ImpactUTD Highlights Opportunities for Support

The internet has opened doors for people and organizations seeking to raise money online. One of the most impactful ways to fundraise using an online platform is through crowdfunding, a way for organizations seeking financial support to reach wider audiences.

At UT Dallas, ImpactUTD showcases student, faculty and staff fundraising projects seeking support to turn innovative ideas into reality. To date, ImpactUTD has attracted more than 30 campus organizations seeking donations for a host of projects.

“Working with ImpactUTD groups is the best part of my job,” said Joseph Tutt, assistant director of UT Dallas Alumni. “We have such tremendously talented and dedicated students, faculty and staff, and being able to help them share and support their work is the best.”

Causes featured on the ImpactUTD platform range from a dropout prevention effort, student wind energy research and a reading tutoring program for children to the University’s robotics club, service dogs in training and even the fencing club.

Rachel Berglund, associate director of the Center for Children and Families (CCF), said the center has big plans for Play With Me, a multilingual outreach program for young children and their parents. Started as a program for Hispanic families, CCF is expanding the program to include families who speak Mandarin.

“We’re expanding the population we’re serving, so ImpactUTD crowdfunding is a great way for us to support these new initiatives,” Berglund said.

Philanthropic support for Play With Me not only helps families with young children, it also helps UT Dallas students who work within the program. Undergraduate students studying child learning and development, psychology and speech and language development learn by interacting with children in the program.

“Our focus is heavily on training undergraduate students by giving them pre-clinical experience that they need to be successful in their graduate programs,” Berglund said. “We were training maybe 40 students a year and in upcoming years we hope to train 200 students.”

The University’s student-led Comet Robotics club is using the platform to raise money to compete at the VEX U Robotics World Championships, which will be held in Dallas next year.

Jason Antwi-Appah, a computer science student in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science and club officer, said being a part of the robotics group is a great benefit for any UT Dallas student, especially for engineering and computer science students.

“Joining the club gives me an opportunity to apply the skills that I’m learning in class,” Antwi-Appah said. “It’s easier to understand the theory once you’re applying it to an actual application. And the club has had a positive impact for me because it allows me to meet other people who are just as passionate about robotics as I am.”

Consider making a gift to support this round of projects by Dec. 3 — GivingTuesday. Learn more online at impact.utd.edu or email joseph.tutt@utdallas.edu.