March 23, 2026 • 25 mins
As assistant director of cAUse marketing with Auburn Advancement, Lisa Lofland knows one day can change everything.
In 2015, she was part of a group charged with creating a day of giving for Auburn University.
“Our team envisioned this grassroots platform,” remembered Lofland. “We really wanted people to find their match and find the causes and projects they were passionate about.”
From that idea grew Tiger Giving Day — a 24-hour online day of giving that shines a spotlight on the people and programs that make Auburn special.
“Tiger Giving Day is very story-driven, very project-based and very individualized," Lofland said.
Tiger Giving Day 2026 will be held on Wednesday, March 25. There are 35 projects – one from every college – with fundraising goals between $5,000 to $30,000.
Attention and funding are brought to projects that focus on innovation and the Auburn spirit, serving students and communities which are central to the university’s land grant mission.
Donors can support projects ranging from the Campus Kitchen and Campus Career Closet, to creating a Community Makerspace, upgrading the Auburn University Raptor Center’s travel carriers, sending youth to 4-H summer camps and more.
“This year, for the first time, we have all three ROTC branches that will have a presence on Tiger Giving Day,” added Lofland.
Since 2015, more than 16,000 donors have given seven million-plus dollars to fuel over 400 life-changing projects.
“It's about connection,” Lofland said. “We want to provide you with a philanthropic opportunity and connect you with like people who share the same passion.”
Since 2017, Auburn’s Adaptive Athletics program has benefited from the generosity of supporters on Tiger Giving Day.
Adapted Athletics, which began in 2009 with wheelchair tennis and one student-athlete, has quickly grown to include wheelchair basketball and power wheelchair soccer with about 25 student-athletes competing across those three sports.
Tiger Giving Day donations have funded competition wheelchairs, scholarships, shot-tracking cameras, an adapted van and a recovery room.
This year, in partnership with the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, Adapted Athletics is raising funds to build the next generation of power soccer wheelchairs through a collaborative, student-driven design initiative.
“Getting these chairs created will allow our power soccer team to continue to compete at a high level and bring in recruits,” said Taylor. “We want to continue to play at a top level with basketball and tennis, too, and possibly add additional paralympic sports in the future.”
For Lofland, Tiger Giving Day represents the unique spirit of the Auburn Family.
“I always want Tiger Giving Day to be accessible to anyone at any giving level,” Lofland said. “It is an honor to steward that and continue to cultivate it.”
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Welcome into everything Auburn.
Thank youfor joining us on the podcast here
at Auburn University.
We get to speak to membersof the Auburn family every single month.
And happy March.
Can't believe it's already March.
But once again, I am Daltonand I have two special guests
of the Auburn family here with me.
I'm going to read their titleso I don't get them wrong here.
I have Lisa Lofland,the assistant director
of cAUse Marketingwith Auburn Advancement
(00:27):
and Auburn University.
Welcome to the podcast.
Thank you.
Got a big month for youwith that Tiger giving day carry
very big month.
Yeah.
What we will be discussing todayas well as,
self-proclaimed adaptiveathletics athletic director
coach Rob Taylor.
Yes, sir. hey War Eagle.
Thanks for having me. War Eagle indeed.
We were just discussing beforeself title there of athletic director.
(00:48):
And I'm very proud of youfor coming up with this.
Thank you.
I mean, I overseeall of our adaptive sports.
So we got basketball,tennis and power soccer.
And so what do you got to direct them?
So might as well be me.
Absolutely, absolutely.
Well,big reason we got both of you here
today is Tiger GivingDay is coming up here
at the end of the month,which is one of the coolest thing
that Auburn does. Thank you.
I really love it.
(01:08):
I'm a storyteller at heart.
Video guy I really love a good story,and I love the way
Tiger Giving Day is very story based.
Yes. Right.
That being said, that'sand what I mean by that is
a lot of universities,a lot of college,
a lot of companiessay I need money to do the thing,
please give me money, which is fair.
We do need that.
But the way Tiger Giving Day worksis is so much different that it's
(01:31):
we do need moneyto fund these things that we want to do.
Here are the cool things we want to do.
What speaks to your heart the most? Yes.
Which is so cool.
And there's some adaptive athletic stuff,which is some incredible things
we're trying to do with Tiger Giving Day,which is one thing
we'll be talking about.
But if you could,let's start with Tiger
Giving Day as a whole.
He said, okay,walk me through how it works.
What is it? Scope and scale.
(01:52):
What should we expect?
What makes it cool?
How long you've been doing it?
Give me the whole thing here. Okay.
So Tiger, given Day started in 2015, and,we were charged
with creating a dayof giving for Auburn University.
There was no,caveats around it or anything like that.
So it was pretty wide opento be able to create
whatever we wanted to with that day.
