The first month since the VA Tech shooting

It's been almost month since the shootings at Virginia Tech. We thought it would be interesting to revisit the topic of fundraising in the wake of the tragedy and to examine the progress of those fundraising efforts.

Within 8 days of the shootings, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported:

The university' s new Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund — created the day after the shootings to pay for grief counseling, memorials, and other needs of victims' families and survivors — has raised more than $1-million, including an estimated 8,000 online donations totaling about $800,000, said Michael Kiser, the university's director of development communication.

In addition to the general fund, the school also created the Hokie Spirit Scholarship Fund to support students university-wide, in addition to specific funds in the name of each of the victims. (Check this for a list of funds that have been established in victims' names.)

The school has said that the final criteria for these funds will be dependent upon approval by each family. When I peeked at the secure donation form the school was using, I was a little confused by the list. It will be interesting to see how this fundraising tactic plays out.

It has also been interesting to see how student run websites like DonateVT.com were established immediately and have flourished in the past thirty days.

In fact, I am also curious how the ongoing unrestricted fundraising efforts by the school will be effected by this outpouring of special giving. The Hokie Athletic Club website says the school was already behind in total fundraising through February 2007, raising $15.7 million as compared to $19.6 million the same time last year.