{"id":42390,"date":"2026-05-11T14:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T18:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=42390"},"modified":"2026-05-12T10:25:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T14:25:33","slug":"dins-day-2026-raises-more-than-1-3m-for-furman-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/dins-day-2026-raises-more-than-1-3m-for-furman-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Dins Day 2026 raises more than $1.3M for Furman University"},"content":{"rendered":"

Furman University\u2019s supporters rallied and contributed more than $1.3 million in gifts during the 12th annual Dins Day campaign, a celebration of Paladin pride and generosity.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On campus games engaged students, faculty and staff, academic departments called on their supporters, and athletics connected with Furman\u2019s vast network of alumni, parents and friends to bring in gifts from more than 3,700 people, according to the Office of Development. Dins Day gifts add to the Clearly Furman campaign, with the goal to raise $476 million by the end of June.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s Dins Day shows how deeply donor generosity strengthens the Furman experience,\u201d said Shon Herrick, vice president for development. \u201cThese gifts directly support learning, mentorship and opportunities that define Furman, and the ongoing involvement of our faculty and staff helps turn our donors\u2019 generosity into meaningful, lasting impact for students throughout the year.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To build that excitement on Dins Day, Furman hosted an Early Donor Challenge and Top Fund Donor Challenge. Volleyball took first place in the Early Donor Challenge and Women\u2019s Lacrosse took second, earning additional funding for securing the most individual donors prior to Dins Day. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery outreach, every message and every contribution on this day reinforces that we are more than a team, we\u2019re a community united and invest in each other\u2019s successes,\u201d said Michelle Young, women\u2019s volleyball head coach. \u201cAnd those extra dollars have a direct, meaningful impact on the student-athlete experience, enhancing training resources, supporting travel and competition opportunities, and creating the environment our athletes need to grow, compete and succeed at the highest level.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Top Fund Donor Challenge saw Furman\u2019s athletics coming out on top, with Track and Cross Country, Volleyball, Strength and Conditioning, Men\u2019s Tennis and Women\u2019s Lacrosse taking the top five spots, and the Women\u2019s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department earning honorable mention.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Furman tracked which class years were inspiring the most donors and gifts on Dins Day, and the Class of 2028 topped the leaderboard for most individual donors, at 77. The Class of 2024 brought in the most dollars, at $26,343.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The dollars raised on Dins Day fund student experiences that are at the core of a Furman education. The Tocqueville Center raised more than $60,00 this year to start a Tocqueville Scholars program \u201cthat will put intellectually promising students with a faculty mentor for a full academic year of reading and reflection in a one-on-one setting,\u201d said Brent Nelsen, the Jane Fishburne Hipp Professor of politics and international affairs and director of the Tocqueville Center.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDins Day is successful because it reflects the collective commitment of our campus community,\u201d said Emily Theall, director of annual giving. \u201cOur faculty and staff partners play an essential role throughout the year, engaging donors, championing their programs and helping ensure that every gift directly enhances the Furman experience for our students.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For a complete breakdown of giving, visit the 2026 Dins Digest website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 3,700 people contributed gifts to over 150 funds during the annual giving campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":42193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1922,57,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-clearly-furman","category-donor-stories","category-top-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42390"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42392,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42390\/revisions\/42392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}