(02:14):
So our the team at the time,we consulted this
sort of grassroots platform that would,really give a voice,
and a place for projectsfrom around campus
that the Auburn familymight not know about.
So we really wanted to,if you think of it
in terms of matchmaking, we wewe really wanted people
(02:38):
to find their match,find, you know, find the causes,
the projectsthat they were passionate about.
And so we started it 2015.
This past September,we celebrated our ten year
anniversary with incredible.
I can't believe it'salready been going on for that long.
I, I can't either.
I still have the originalemail that I needed
(02:59):
and another colleague to figure it out.
So that frame that exactly.
But it's been a really wonderful thingthat's brought so much attention
and funding to some pretty awesome stuffhere on campus. Yes it has.
So it is, officially a 24 hour onlineday of giving.
And we have this yearwe have 35 projects.
(03:22):
And we purposely keep their goalsbetween 5000 and $30,000.
When we look at projects,we get a lot of applications.
We look at projects, we try to determine,is this something that we could pull off
in one day?
And also,you know, a lot of people are looking
(03:42):
at the projects on their phone,probably half of our donors,
you know, who end up donatingor doing it via mobile devices.
So 2026.
Yes. The world we sell.
One criteriawhen we're looking at the projects
is can this make sense in a sentence.
Absolutely.
Can I pitch it in a sentence.
And helping people,you know, find their mouths.
(04:03):
Yeah.
It's, it's a really cool thingand I've been a part of several
every year Tiger givingit comes around
and people come to our department askinghelp us make a video to kind of
pitch it and sell it. And we make it.
We make several a year.
But every project has a little a snippet,a little elevator pitch with it,
to tell it, which is a wonderful segue.
(04:23):
Look at me, podcast host coach Rob,athletic director extraordinaire.
This is great. This is great.
Yeah, yeah. It's good, it's good.
Adaptive athletics has some tag date.
Projects are coming up as well.
I know wheelchair basketball is onethat personally has a lot,
but they're really hoping to get out.
Tiger, you may walk us through that.
We'll get through the historyof wheelchair
and adaptive athleticshere at Auburn in a moment.
(04:45):
But while we're on Tiger Giving Daywhat is the adaptive
Athletics Tiger Giving Day project.
So you got going on this.
Yeah we're we're really excitedthis year.
We'rewe're actually pivoting away
from basketball for Tigergiving to this year.
And we're pivotingtowards our power soccer team.
So two years agowe started a power soccer
or power wheelchair soccer team.
(05:06):
Last yearthey won a national championship
and in their division,which was awesome for Eagle.
But what we foundis that the power chairs that our student
athletes use, there's only one companythat makes them.
And is it really?
Auburn believes thatwe can make a better chair.
Our headcoach of the power soccer team
also plays on the USpower soccer team,
and he's had dreamsand aspirations
of creating his own chair.
(05:26):
So, last yearhe started working with engineering.
So we're excited this yearfor Tiger Giving Day
to really get embeddedwith all aspects of engineering
and createa brand new Auburn only power chair
that we canthen kind of roll out
and hopefully continueto dominate tournaments with.
So, they've done some great jobsand some of the prototypes,
but the money that we're raisingthis year is to go create
(05:48):
brand new chairs that we can outfitall of our student athletes in one.
That's that's incredible. Honestly.
I mean,you take it to the Auburn engineers,
smart, smart people.
Those are some of the smartest peopleI've ever talked
to, to the pointwhere I've had to tell them,
you guys are way too smart for me,but I'm glad you're on our side.
There is, a many times Kim,our producer over here, has heard
(06:10):
me say it more times.
I'm sure she can countis we go do video shoots
or with this group or what have you.
And I walk inthat tell us what we're doing is like,
okay, that's wonderful.
I have a film degree.
I need you to likea seven year old verbal language here.
So let's back up a little bitwhile we're kind of talking about
we have the athletic directorhere of adaptive athletics.
(06:32):
Yeah. Let's see any question you have.
Let's talk about it.
Walk me through it here.
So walk me throughadaptive athletics here at Auburn
just from the genesisI know I believe it started with tennis
if I'm not mistaken. It did.
And kind ofwhat was your involvement in kind of
how do we get to where we are today?
Yes, we've had an adaptive sportsprogram for 16 years in our campus.
We started in 2010.
(06:53):
We had one student athlete,and you can have a tennis team
with one guy.
You can't have a basketball team.
It's a bit tricky,a little, a little short. Yeah, yeah.
So we started with wheelchair tennis,and then we,
brought in additional athletes.
And they wanted to play basketballmore than want to play tennis.
So tennis faded away fora number of years.
But we brought tennis backabout eight years ago.
So we had wheelchair basketball.
(07:14):
We have wheelchair tennis.
And then, as I mentioned, two years ago,we started power wheelchair soccer.
So, we've got athletesthat compete
in all three of those sports.
