UH Giving Day raises more than $1.3M for scholarships, flood relief, campus needs

In just 24 hours, University of Hawai‘i students, alumni, faculty and staff showed up on UH Giving Day to generate more than $1.3 million from over 1,580 gifts to support student scholarships and research.

From sign waving and cheerleaders at the flagship University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus to a ping pong tournament at Kauaʻi Community College and a pop-up market at the ʻImiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo, events were held across the university’s 10-campus system to also support urgent flooding relief from the Kona-low storms, student success resources and priority needs across all UH campuses.

“From the nurse who helps you, helps a neighbor to the engineering student who builds the bridge or responds to the floods, we are everywhere in Hawaiʻi, and this kind of support makes that research possible, that kind of access possible,” said university president Wendy Hensel.

With final totals still being reconciled, the results reflect a strong show of donor engagement across the state, according to a news release from the University of Hawai‘i.

A graduate of the Waiʻaleʻale Project at Kauaʻi Community College, Isaiah Wilson dropped by the Giving Day table with a donation to the program that he described as helping him immensely throughout his 11 years pursuing his degree.

“Itʻs such a powerful program,” Wilson said. “Now I’m giving back so others can have a chance of what I was given.”

Tim Dolan, UH Foundation CEO and VP of Advancement, said the outpouring of aloha witnessed during UH Giving was “truly humbling.”

“Every single gift is a powerful investment in our students, our research and the future of Hawaiʻi,” Dolan said. “We are deeply grateful to our entire UH ʻohana for coming together to make such a profound and immediate impact across all 10 campuses.”

Rachel Radona, UH Mānoa senior, also a scholarship recipient, said it feels like when people are giving to the students, “that’s our family.”

“In Hawaiʻi, we’re all about community, lāhui, and about ʻohana at the end of the day, and we’re trying to embody what Hawaiʻi means to us and it does feel like an ʻohana,” Radona said.

Emma Pinnow, a student at the university’s John A. Burns School of Medicine, is a scholarship recipient from money raised from a UH Giving Day.

Being a native Hawaiian, she would like to focus on those health disparities in the community.

“That’s kind of the reason why I wanted to go into medicine and so being able to address those disparities with the education that we learn at JABSOM is really important to me,” she said.

University leadership emphasized how this statewide generosity will shape the institution’s future.

“Philanthropy plays a vital role in expanding opportunity and ensuring access to higher education across our state,” Hensel said. “The generosity shown on Giving Day helps empower students across all 10 campuses and strengthens the university’s ability to serve Hawai‘i now and in the years ahead.”

Gifts made during UH Giving Day also count toward the historic For UH • For Hawaiʻi campaign, the comprehensive $1 billion fundraising initiative supporting all 10 campuses of the UH system.