If you color it all in, you’ll get… nothing, probably!

We don’t know if you’ve heard, but Columbia loves money more than Mr. Krabs. They love it so much that, five years ago, they manufactured a holiday specifically around money! Giving Day is Columbia University’s annual effort to suck dry the wallets of all their alumni. To be fair, it’s pretty effective – last year, they raised $12.8 million in the span of 24 hours.

We understand that universities need to make money, considering that without donations, Columbia would be left to succeed with only their $9.6 billion endowment. But the Giving Day website is an exceptionally silly way to go about soliciting funds. It’s bright, it pops out at you, and it looks more like a kickstarter page for a new waterbottle/flashlight combo than an advertisement for a distinguished University. It’s too busy, it’s too dynamic, and worst of all, its bottom bar color is #c0ddea, which isn’t even one of the previously discovered species of Columbia Blue.

Now, you might be thinking, “It sucks that the alumni get to have all the fun and donate! Why is there nothing for me, the social-media-savvy student to do to help my favorite university?” Worry not, because Columbia was kind enough to “fill-in-the-blank selfie signs” and “some new, interactive Columbia downloads.” So go ahead and download a photo of Butler Library quickly turned into line art by a Photoshop extension. The university suggests that you print it out and color it as creatively as you like! Then you should share it on Instagram and Facebook with the hashtags #ColumbiaGivingDay and #MyColumbiaMoment and… that’s it. No contest or anything. The last step of this coloring book’s instructions are to go online and donate on October 26th. They just expected that you would do the coloring because, you know, donating hundreds of dollars to Columbia gets you really pumped up.

The website also lets you sign up for email reminders (if you don’t have a calendar), become a Social Ambassador, and “join the Giving Day Insiders.” If you don’t feel like donating, you can feel free to browse the social media wall and check out how much money everyone was spending 11 months ago. All in all, we recommend everyone check out this page and donate. There’s nothing more fun than giving Columbia more money!

Fun and interactive coloring pages via Columbia University Giving Day