We've had great successin all of those sports.
Again, Power soccerwon a national championship
last year in their division.
And just like able bodiedsoccer in Europe, they got
promoted to the toplevel of power soccer.
(07:34):
Now, and I will saywe are the first
and the only university in the countryto offer collegiate power soccer.
So they're playing against adult and clubteams from all over the country.
Incredible.
Our tennis team has been national runnersup to the last three years.
We've had three of our athletesfinished the national runners up
within their, their level of play.
(07:55):
And I guess,from a basketball standpoint,
this is where we've fallen short, okay?
We've actually lost in the Eliteeight the last three years, so.
Oh, you know,the other two programs are doing great.
I'm slackingfrom a basketball standpoint, but we have
we have an incredible team this year.
We're ranked third in the nation.
We're 23 and seven right now.
We havenational championship expectations
just like everybody doesfor all of our sports.
(08:17):
So, but yeah, we started 16 years agoand we've grown into three sports
now, and we've got about 25 studentathletes across those three sports.
Wonderful.
And I, I can't help but brag for a momentif I, if I can if I was hoping,
you know, I'm just going to give youa little bit of a break here.
Please do,not only all the incredible
national championsand all these incredible things
(08:39):
we've done here, you're also,three time Olympic gold medalists.
If, if our research team.
If I can correct you, please.
It's four times.
Oh. Oh.
Sorry for its apologies. Apology?
No problem.
Four time Olympic gold medalists as well.
Yes.
You know,just coming off the Winter Olympics
can't help but sit thereand watch these athletes go.
Man, what am I doing my life, you know,walk me through that experience as well,
(09:02):
if you don't mind. Yes.
So I was, an assistant coachwith the US women in 2008
was my first Paralympic gamethat I went to.
We want a gold medal inin Beijing with the women's team.
And then, I got hired to bethe assistant coach with the US men,
so started with the men in 2013.
Went to Rio in 2016,won a gold medal there,
(09:23):
which was the first time the US men hadwon a gold medal in 28 years.
We followed that up with another goldmedal in Tokyo in 2020
or the delayed 2021 games.
Oh, yeah.
At that point,I convinced the head coach to retire.
I mean, he was ready for it.
Good. Good guy.
And I got promotedto head coach at that point.
So I took over the team in 2021, and,we went on a great run in that quad.
(09:47):
We won a gold medalevery single major tournament
that we went to,including world championships,
which we hadn'twon a gold medal there in 20 years,
and then capped it off with thegold medal in Paris,
which was the first timethat any men's wheelchair
basketball team had won threeconsecutive gold medals.
Each game was, incredible.
Each one of them was differentgoing from Tokyo, where
(10:08):
there were no fans thereto Paris,
where you had to sell outevery single game.
It was it was night and day different.
And, but each medal is a wholeis a very special part of my heart. Yeah.
And I say this to a lot of peoplewhen I go to speaking engagements,
if you ever have the opportunityto win a gold medal, just win it.
It's the best feeling in the world.
(10:29):
Aside from getting marriedand having kids, it is incredible.
So when you get that opportunity,don't pass it up. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, I'm still looking for youfor for the event. For me.
Not really sure what that will be.
But but when it shows up,I will make sure I win.
Yes. For sure, I got you covered. Yeah.
And might be in, like,you know, eating contest is more
(10:51):
my style.
It's gotta be readywhen the moment comes.
I'm not a hot dog eating contest guy,but surely there's
something out there for me.
I'm sure there's a creative directorgold medal you can win.
All right. Yeah, I don't know.
You know, you talking my language there?
All right.
All right,Lisa, I got some tough questions for you.
Okay. We go. Here we go. Okay. Let's see.
So one of my favorite thingsI get to do on this podcast
(11:12):
is I get to talk to some incrediblepeople, right?
And hear their stories.
I'm I told you guys before we startor I said it all here.
I'm a storyteller.
That's what I do.
I love to hear what makes people tick,why they do what they do.
And Targeting Dayis a story driven thing.
It very much is.
So put you on the spot here. Okay?
Oh, boy.
You've been.
(11:33):
You've been associated with Tiger.
Me Day since the beginning. Yes.
You are clearly passionate about it.
Yes, I am, I, I you know,I don't want to put that on you. Right.
But I feel it would be an accurate.
I can feel it come in this direction.
Right.
You knowwent through coach Rob background here.
I'd love to knowkind of your background,
your love and passionfor Tiger giving day.
(11:54):
Cause marketingwhich is your entire life right here.
Yeah. Shop. And,walk me through what
that looks like at Auburn.
Obviously, Tiger GamingDay is the most public
probably endeavor, right?
But it's a three, six five job.
Yes. Yeah.
What does that look like from you?
Okay.
I'm married into all of this.
Not a sports person at all.
(12:14):
My husband found me up in Nashville.
