For 24 hours, Northeastern’s Boston campus transformed for the annual 24-hour Giving Day fundraising celebration April 10. 

Student organizations, clubs, varsity sports, colleges and other campus institutions spent the day campaigning for donations. By the time the clock struck midnight, nearly $3.6 million had been raised. 

The grand total was made up of 13,907 donors and from winnings awarded to organizations that won certain challenges set forth by the university, such as reaching the highest number of donors, social media competitions and donation matching programs. 

“Giving Day is an opportunity to educate the general university public about the importance of philanthropy,” said Sydney Love, a development associate for University Advancement and Northeastern alumna who graduated in 2024. “You can donate to any of your favorite student organizations or clubs, colleges, departments, things like that. It’s not just one thing. It’s to cultivate a culture of giving and paying it forward.” 

The Huntington News spoke to four clubs who were among the hundreds of organizations vying for donations during the event. Here’s how the donations will make a difference to their organizations. 

Northeastern Electric Racing 

Northeastern Electric Racing is a club that builds all-electric formula racing cars from scratch to compete in Formula Hybrid and Electric and Formula Society of Automotive Engineers. 

“We design and build everything we can in-house, and all of that’s really expensive, you can imagine. These funds are kind of critical for us,” said Kevin Giordano, a third-year mechanical engineering major and head of the ergonomics team. “We build one car each year within the year, so it’s a tight deadline. That means that we need quite a bit of money to get this done.” 

The club spends countless hours preparing for its annual competitions against other universities across the nation. Hard work and dedication falls short in the world of electric racing when the financial backing is not there, something that Northeastern’s team has struggled with over the years. 

The club has brought its members opportunities and friendships, which it strived to show donors. 

Ally Kolesar, a third-year economics and business administration combined major and the club’s current president, said the friendships she has made through the club have the experience memorable. 

“I could lie and say my favorite part is talking about it during co-op interviews, which is a bonus,” Kolesar said. “But honestly, I didn’t know these guys a year ago, and now I talk to them more than my parents. You can’t beat that, even when it gets stressful.” 

Matt Clarke, a second-year mechanical engineering major and lead aerodynamics engineer, agreed with this sentiment. 

“It’s friendship speed running. I started going to [the club] less than a year ago, and now they’re my family,” Clarke said.

Northeastern Electric Racing walked away with $20,436 from 263 individual donors.

Northeastern University Figure Skating Club

For many competitive figure skaters, going to college usually brings an end to their skating careers. But through Northeastern Figure Skating Club, some are able to continue spending time on the ice. 

“We’re a competitive team with 30 skaters that go to competitions, and we rank sixth overall in the Northeast region,” said Danielle Mazo, a third-year business administration and criminal justice combined major and the club’s vice president for membership. “We’re a team of collaborative skaters who love to skate and are just here to continue our journey skating in college.” 

The club fundraised to keep competing and operating at the collegiate level. 

“We are raising money to help offset the costs of figure skating, because it’s an expensive sport.  We pay for ice time. Going to competitions is something really expensive, so a lot of our money that we fundraise goes to making sure that our skaters can actually go to competitions and travel to competitions,” Mazo said. “We want to make our dues more affordable for skaters who want to come and skate with us and don’t want to be competitive skaters.”

By the end of the day, Northeastern’s Figure Skating Club raised $5,082 from 317 different supporters.

Latin American Student Organization

For many Latino students at Northeastern, the Latin American Student Organization, or LASO,  has become a second home. 

“We’re creating and cultivating a community and a safe space to be Latino on campus where we might not always feel like it,” said Denise Dominguez, a fourth-year criminal justice and psychology combined major.

To create a community on campus for students, LASO relies partially on fundraisers like Giving Day. 

“The fundraising we are doing helps support the Parade of Flags, which we usually hold during Latinx Heritage Month, to show our pride and show our flags during our month,” Dominguez said. “We are representing our culture on campus and making sure that Northeastern knows that Latinos are here and we’re here to stay.”

Another pillar in the club is its mentorship program, which pairs upper and underclassmen together. 

“This money is going to help the mentorship program, giving the program the funds to do outings for the mentors and mentees so we can help people get used to the new Boston area,” said Maryorie Villa, a second-year economics and business administration combined major who is the club’s treasurer.

By the end of the day, LASO raised $604 from 53 donors.

Digital Illustration Association

The Digital Illustration Association is working to make digital art more accessible to student artists. 

“Our club is open to both beginner and more experienced digital artists. Our goal is to provide both resources and a really nice digital art community,” said Sonia Cho, a third-year computer science and biology combined major.

Art in the digital sphere can be expensive. Costs include paying for supplies like iPads and bringing in experts for classes. 

“We are going to be using it to give back to our community. We have iPads for our artists to loan and this money will be useful for that program. We want to use it to give back to digital artists and help make digital art more accessible for everybody,” said Cho, who is also the club’s treasurer.

Digital Illustration Association finished the day with $148 from 19 supporters.

Reflecting on donations

Giving Day 2025 showcased and uplifted the hundreds of student groups that make up Northeastern’s vibrant club network across the its global campuses. 

“My favorite part about Giving Day is definitely over at Krentzman Quad, all of the student organizations are over there,” said Zoё Montalto, a development associate for university advancement. “It’s like a mini Fall Fest and an opportunity for everyone to see the different clubs and what they are raising money for.”