributions of our alumni and friends of the school are what make that possible.”

This year, a generous group of past Board of Visitors members, led by Ben Deutsch (BA’85) and Peter Fox (BA’73, MA’82), have pledged $10,000 as a challenge gift for Day of the Badger. If the J-School reaches certain giving milestones, we will unlock this challenge gift, making the impact go even further in providing world-class journalism education to our students.

Join us beginning at 10:12 a.m. CDT on Tuesday, April 6 through 5 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, April 7 for the second Day of the Badger!