He was an Auburn alumnus.
And, his family,he and his family are from Opelika.
So, I moved down here, fellin love with the area.
Didn't even graduate from an SEC school.
So I went to Harding Universityin Searcy, Arkansas.
And, so 2014, I got hiredto be part of the billion dollar campaign
(12:37):
at the time.
I say the kickoff team for that.
And then the next yearwe decided to do a day of giving,
for Auburn University.
And Tiger gave mejust kind of draws you in because it
it is this,I've always been very proud of the fact
that we have held to this modelthat's very different
than other universities.
Not so much, where, you know,we have this great platform
(13:00):
to tell these stories.
And we hear back from donors every yearI do a Durham donor survey.
Last yearwe had more than 500 donors compete.
Complete it,for Tiger Giving Day,
where they tell us why they giveAnd one of the things I love about it
is we hear from familieswhere everyone in the family,
(13:21):
gets a certain amount of moneyand they pick their projects,
and it's like a day of philanthropywith their kids.
For how that goes.
We have others where,they say, hey, I'm on a fixed income, but
I know that my 30 bucks like,it moves a little needle,
you know, on that bar.
People are really into those bars.
That's thermometersand the donor maps as well.
(13:42):
But, you know, so that,you know,
that gives you a lot of purpose.
But then also hearing backfrom our projects,
the things that we I think maybe 2017 waswhen we started adaptive athletics
on Tiger Giving Day.
And I didn't even knowthat was something Auburn University had.
So to be able to give that programa voice is huge.
(14:03):
You know, I find every yearI love looking through the whole list.
Yes, because,you know, you scroll page and page,
there's so much there.
And inevitably every yearthere's somewhere
between 20 and 35 ish 40 projects.
You know, a year.
It kind of varies, right?
There's always a handful.
That's like,I didn't even know we had that.
(14:23):
Yes. Every single year it happens.
Yes. Same here.
It's like I think there you go.
I never knewI didn't know we had a B lab.
Oh yeah.
I didn't know we had an autism clinic.
I didn't know the career closetexisted for our students
or an eating disorders clinic.
There's so many incredible resourceshere on campus.
(14:45):
Is somethingwe talk about on this podcast a lot.
Actually, we had, last month, we had,alumni on, on the podcast
who was a big partof creating his business here
and use the new venture accelerator,which is one like, yeah,
more students need to knowthat exist, right?
Yeah.
Tiger Giving Day is a really great avenuefor learning about
some of those really great resourcesthat you just didn't know about.
Yeah, find some interestand then find some passionate people.
(15:07):
I passionate people are infectious to me.
I think they are.
And we rely on them quite a bit.
But you know, I will have projects.
There was one year where theautism clinic,
the very next day, the professor told us,I think I was in a hallway conversation
that,literally she saw the numbers, you know,
(15:28):
from the day beforeand was able to call a family and say,
we can getyou the early intervention care
that your child needsbecause that funding is now there.
And so,I mean, if that doesn't get you up
to go to work in the morningand I'm really trying,
you're really tryingto make me cry on this podcast. Yeah.
Well, it's happened beforeand you guys are really fighting it here.
(15:50):
Yeah.
It's it'ssomething that comes up on here
all the time.
As well as Auburn family, the CreedAuburn showing up to help Auburn,
which is so incredible.
I think what's so is so greatis these families do it.
You get like,you know, a little bit of an allowance,
you're going to pick oneyou're passionate about. And that's what.
So if people are funding their passions.
Right. I have a passion for athletics.
I'm a fine athletic. I don't like sport.
I have a passion for artand find something that's art driven.
(16:13):
Right.
If I can get you,I'm going to ask you both this
so you can both,you know, mentally prepare for it.
This is the crystal ball question, okay?
Right.
So crystal ball,what does the kind of the future
and growthof cause marketing tire giving day.
You know what to 16 years.
This will be our own event.
11 years.
(16:33):
11 okay. 16, 16 years for it.
That's what that numbers. Yeah.
So 11 years of tired giving day calls.
Mark, what is the crystal ball next?
Three, five, ten yearsnext 11 years
look like as it kind of growsand evolves, right.
Tricky question.
I know it is a tricky question.
I think that every yearwe learn something new.
(16:56):
And the Auburn familywill let us know
what they think about it.
I foresee I always wantTiger giving day to be a day
that is accessible to anyone at anygiving level,
and I always want to make sure.
I mean, as long as I'm in the saddlethat, you can find
(17:17):
what you're interestedin, you know, with it.
So I think that it is an honor to stewardthat and continue to cultivate it.
You know,there may be other opportunities
in the future as wellfor a similar type platform,
you know, maybe more focus,you know, in on different things, but
and cost marketing,you know, we're really
(17:39):
our goal is to make surethat wherever you are in your life
right nowas a member of the Auburn family,
that you know what is out thereavailable, you know,
if you're interested in it,we can find it for you.
