Philanthropy at Sonoma State University was the primary topic covered at the academic senate meeting on Oct. 25.

Interim Vice President for Advancement, Gordon McDougall was invited to share with the Academic Senate Committee about the new goals that must be worked on in order to increase investments and donations for the university.

Strategic Plan 2025 is an effort to push Sonoma State towards being a national model for public higher education by 2025. Strategic priorities include student success, academic excellence and innovation, leadership cultivation, and transformative impact.

An important factor to this mission is to “create a culture of philanthropy to support preparation for Sonoma State’s first comprehensive campaign,” said McDougall.

According to SSU’s Advancement website, Philanthropy is vital in order to fulfill the university’s obligation to develop and maintain excellent programs of undergraduate and graduate instruction ground in the liberal arts and sciences.

Approximately 30,000 students, faculty and staff, alumni, SSU board members, community members and people with multiple affiliations were invited to participate in the Sonoma State strategic planning process. Nearly 4,000 participated and provided feedback on the strategic planning draft before beginning the referral process to university President Judy Sakaki.

McDougall also expressed the importance of this years Giving Tuesday,which falls on Nov. 27 this year. Since Dec. 2015, Sonoma State partners in Giving Tuesday, a charitable movement that started in 2012 due to the spending craze of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The goal of this movement is to raise funds and awareness for nonprofit organizations through social media.

“Giving to SSU scholarships is important to me,” said Molly Rattigan, who graduated as a political science major in 2002, after participating Sonoma State’s previous Giving Tuesday. “It’s a way of saying thank you for the experience I had and the opportunities that have come my way as a result of my education. I was others to have a similar experience and not stress about the cost of education.” Contributions from alumni, friends, faculty, staff, students, corporations and foundations are expected to increase through the Giving Tuesday movement.