1. Tuition and state funds are not enough. Tuition covers less than 45% of the cost of education at UWF and state funds don't make up the difference. Community support is critical to helping hard-working, low-income students access higher education. Funding for cutting-edge technologies and quality faculty are vital for UWF to excel in higher education.
2. Break cycles of poverty.  At least one in thirteen students at UWF lives near or below the poverty level including parental income.  Many of our students are the first in their family to pursue a college degree.  Your gift to UWF helps students of all backgrounds access higher education.
3. Open doors of opportunity.  UWF students dream of becoming engineers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, teachers, nurses and more.  Your gifts to scholarships and programs are an investment in those dreams and in the future of the communities in which our students will live and work.
4. Help UWF attract major gifts and grants.  Foundations and corporations sometimes consider the percent of employees who participate in giving to be an indication of merit.  For example, the Nursing Department at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock had 100% participation in giving. They received a grant of $50,000 from a foundation who cited their giving as a key impetus for the award. In 2010, they received another $3.5M grant from the same foundation. Were it not for employee giving, that relationship may have never been established.
5. More than 300 funds to choose from.  No matter what areas of philanthropy you are passionate about – economic development, the environment, the arts – your gift to UWF can impact that passion.  Simply designate your gift to the program, scholarship or department that is shaping future leaders in that area of interest.  Visit uwf.edu/give to explore more than 300 giving opportunities at UWF.
6. It doesn’t take much!  You don’t have to be rich to make a huge difference. The university operates on a "strength-in-numbers" principle which means that every gift, no matter the amount, is critically important to its success each year.
7. It’s a worthy tradition.  The history of educational philanthropy in the United States can be traced back to medieval universities in twelfth-century Europe such as Paris, Oxford, and Cambridge.  Because education is critical to a successful society, it’s important that today’s faculty and staff carry on this important tradition.
8. Help fuel the economy! UWF has $1.47 billion of economic impact to Florida; for every dollar of state support received, UWF returns $14.22 to the state economy. Your gifts help maintain and expand that impact. Your gifts help maintain and expand that impact.
9. If they can do it, we can too! Other universities in our region have higher employee giving participation rates. In fiscal year 2012...
   - 53% of UWF employees made a gift to the university. Meanwhile...
   - Georgia Southern University had 64%.
   - University of South Alabama had 67%.
   It doesn't take much to catch up. Every new employee donor helps us increase our participation rate.
   
10. Help keep tuition as low as possible.  Even after recent increases, tuition at UWF is far below the national average of public universities.  That’s due, in part, to gifts from employees.

Make your gift today!