So we either want to engageyou where you are or provides
you with a philanthropic opportunity,where you are and connect you
with the people that are doing it.
(17:59):
Which again, is one of my favorite parts.
It's notthe advancement is a kind of
a glue connection betweenthe people that want to help do something
and the people who are doing the work.
And it's a really great wayof connection.
Again, when I first learned thatthat's the way
we kind of do givingand fundraising here at Auburn, it was.
So I don't know.
(18:21):
It's not the way I imaginedit works in my head.
I don't know where the idea came from,but it's just when I learned
that it was very personable, very storydriven, very project
based, very individual.
This is the person doing the thingthat you're passionate about, based.
It was like it felt right.
Yeah. I had no idea this was even a job.
(18:41):
So yeah, yeah, yeah. It's incredible.
Yeah. That's wonderful.
And then coach,if I could time for crystal ball.
Question.
What does the future I knowwe talked about
you have a two yeargiving a project as well.
What does the future entail for you guys?
I meanfor Tiger Giving Day in the short term
it's it's getting these chairs createdand allowing our power soccer team
(19:03):
to continueto compete at a high level
and allow us to bring in recruitsand then maybe eventually
turn the Auburn Power chairinto the worldwide chair
that everyone wants to playand sign me up.
That that'skind of our plan for basketball
with all of our other sports.
We, we want to continueto play at a top level
with basketball, with tennis,possibly adding some other Paralympic
(19:25):
sports in the future if,if it makes sense for us,
and then really, our short termand even long term
goal right nowis to try to figure out
what happens with,with our program
when the Coliseum comes down.
So we're we're housed in the historic.
Oh, yeah,historic buildings, Memorial Coliseum
camera nowhere, man.
Right there.
(19:45):
But, but we know that that buildingis not going to stay.
Or for sure.
Every Coliseum has to crumble. Even.
No one in Rome.
So there has to be a new homefor Auburn adapted athletics.
And, whether that is a Tigergiving Day project,
which might be outside of the scopeof 5 to 30,000 to grab.
Yeah, you may have some other ideas,but there we go. I like it,
(20:06):
heard it here first, but itis trying to figure out what
what's the long termhome for Auburn adapted athletics.
And then what can we do to bettersupport our student athletes?
Both in the classroom,on the court and even off the court.
That's always kind of been our goal.
Absolutely.
Two thoughts.
First, a very, you know,low level thing here.
I just want to sayevery time you say Power Soccer,
(20:27):
that might be the single coolestname for any sport
I've ever heard in my life.
Just want to throw that out there.
Whoever.
Like, that's the name.
Coolest thing ever.
Yeah, just throw that out there for sure.
And second off,I think Auburn adaptive
athletics is one of the coolerthings that I'm really proud of
that Auburnbecause it's one of those it'd be
(20:47):
it'd be sad and I think I thinkyou learned
that we had it through Tiger give mediaif I'm not mistaken. Right.
It's the thing that I wantmore people to know about
because it's so cooland I'm so proud that we do it
and we do it so well.
And it's such a level.
It's really it's really incredible.
And and to see it even grow outsideof where it's at now would be so cool.
(21:10):
And also Power soccer.
So cool.
Just absolutely incredible.
Well,I think this is a really great chance.
You know, this is this is thethe shameless plug,
moment of your podcast right here.
So,where to learn about Tiger Giving Day.
How do we find it? Where to find it?
What do I do? I want to participate.
(21:31):
I want to donate.
I want to learn more.
Where do I go?
How do I do that? Absolutely.
So Tiger giving dawgcan do write it down.
March 25th.
And you can see all 35 projects there.
We have one from every college on campus,including most of our units,
(21:51):
Student Affairs, jetpack,the Jewel, outreach, Athletics,
several from the Provost office as well.
Like, the career closet.
This year,notably, for the first time,
we've got all three ROTC branches.
We'll have a presenceon Tiger giving it awesome.
So Army air Force and,Naval and Marine Corps,
(22:15):
ROTC projects as well.
So that's it, Tiger giving, dawg,if you remember nothing else
from the podcast TigerGiving.org.
And it's a great resourceand it's a really great thing.
It happens every year will be.
Yes, every spring.
I'll come up beginning of the year. Yes.
Trying to get in before Tax Day,you know. Absolutely right.
(22:35):
Yeah I know it's a sweet spotbut it's been holiday giving.
Yeah. No I get it I get it.
No it is helpful.
It is really great.
And it's so it's somethingyou look out for every year.
Yes.
Always you know30 some odd or so projects
which is really incredible.
And then coach want to learn more butadaptive athletics or specific sport
want to learn more.
Where do I go?
Want to go to a game? Watch an event?
(22:57):
Where do I go to learn? Yeah.
