Now more than ever, students and their families find themselves in greater need because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thankfully, our Spider community is known to rally and always shows up during challenging times.

The latest example is this year’s Spider Helping Spiders campaign, where donors contributed $419,730 — nearly five times the amount from last year’s initiative.

“We were not surprised that the Spider community stepped up to help, but we were incredibly gratified and impressed by the outpouring of generous support from Spiders everywhere, which exceeded our expectations,” said Vice President for Advancement Martha Callaghan.

All donations made during this annual seven-day event directly benefit a student in need. Gifts are directed toward financial aid, the student emergency fund, which helps students meet their need for urgent and unforeseen expenses, and the career opportunity fund, which provides students financial assistance to pursue internships, job interviews, or graduate school. This year, each of these areas exceeded their goals, thanks in part to generous matching gifts from Spider alumni and families.

International donations spanned the globe from Nicaragua to France and Singapore. And, out of the 1,203 total campaign participants, 203 were first-time donors to UR.

“Spider alumni, families, and our own faculty and staff community have all given back in ways big and small to make a difference for our students in this extraordinary year, and we couldn’t be more grateful,” Callaghan said.

Although Spiders Helping Spiders has concluded, University of Richmond friends and family are still able to contribute to these critical areas before the year concludes by visiting givenow.richmond.edu.