On a sunny Wednesday morning after chapel at Point Loma Nazarene University, dozens of students gathered on Cunningham Lawn to grab a free cup of coffee before their next class. The free coffee was provided by Green4Gold, an initiative that many students said they were unfamiliar with.
Green4Gold has often been associated with its free coffee cart that stopped by Cunningham Lawn on Oct. 22, and its emails asking students to donate money. However, for Abby Pickett, a third-year philosophy major, she didn’t know what Green4Gold was until this fall.
“I genuinely had no clue [what they did],” Pickett said. “It’s going to sound stupid, but genuinely every time someone was like, ‘Oh, Green4Gold,’ I [associated it with] our school colors. I knew they were giving out coffee last chapel, but I didn’t know why.”
Zachary Bates, PLNU’s executive director of alumni, parent and donor engagement, said that Green4Gold is much more than just free coffee and a play on words of the school’s colors. According to Bates, it’s an initiative that has provided thousands of dollars to advance the university’s mission, raising its funds from parents, students and alumni.
“This year for Green4Gold, we had over a dozen different what we call ‘affinity areas’ for donors to consider supporting,” Bates said. “So whether you’re giving $5 or significantly more, you got to pick where you wanted your dollars to make an impact at Point Loma.”
Bates said that some of the options this year included supporting PLNU’s academic departments, programs such as the Writer’s Symposium, LoveWorks and the Center for Justice and Reconciliation. Donors could also give to Loma Fund Scholarships, which have impacted many PLNU students, according to Bates.
Tim Benefiel, PLNU’s associate vice president for accounting and finance, said the impact stretches across many areas.
“From a financial perspective, I would make the case that every dollar raised during Green4Gold or otherwise directly impacts the student experience here at PLNU,” Benefiel said in an email interview. “That could be through an academic or co-curricular initiative, a construction or campus beautification endeavour, an endowed scholarship or unrestricted giving that allows the institution to increase our general scholarship budgets.”
Green4Gold often receives “thank you” notes from the students they’ve impacted, and many have reflected on how they wouldn’t be where they are today without Green4Gold. Bates shared some of those notes with The Point, but due to legal reasons, students’ names weren’t revealed.
“The scholarship you have given me has helped tremendously in my final year of college,” a student wrote to Green4Gold. “Coming from the Central Valley of California, funding can be on the tighter side for my family and [me], and this has relieved a burden off of my family and [me] … I cannot thank you enough for the support you have given me.”
Another student echoed their gratitude in a note to Green4Gold.
“I come from a family where my single mom has raised my siblings on her own, practically our whole lives,” they said. “Being rewarded these multiple different scholarships these past two years have blessed me beyond what you can imagine. It has lessened the financial burden not only on myself but also on my family. ‘Thank you’ is an understatement.”
Still, some students, including Pickett, have questioned why Green4Gold asks students for money in the first place, since they’re often the ones being rewarded with these scholarships.
According to Bates, they make this request in an effort to make Green4Gold a community-wide fundraising event.
“We invite folks from all corners of the PLNU community to participate,” Bates said. “That’s alumni (whether they graduated in the ‘50s or a couple years ago), current and former staff and faculty members … and current students are really the central part of the Point Loma community, so we want to ensure there’s an opportunity for participation alongside the rest of the community.”
Bates said they also ask students for donations because they want to raise awareness around the school’s philanthropy. They hope students recognize the work being done to raise money for clubs, chapel and other aspects of student life.
While they love seeing students give, Bates said they’re also encouraged when the initiative gets students to think about generosity as a whole.
“If it’s an opportunity for students to give, [that’s] amazing, we are so encouraged by that,” Bates said. “But if it doesn’t resonate and there are other opportunities that students choose to [give to] and Green4Gold serves as kind of a reminder to be thinking about philanthropy, that’s an incredible win for our team, too.”
This year, Green4Gold exceeded its $1,000,000 goal, raising over $1,234,000 from more than 500 donors. Of the programs, the most money was given to the Loma Fund, with LoveWorks seeing success as well, reaching 81% of its fundraising goal.
Although the fundraiser has ended, students and alumni can still give to PLNU and find out more about Green4Gold at connections.pointloma.edu/green4gold-post-campaign-page.
Kaelyn VanderSpek