Well first off TigerGiving.org,that's the one they were supposed to do
what they need to remember.
That's what we're remember.
Take nothing awayfrom this podcast TigerGiving.org.
That's where my buddyall of our stuff is was listed
on our social media.
Auburn adapted with with Instagram.
We've got a website Auburn adaptive.com.
But everything's listed on there.
(23:18):
All of our gamesfor all of our sports are free of charge.
Power soccer and basketballplay over at the Coliseum.
So it is it is still being useddespite what people might think.
Our basketball season is is wrapping up,this month, our power soccer season.
We don't have any more,no more home games this year.
But in the future, come.
Please come to the basketball gameif you're around this weekend.
(23:41):
I know people watchingwon't be able to see it,
but, this weekend we have gamesif you guys want to come out
to some games.
But, yeah.
Wonderful.
Well, I wanna say thank youboth so much for what you do
for spending some timejust hanging out with me on the podcast,
learning more about what you guys doand what makes you guys tick.
I appreciate it.
And and good luck.
You know,always coming up here soon
(24:01):
and excited to see what happens.
Well, thank you, Carter.
Thanks for having us.
Where are you going?
Tiger giving dayhas been a blessing to us
for the last seven years.
We're very fortunate that we have,we've hit our goal every year.
And I think,the success rate for all of our,
Tiger giving day projects over the last11 years is really, really high.
(24:21):
So a thank you to the Auburn familyas well
for all their love and support,not just of adaptive athletics,
but for Tiger giving that period.
Yeah.
As a several severalI mean hundreds of projects
have been funded over the years.
It is 400 plus project.
I did want to put you on the spot,but I was I was very glad for 400
plus project for that number.
As of September, withover more than
(24:44):
16,000 donors over 11 years.
That's incredible.
So yeah, there you go, Tiger.
Giving day, dawg.
That's where rememberingand every dollar counts.
You know, it all works.
Well, I appreciate you guys for comingand listening as well.
Thanks for spend some time with us.
And we're excited to see,what comes next.
We'll be back again next monthwith more members of our family.
(25:04):
Learn about themand what makes them tick as well.
Excited to see you then.
And until next timeWar Eagle! War Eagle! War Eagle!
Welcome into everything Auburn.
Thank youfor joining us on the podcast here
at Auburn University.
We get to speak to membersof the Auburn family every single month.
And happy March.
Can't believe it's already March.
But once again, I am Daltonand I have two special guests
of the Auburn family here with me.
I'm going to read their titleso I don't get them wrong here.
I have Lisa Lofland,the assistant director
of cAUse Marketingwith Auburn Advancement
(00:27):
and Auburn University.
Welcome to the podcast.
Thank you.
Got a big month for youwith that Tiger giving day carry
very big month.
Yeah.
What we will be discussing todayas well as,
self-proclaimed adaptiveathletics athletic director
coach Rob Taylor.
Yes, sir. hey War Eagle.
Thanks for having me. War Eagle indeed.
We were just discussing beforeself title there of athletic director.
(00:48):
And I'm very proud of youfor coming up with this.
Thank you.
I mean, I overseeall of our adaptive sports.
So we got basketball,tennis and power soccer.
And so what do you got to direct them?
So might as well be me.
Absolutely, absolutely.
Well,big reason we got both of you here
today is Tiger GivingDay is coming up here
at the end of the month,which is one of the coolest thing
that Auburn does. Thank you.
I really love it.
(01:08):
I'm a storyteller at heart.
Video guy I really love a good story,and I love the way
Tiger Giving Day is very story based.
Yes. Right.
That being said, that'sand what I mean by that is
a lot of universities,a lot of college,
a lot of companiessay I need money to do the thing,
please give me money, which is fair.
We do need that.
But the way Tiger Giving Day worksis is so much different that it's
(01:31):
we do need moneyto fund these things that we want to do.
Here are the cool things we want to do.
What speaks to your heart the most? Yes.
Which is so cool.
And there's some adaptive athletic stuff,which is some incredible things
we're trying to do with Tiger Giving Day,which is one thing
we'll be talking about.
But if you could,let's start with Tiger
Giving Day as a whole.
He said, okay,walk me through how it works.
What is it? Scope and scale.
(01:52):
What should we expect?
What makes it cool?
How long you've been doing it?
Give me the whole thing here. Okay.
So Tiger, given Day started in 2015, and,we were charged
with creating a dayof giving for Auburn University.
There was no,caveats around it or anything like that.
So it was pretty wide opento be able to create
whatever we wanted to with that day.
(02:14):
So our the team at the time,we consulted this
sort of grassroots platform that would,really give a voice,
and a place for projectsfrom around campus
that the Auburn familymight not know about.
So we really wanted to,if you think of it
in terms of matchmaking, we wewe really wanted people
(02:38):
to find their match,find, you know, find the causes,
the projectsthat they were passionate about.
