Students, businesses and alumni have something to be proud of after accomplishing the highest amount of donations in the history of the Franklin County Campaign.
“We’ve had a big increase in support,” Brook Riffel, director of annual giving and Dome Society, said. “OU really appreciates it.”
Riffel said the Franklin County Campaign is a fund raiser that takes place every year from October 1-31. Volunteers from the college including students, faculty, parents and staff go out into the community to inform businesses, alumni and other community members about the fund raiser.
Participants are given the option of which department their donations will go to: scholarships, athletics, theatre and arts are among the options. Riffel said most donors choose for their donations to go to a scholarship fund.
“Without the campaign there wouldn’t be nearly as many scholarships for not only me but other students from Franklin County,” Tyler Hazen, sophomore said. “Ottawa is a fairly expensive college but the campaign makes it possible for me to come here.”
Hazen gave the student speech at the kick-off luncheon Oct. 6. All alumni and businesses in Franklin County were invited to the luncheon to get the fund raiser started.
Riffel said this year the campaign worked with the Ottawa Main Street Association to develop the “We Support OU” signs that can be seen around town. They hoped to develop an awareness of the campaign and to develop more of a welcome to returning students.
Brian Dennis, director of the Ottawa Main Street Association said he helped OU get a foothold on Main Street.
“There hasn’t always been the closest relationship with Ottawa and the businesses downtown and we wanted to work to give the university a much better face in downtown Ottawa,” he said.
Riffel said the Franklin County Campaign is an opportunity to build a strong, positive relationship between members of the university including students, faculty and staff with members of the community.
“We want to raise awareness of the campaign and a good relationship is beneficial to both sides,” Riffel said.
This year’s campaign raised about $100,000. Riffel said this is a staggering improvement from last year’s $70,000 income and ground breaking compared to the $25,000 raised the year before that. Riffel said because of the success of this year’s campaign she is hoping to raise the goal to $125,000 for next year’s campaign.
Riffel also added that the official Franklin County Campaign only lasts the month of October, but gifts can be given to the university any time of the year.