FAQ
Q. What is WheatonGives?
WheatonGives 2024 is Wheaton College's sixth annual, 24-hour giving day designed to empower you and other like-minded Wheaton alumni, faculty, staff, parents, and friends in supporting transformational Christian higher education. By supporting the Wheaton Fund, Athletics, Endowed Internships, and Endowed Scholarships through WheatonGives, you will deepen your Wheaton connection, show pride in the College, and make a vital investment in tomorrow's Christian servant leaders.
Q. What do gifts to the Wheaton Fund accomplish?
Your gifts to the Wheaton Fund directly impact the excellence and affordability of every student’s Wheaton experience. Your gifts support a curriculum that integrates faith and learning, faculty development, character-building student programs like summer ministries, chapel programming, and much more!
Q. What are this year’s other giving options?
You asked, and we listened! This year, you can choose to designate your WheatonGives gift to the Wheaton Fund, Athletics, Endowed Scholarships, or Endowed Internships. However you choose to give, you make a difference for Wheaton students!
Q. What does my Endowed Scholarship gift accomplish?
Your gift allows Wheaton to recruit today’s best and brightest Christian scholars from all socioeconomic backgrounds by expanding access through endowed need-based aid and competitive academic scholarships.
Q. What does my Athletics gift accomplish?
Your gift allows Wheaton to recruit some of the most high-achieving Christian college athletes by improving our athletics facilities.
Q. What does my Endowed Internship gift accomplish?
The Endowed Internship Fund exists to provide funding for rising sophomore, junior, and senior Wheaton students to supplement an unpaid or underpaid summer internship experience. Your gift provides financial assistance for students to access vocation-discerning internships before graduation, regardless of means.
Q. What is the minimum donation I can make during WheatonGives?
We kindly request a minimum gift of $5. Please know that your gifts to the Wheaton Fund, Athletics, Endowed Internships, and Endowed Scholarships in any amount are graciously received, prayerfully applied, and make a vital impact on the excellence and affordability of every Wheaton student’s experience.
Q. I am part of a reunion class. Does my WheatonGives contribution count toward my class gift?
Any contributions through the WheatonGives website will count toward your reunion class total in addition to the donations that would normally be made during Homecoming or Alumni Weekend. For more details about reunion class gifts, please email the Annual and Reunion Giving office at annual.giving@wheaton.edu.
Q. Why does Wheaton College care about alumni participation in WheatonGives?
Wheaton College thrives today because of the sustained investment of generations of alumni, parents, friends, students, faculty, and staff. Your support is essential in order to continue this legacy. In addition, alumni support helps Wheaton College raise more money. When foundations and corporations invest millions of philanthropic dollars in institutions of higher learning, alumni participation plays a key role in determining the size of their annual awards. Alumni support also helps Wheaton College sustain its world-class reputation since U.S. News & World Report and other research entities factor in alumni participation when ranking national colleges and universities.
Q. Can I participate in WheatonGives if I did not graduate from Wheaton College?
Yes! WheatonGives welcomes the participation of anyone who believes in the mission of Wheaton College.
Q. Will my WheatonGives gift – if made in advance of April 17 – help populate the leaderboards?
Yes! Gifts made in advance of April 17 (and in response to WheatonGives mailings) will be displayed on the leaderboard on April 17, 2024.
Q. Is my payment secure?
Absolutely! WheatonGives is facilitated by Bonterra, a company that has partnered with Stripe (Plaid), a PCI Service Provider Level 1 (the most stringent level of certification possible). Read through Stripe's (Plaid's) security documentation online.
Q. Can I send a gift by mail or phone?
Yes. However, due to the tight time period of WheatonGives, only gifts made online, by phone, or in response to WheatonGives mailings count toward overall totals and competitions. If you would like to make a gift by phone on April 17, please call 630.752.5925.
Q. Is my Wheaton Fund gift tax-deductible?
Your gift is entirely tax-deductible to the extent provided by law. You will receive an email confirmation that will serve as your receipt for tax purposes.
Q. Does it cost anything to give through WheatonGives? How much of my donation will Wheaton receive?
There is a 3% processing fee and a 2.5% (+ $.30) bank fee for donations made using all major credit cards (MasterCard, Visa, Discover, or American Express). If you give over $100, you will have the option to give via ACH transfer, which incurs a 3% processing fee and a flat $3.00 bank fee that replaces the credit card fee outlined above. If you would like to increase the size of your gift to offset the expense of processing fees, this option is available to you when you make your online donation. Your extra donation for this purpose is both welcomed and appreciated.
Q. What if I already made a gift to Wheaton College this year?
Thank you for being part of the Wheaton College family! We appreciate your commitment and encourage you to make an additional gift of any size on April 17, as there will be many exciting matching opportunities. We also need your help promoting WheatonGives to others. We have created sample emails and social media posts to help you do this more easily. These will be located in our online Ambassador Toolkit, which is coming soon!
Q. How can I help promote WheatonGives?
Please share the special Social Challenge post on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to unlock $10 for the Wheaton Fund, thanks to a generous donor.
Q. Can I use my employer’s matching gifts funds?
Yes! We strongly encourage you to take advantage of your employer’s generosity to enhance the impact of your support to Wheaton College. Contact a representative of your organization to learn more about their guidelines.
Q. How will the donation be reported on my credit card?
Gifts made during WheatonGives will appear on your credit card statements as Bonterra Wheaton College.
Q. Why am I invited to select the athletics department or a campus organization at the time of donation to WheatonGives?
To increase engagement, donors have designated prize dollars that will be awarded to the athletics departments or other campus organizations based on dollars given to WheatonGives. While your contributions to WheatonGives are still directed to the Wheaton Fund, the groups you select at the time of donation have the opportunity to win prizes based on the amounts of funds raised. This is a fun way to engage students and alumni to generously give back to Wheaton College while at the same time showing support for athletic teams and other campus organizations.
Q. Whom do I contact with questions about WheatonGives?
If you have general questions about the Wheaton Fund or Wheaton's giving day, please email wheaton.fund@wheaton.edu or call 630.752.5925. We look forward to hearing from you!
If you are having trouble giving through the website, please contact Bonterra/GiveGab via the blue chat bubble in the bottom right corner of your screen or email support@givegab.com.Scholarship Terms and Conditions
Upon the completion of a donation to the Wheaton Fund, Athletics, Endowed Internships, or Endowed Scholarships during WheatonGives on April 17, 2024, each donor has the option to nominate a student to be entered to win a scholarship award.
Q. Who is Bonterra/GiveGab?
GiveGab is a company that is merging with other similar lines of business to create one umbrella company- Bonterra. You'll still receive the same love and care as year's prior, but in the transition, you might see either name!
The nominated students must not be the donor or the relative of the donor. Eligible students must be current undergraduate freshmen, sophomores, or juniors enrolling for the entirety of the following school year. There will be a limit of 25 total nominations per student.
After WheatonGives, two winners will be randomly selected from the donor nominations. Each winner will receive a $5,000 scholarship the following school year (2024-2025), evenly distributed between the two semesters (fall and spring).
Scholarships are administered by Student Financial Services and are coordinated with other aid. For more information on how the winners’ award packages may be affected by the addition of this scholarship, please contact Student Financial Services.