PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Every year, the R Fund aims to raise funds with the goal for enhancing the student-athlete experience here at Rutgers University athletics for our current and future Scarlet Knights. Moreover, during the month of March, the Rutgers Foundation hosts its annual Giving Days, which this year celebrated their 10th anniversary. Historically, our R Fund members come up big to support our student-athletes and their programs, but this year saw an entirely new level. The 10th Annual RU Giving Days, which took place from March 12-13, were conducted side-by-side with the YouKnighted Million Dollar Match campaign. Rutgers Nation combined to contribute over $1.6 million throughout the Month of March, all to support the Rutgers Athletics department and its student-athletes.
Overall, over $275K was raised by the R Fund for Rutgers Athletics over the 48 hours of the 10th annual RU Giving Days, which accounted for nearly 31 percent of Rutgers Foundation's overall total. In addition to the contributions to YouKnighted, Giving Days saw 712 donations to athletics. A new feature this year saw the R Fund host three separate matching campaigns — men's lacrosse, women's rowing and Scarlet Knights For Life
TM — and those three programs combined for more than $90K in donations, led by over $55K to men's lacrosse alone — that bypassed their campaign goal of $50K.
The YouKnighted Million Dollar Match campaign stretched from March 3 to March 31 and resulted in more than $1.3 million contributed, all going directly to current and future Scarlet Knight student-athletes. Overall, 11 Rutgers Athletics programs received student-athlete support in partnership with Knights of the Raritan, stemming from more than 100 contributions. To learn more about the success of the campaign, please
click here, or use the link above.
The overall digital push was astounding, as well, as the two campaigns combined for nearly 440K impressions on the R Fund, Rutgers Athletics and individual program social channels, including over 308K for Giving Days alone. Additionally, there were nearly 10K engagements between the two.
Together, Rutgers Nation once again stepped up. You all continue to raise the bar for our Scarlet Knights, providing them with the resources they need to succeed in and out of competition, and when their time as collegiate student-athletes is complete. Your support helps our individual programs, coaches and administrators recruit the best, retain them with an unmatched experience and then release them into the world as leaders in their communities, industries and in life.
Thank you, and Go RU!
*Any contributions made towards Knights of the Raritan are not eligible for 2025 Football and 2025-26 Winter Sport Priority Points and minimum donation parking requirements. Knights of the Raritan contributions will be included in future Rutgers Athletics lifetime giving totals.