And so we started it 2015.
This past September,we celebrated our ten year
anniversary with incredible.
I can't believe it'salready been going on for that long.
I, I can't either.
I still have the originalemail that I needed
(02:59):
and another colleague to figure it out.
So that frame that exactly.
But it's been a really wonderful thingthat's brought so much attention
and funding to some pretty awesome stuffhere on campus. Yes it has.
So it is, officially a 24 hour onlineday of giving.
And we have this yearwe have 35 projects.
(03:22):
And we purposely keep their goalsbetween 5000 and $30,000.
When we look at projects,we get a lot of applications.
We look at projects, we try to determine,is this something that we could pull off
in one day?
And also,you know, a lot of people are looking
(03:42):
at the projects on their phone,probably half of our donors,
you know, who end up donatingor doing it via mobile devices.
So 2026.
Yes. The world we sell.
One criteriawhen we're looking at the projects
is can this make sense in a sentence.
Absolutely.
Can I pitch it in a sentence.
And helping people,you know, find their mouths.
(04:03):
Yeah.
It's, it's a really cool thingand I've been a part of several
every year Tiger givingit comes around
and people come to our department askinghelp us make a video to kind of
pitch it and sell it. And we make it.
We make several a year.
But every project has a little a snippet,a little elevator pitch with it,
to tell it, which is a wonderful segue.
(04:23):
Look at me, podcast host coach Rob,athletic director extraordinaire.
This is great. This is great.
Yeah, yeah. It's good, it's good.
Adaptive athletics has some tag date.
Projects are coming up as well.
I know wheelchair basketball is onethat personally has a lot,
but they're really hoping to get out.
Tiger, you may walk us through that.
We'll get through the historyof wheelchair
and adaptive athleticshere at Auburn in a moment.
(04:45):
But while we're on Tiger Giving Daywhat is the adaptive
Athletics Tiger Giving Day project.
So you got going on this.
Yeah we're we're really excitedthis year.
We'rewe're actually pivoting away
from basketball for Tigergiving to this year.
And we're pivotingtowards our power soccer team.
So two years agowe started a power soccer
or power wheelchair soccer team.
(05:06):
Last yearthey won a national championship
and in their division,which was awesome for Eagle.
But what we foundis that the power chairs that our student
athletes use, there's only one companythat makes them.
And is it really?
Auburn believes thatwe can make a better chair.
Our headcoach of the power soccer team
also plays on the USpower soccer team,
and he's had dreamsand aspirations
of creating his own chair.
(05:26):
So, last yearhe started working with engineering.
So we're excited this yearfor Tiger Giving Day
to really get embeddedwith all aspects of engineering
and createa brand new Auburn only power chair
that we canthen kind of roll out
and hopefully continueto dominate tournaments with.
So, they've done some great jobsand some of the prototypes,
but the money that we're raisingthis year is to go create
(05:48):
brand new chairs that we can outfitall of our student athletes in one.
That's that's incredible. Honestly.
I mean,you take it to the Auburn engineers,
smart, smart people.
Those are some of the smartest peopleI've ever talked
to, to the pointwhere I've had to tell them,
you guys are way too smart for me,but I'm glad you're on our side.
There is, a many times Kim,our producer over here, has heard
(06:10):
me say it more times.
I'm sure she can countis we go do video shoots
or with this group or what have you.
And I walk inthat tell us what we're doing is like,
okay, that's wonderful.
I have a film degree.
I need you to likea seven year old verbal language here.
So let's back up a little bitwhile we're kind of talking about
we have the athletic directorhere of adaptive athletics.
(06:32):
Yeah. Let's see any question you have.
Let's talk about it.
Walk me through it here.
So walk me throughadaptive athletics here at Auburn
just from the genesisI know I believe it started with tennis
if I'm not mistaken. It did.
And kind ofwhat was your involvement in kind of
how do we get to where we are today?
Yes, we've had an adaptive sportsprogram for 16 years in our campus.
We started in 2010.
(06:53):
We had one student athlete,and you can have a tennis team
with one guy.
You can't have a basketball team.
It's a bit tricky,a little, a little short. Yeah, yeah.
So we started with wheelchair tennis,and then we,
brought in additional athletes.
And they wanted to play basketballmore than want to play tennis.
So tennis faded away fora number of years.
But we brought tennis backabout eight years ago.
So we had wheelchair basketball.
(07:14):
We have wheelchair tennis.
And then, as I mentioned, two years ago,we started power wheelchair soccer.
So, we've got athletesthat compete
in all three of those sports.
We've had great successin all of those sports.
Again, Power soccerwon a national championship
last year in their division.
And just like able bodiedsoccer in Europe, they got
promoted to the toplevel of power soccer.
