CSUN Clubs, Sports Teams Raise Funds Through Effective Challenges
With more than $575,000 in donations for the 2025 campaign tallied so far, CSUN Giving Day continued to inspire students, parents, alumni and friends to give to the departments, athletic teams, student clubs and organizations they love most across the university.
With special challenge gifts encouraging more donors to give to their favorite CSUN causes,
organizations like CSUN Black House, the CSUN Art Galleries, 88.5 The So Cal Sound, and the College of Science and Math reaped the benefits of the 36-hour fundraiser. CSUN’s student-run newspaper, The Sundial, launched its 2025 Giving Day campaign with a special series of Instagram reels, raising more than $1,900. Additionally, CSUN’s Project Rebound program for formerly incarcerated students saw a great response on Giving Day, raising more than $30,000 from over 450 donors.
Matador Athletics had some of the most active giving during the 2025 campaign, raising just
over $120,000 from nearly 1,000 donors to various team funds and to the Champions Fund. Irv
Zakheim ’71 (Physical Education) issued a matching challenge for gifts to CSUN Baseball, while Dennis DeYoung ‘87 (Finance) sponsored two leaderboard challenges on Giving Day that motivated giving to Matador teams.
As Giving Day came to an end March 6, Women’s Volleyball and Women’s Golf were leading DeYoung’s team challenges, with both teams neck and neck, fundraising to the very end of the campaign.
Tatiana Turgeon, a middle blocker on the Women’s Volleyball team, said she promoted Giving Day on Instagram and sent out a group text to family and friends, encouraging them to donate $5 each.
“I sent it to my mom, my sister, my cousins, anybody I thought could just share $5 and help me out,” she said.
Turgeon’s teammates had similar strategies, posting and resharing items about Giving Day leading up to and throughout the campaign.
“It was awesome because we weren’t required to do it, but we all stepped up and put in the work.” Turgeon added.
Funds raised for Athletics directly support student athletes at CSUN by providing funding for nutrition, training resources, academic support and more.
Every dollar raised during the campaign makes a difference for CSUN students and is a testament to the incredible support of the Matador community.
