Our first year as official participants in Cornell Giving Day was a success!
Even though this year’s Giving Day at Cornell, March 12, coincided with a market crash and rising fears amid a pandemic, CPEP’s friends and alumni came out strong! 147 people made gifts, including one generous anonymous donor who created a $5,000 match, for a grand total of $16,180 raised in just 24 hours. For a sense of what a difference it made for us to be included on Cornell’s Giving Day promotion, see the chart below.
“We were all cheering in the office when we passed the $10,000 mark,” reports Executive Director Rob Scott. “It’s exciting what this extra infusion of money will mean for our students and volunteers.”
Cornell published a list of the top 25 Giving Day Champions, peer-to-peer fundraisers who reached out to friends and family to make gifts to a particular Cornell college, unit, or program. FOUR (4) CPEP champions made the list, including Executive Director Rob Scott, Academic Director Tess Wheelwright, CPEP Program Coordinator for Auburn Correctional Facility Kyri Murdough, and CPEP Development Associate Emily Hopkins.
Scott said the money raised on Giving Day will go to support a part-time reentry coordinator who will assist CPEP formerly incarcerated students in finding employment, accessing services and support networks, and applying to and enrolling in college on the outside.
