F.A.Q.
Why March 18th?
Saint Mary's celebrates Founders Day every spring. Although the date varies year-to-year (this year it is March 18th, 2025), on Founders Day we honor our two founders, Saint John Baptist de La Salle and Bishop Patrick R. Heffron. Since being established in 1912, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota has been changing the lives of its students and the communities in which it serves. Founders Day serves as a reminder to campus of our origins and special Lasallian mission.
Saint Mary's Day of Giving is an homage the Lasallian principles that guide our educational values every day. We ask everyone who believes in the value of a Saint Mary's education - friends, family, alumni, students and employees - to show their pride in Saint Mary's through a gift that will go to support further efforts of the university, advances in education, and academic opportunities for all our students.
Every Gift Matters
Sometimes it's not the size of the gift but the number of people who choose to join in that has the most impact. Participation - at any level - in Saint Mary's Day of Giving can make a big difference in the following ways:
- Influences Major Donors and Granting Organizations. Granting organizations and major donors often use the number of donors to an institution to make decisions about their own giving. They see the number of donors as a demonstration of how alumni and others see the value of the organization they know best. More donors often correlates with more support from major benefactors.
- Affects University Rankings. The number of alumni donors is particularly important. University rankings done by independent organizations often take the percentage of alumni who donate into account when determining overall scores. The number of alumni who give each year can affect a school's ranking. The rank of a school is not just for those inside the institution - it affects everyone who holds a degree from the school. The higher the school rank in these publications, the more value your degree holds to potential employers.
- Higher Quality Education. More investment through philanthropy provides additional tools and resources beyond what is normally covered through tuition alone. Sometimes the funds are used to provide more financial resources to students, like scholarships and financial aid, making it easier for current students or opening the doors to students who otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity. The net result is a higher quality education, that more students can access, without passing additional costs on to those who use the resources.
These are impacts that have nothing to do with the dollar amount given - just simply the fact that a gift was made. It doesn't matter what you give - but every gift matters.
Where do the funds go?
We ask everyone to consider a gift to the Saint Mary's Fund, because this fund provides flexible, accessible support that helps the university respond immediately to critical needs as well as bolster support for ongoing needs. If you want to support something more specific, those gifts count as well, and can be easily found our our Popular Initiatives page.
See the difference your gift makes on our Impact Stories page.
Who can participate?
Everybody. We ask friends, alumni, faculty, staff, students - in short, everyone - to make a gift, because every gift matters.
Didn't Saint Mary's just get a $25 mil gift? Why do you need my support?
Yes, Saint Mary's University was recently blessed by an alum and his family with a significant gift. That said, the first installment of this gift will not be delivered until June 2026 at the earliest. Furthermore, the gift must go directly into the Saint Mary's Endowment, meaning it will be still a few more years before the investment returns enough interest for operational expenses.
Meanwhile, current Saint Mary's students need support, too.
The Saint Mary's Fund is an annual fund, meaning that the gifts you give today are can be used immediately. The flexibility and ready-accessibility of the Saint Mary's Fund makes it an important and needed resource for the university when it comes to addressing new annual needs and/or unforeseen expenses. One that - with your help - can assist today's students with today's needs.