Photo by Katie Straub.
UAF students (from left) Cole Houser, Jesse Tyrrell, Lilly Varney and Jackson Nelson celebrate Giving Day with Nook at Alyeska Tire, one of this year's challenge sponsors, in March.

By Katie Straub

During this year’s 49-hour Giving Day March 24-26, the Wood Center played host to an unusual standoff. A small group of students stood for hours with hands anchored to a polar bear bench in a fierce display of grit. What looked like a test of endurance served as the literal touchpoint where alumni support met student passion.

The challenge, dubbed Hand on the Nook, asked students to be the last one tethered to the bear for a chance to earn funding for their clubs. As the hours ticked by, friends gathered with textbooks and snacks, building impromptu study camps around the competitors. Music looped while contestants danced, laughed and leaned on each other to stay in the game. Even the annoying chorus of “Banana Phone” could not break their marathon.

By 9:45 p.m., nearly 10 hours into the competition, five exhausted but determined students remained, prepared to return the next morning to finish what they started. Instead, Student Activities Coordinator Ray Alda announced that they had each earned the $500 prize.

“I want to tattoo the way their eyes lit up and the shock on their faces on my heart,” Alda said. “It was the absolute sweetest thing I’ve ever experienced in all my years at UAF.”

For the students, the prize wasn’t personal. Each winner immediately began thinking about how the funding would strengthen their organizations, from boxing gear and badminton equipment to student-led theater productions and a newly formed debate club.

That spirit of students showing up for each other defined a new dimension of Giving Day 2026.

A statewide effort with a student focus

Giving Day remains one of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ largest and most visible philanthropic events. This statewide effort is powered by colleges, programs, alumni and donors rallying online to support what they care about most.

For 49 hours, units across UAF share their stories, inspire supporters and unlock challenge funds through social media, email campaigns and donor matches. This year’s effort brought in more than $546,000 from 1,301 donors, with participation growing across nearly every metric.

But in 2026, something new happened alongside that digital momentum. This year UAF students joined the experience as participants in philanthropy They worked with the UAF Alumni Association (UAFAA) to plan visits to promote Giving Day with alumni-owned businesses.

And through a $2,500 investment from UAFAA and additional funding from the office of Student Leadership and Involvement, UAF launched a series of student-focused competitions, including Hand on the Nook, trivia and a campus bowling tournament. Each event gave student groups the opportunity to earn funding for their organizations.

Learning to give together

From the outside, the student events may have looked separate from Giving Day’s primary fundraising engine. But in reality, they served as an introduction to philanthropy in action. ASUAF President Jackson Nelson saw that shift up close.

“Giving Day was by far one of the highlights,” Nelson said. “Students had so much fun, and the competition was great. But more than that, it introduced students to the idea that philanthropy isn’t something reserved for later on. It starts now, in small, intentional ways.”

That sense of discovery showed up across student-led events throughout the week, especially those organized by SLI and ASUAF.

For Lilly Varney, ASUAF’s director of public relations and a first-year business student, Giving Day was both a leap of faith and a defining moment.

“I really think the student involvement made it really successful,” Varney said. “I wasn’t sure how it would go — I was nervous. The bowling tournament was my first big event, and I spent a ton of time planning. But then so many people showed up. It was amazing — everyone was just having so much fun.”

What stood out most wasn’t just the turnout. It was how students approached giving, even with limited means.

“A lot of us are broke college students. We’re taking loans, we don’t have a lot,” she said. “But this gave people a way to still be part of something and give back. They were so into it, trying their best to help their teams and their clubs. That was really inspiring.”

Through mini-games and incentives, students who won funding were encouraged to share it — sometimes splitting prizes between multiple clubs, sometimes seeking out groups that hadn’t yet received support.

In the process, philanthropy became something tangible: not just clicking a “donate” button, but making intentional choices about where support could make a difference.

A record-breaking year

While students built their own momentum in the Wood Center, the broader UAF Giving Day effort statewide was a standout success.

• 1,301 donors, a 13% increase from last year
• Over 500 alumni donors, up 12%
• More than $40,000 raised for the Troth Yeddha’ Indigenous Studies Center

More than 60 challenge matches amplified the impact of every gift, demonstrating the collective power of the Nanook community. By the end of the 49 hours, the results were clearly an increase in donors and in the connections formed.

Students who met through Giving Day competitions began showing up for each other’s events. Clubs invited organizers to see how funding was being used. What started as a game became something more lasting: a sense of shared investment in each other’s success.

“Alumni invest in this institution, and we invest in the students who’ll one day be alumni themselves,” Nelson said. “We serve the same mission from different sides of the same story.”

Giving Day will always be about impact. These donations fuel scholarships, research and programs across Alaska. This year, it also gave students a way to experience that relationship firsthand.

“I’ve had clubs come up to me and say, ‘This is what your event helped us do. Come see,’” Varney said. “That was really meaningful. I didn’t expect that part at all.”

Katie Straub is the UAF alumni storyteller and the coordinator for all things Giving Day.