�鶹��ý

�鶹��ýGiving Day raises more than $1.3M for scholarships, flood relief and campus needs

Students, alumni, faculty and staff rally behind �鶹��ýGiving Day

Students gathered on the lawn of Bachman Hall to support �鶹��ýGiving Day.

�鶹��ýPresident Wendy Hensel and Athletic Director Matt Elliott waved at motorists and pedestrians.

Giving Day at Kauaʻ�� CC, Chancellor Margaret Sanchez (right)

Note: File video from Giving Day April 8, 2026 available below.

From sign waving and cheerleaders at the flagship University of Hawaiʻ�� at Mānoa campus to a ping pong tournament at Kauaʻ�� Community College and a pop-up market at the in Hilo, students, alumni, faculty and staff showed up on �鶹��ýGiving Day to generate more than $1.3 million from over 1,580 gifts. With final totals still being reconciled, the results reflect a strong show of donor engagement across the UH’s 10-campus system.

A graduate of the Waiʻaleʻale Project at Kauaʻ�� CC, Isaiah Wilson dropped by the Giving Day table with a donation to the program that he described as helping him immensely throughout his 11 years pursuing his degree. “Itʻs such a powerful program,” he said. “Now I’m giving back so others can have a chance of what I was given.”

�鶹��ýGiving Day funds will help support various scholarships, urgent flooding relief from the Kona-low storms,  student success resources, faculty and research initiatives, and priority needs across all �鶹��ýcampuses.

“The outpouring of aloha we witnessed during �鶹��ýGiving Day is truly humbling,” said Tim Dolan, �鶹��ýFoundation CEO and VP of Advancement. “Every single gift is a powerful investment in our students, our research and the future of Hawaiʻ��. We are deeply grateful to our entire �鶹��ýʻohana for coming together to make such a profound and immediate impact across all 10 campuses.”

University leadership emphasized how this statewide generosity will shape the institution's future.

“Philanthropy plays a vital role in expanding opportunity and ensuring access to higher education across our state,” said �鶹��ýPresident Wendy Hensel. “The generosity shown on Giving Day helps empower students across all 10 campuses and strengthens the university’s ability to serve Hawai‘i now and in the years ahead.”

Gifts made during �鶹��ýGiving Day also count toward the historic campaign, the comprehensive $1 billion fundraising initiative supporting all 10 campuses of the �鶹��ýsystem.

Link to file video and sound of Giving Day at �鶹��ýMānoa on April 8, 2026: 

BROLL: (1 minute, 28 seconds)

0:00- 1:29 - Signwaving at �鶹��ýMānoa

SOUND:

Wendy Hensel, �鶹��ýPresident (0:14)

“From the nurse who helps you, helps a neighbor to the engineering student who builds the bridge or responds to the floods, we are everywhere in Hawaiʻ��, and this kind of support makes that research possible, that kind of access possible.”

Emma Pinnow, JABSOM student, scholarship recipient (0:13)

“I'd really like to focus on native Hawaiian health disparities. Being native Hawaiian, that's kind of the reason why I wanted to go into medicine and so being able to address those disparities with the education that we learn at JABSOM is really important to me.”

Rachel Radona, �鶹��ýMānoa senior, scholarship recipient (0:15)

“In Hawaiʻ�� we're all about community, lāhui, and about ʻohana at the end of the day, and we're trying to embody what Hawaiʻ�� means to us and it does feel like an ʻohana. It feels like when people are giving to us, that's our family.”