(07:34):
Now, and I will saywe are the first
and the only university in the countryto offer collegiate power soccer.
So they're playing against adult and clubteams from all over the country.
Incredible.
Our tennis team has been national runnersup to the last three years.
We've had three of our athletesfinished the national runners up
within their, their level of play.
(07:55):
And I guess,from a basketball standpoint,
this is where we've fallen short, okay?
We've actually lost in the Eliteeight the last three years, so.
Oh, you know,the other two programs are doing great.
I'm slackingfrom a basketball standpoint, but we have
we have an incredible team this year.
We're ranked third in the nation.
We're 23 and seven right now.
We havenational championship expectations
just like everybody doesfor all of our sports.
(08:17):
So, but yeah, we started 16 years agoand we've grown into three sports
now, and we've got about 25 studentathletes across those three sports.
Wonderful.
And I, I can't help but brag for a momentif I, if I can if I was hoping,
you know, I'm just going to give youa little bit of a break here.
Please do,not only all the incredible
national championsand all these incredible things
(08:39):
we've done here, you're also,three time Olympic gold medalists.
If, if our research team.
If I can correct you, please.
It's four times.
Oh. Oh.
Sorry for its apologies. Apology?
No problem.
Four time Olympic gold medalists as well.
Yes.
You know,just coming off the Winter Olympics
can't help but sit thereand watch these athletes go.
Man, what am I doing my life, you know,walk me through that experience as well,
(09:02):
if you don't mind. Yes.
So I was, an assistant coachwith the US women in 2008
was my first Paralympic gamethat I went to.
We want a gold medal inin Beijing with the women's team.
And then, I got hired to bethe assistant coach with the US men,
so started with the men in 2013.
Went to Rio in 2016,won a gold medal there,
(09:23):
which was the first time the US men hadwon a gold medal in 28 years.
We followed that up with another goldmedal in Tokyo in 2020
or the delayed 2021 games.
Oh, yeah.
At that point,I convinced the head coach to retire.
I mean, he was ready for it.
Good. Good guy.
And I got promotedto head coach at that point.
So I took over the team in 2021, and,we went on a great run in that quad.
(09:47):
We won a gold medalevery single major tournament
that we went to,including world championships,
which we hadn'twon a gold medal there in 20 years,
and then capped it off with thegold medal in Paris,
which was the first timethat any men's wheelchair
basketball team had won threeconsecutive gold medals.
Each game was, incredible.
Each one of them was differentgoing from Tokyo, where
(10:08):
there were no fans thereto Paris,
where you had to sell outevery single game.
It was it was night and day different.
And, but each medal is a wholeis a very special part of my heart. Yeah.
And I say this to a lot of peoplewhen I go to speaking engagements,
if you ever have the opportunityto win a gold medal, just win it.
It's the best feeling in the world.
(10:29):
Aside from getting marriedand having kids, it is incredible.
So when you get that opportunity,don't pass it up. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, I'm still looking for youfor for the event. For me.
Not really sure what that will be.
But but when it shows up,I will make sure I win.
Yes. For sure, I got you covered. Yeah.
And might be in, like,you know, eating contest is more
(10:51):
my style.
It's gotta be readywhen the moment comes.
I'm not a hot dog eating contest guy,but surely there's
something out there for me.
I'm sure there's a creative directorgold medal you can win.
All right. Yeah, I don't know.
You know, you talking my language there?
All right.
All right,Lisa, I got some tough questions for you.
Okay. We go. Here we go. Okay. Let's see.
So one of my favorite thingsI get to do on this podcast
(11:12):
is I get to talk to some incrediblepeople, right?
And hear their stories.
I'm I told you guys before we startor I said it all here.
I'm a storyteller.
That's what I do.
I love to hear what makes people tick,why they do what they do.
And Targeting Dayis a story driven thing.
It very much is.
So put you on the spot here. Okay?
Oh, boy.
You've been.
(11:33):
You've been associated with Tiger.
Me Day since the beginning. Yes.
You are clearly passionate about it.
Yes, I am, I, I you know,I don't want to put that on you. Right.
But I feel it would be an accurate.
I can feel it come in this direction.
Right.
You knowwent through coach Rob background here.
I'd love to knowkind of your background,
your love and passionfor Tiger giving day.
(11:54):
Cause marketingwhich is your entire life right here.
Yeah. Shop. And,walk me through what
that looks like at Auburn.
Obviously, Tiger GamingDay is the most public
probably endeavor, right?
But it's a three, six five job.
Yes. Yeah.
What does that look like from you?
Okay.
I'm married into all of this.
Not a sports person at all.
(12:14):
My husband found me up in Nashville.
He was an Auburn alumnus.
And, his family,he and his family are from Opelika.
So, I moved down here, fellin love with the area.
Didn't even graduate from an SEC school.
So I went to Harding Universityin Searcy, Arkansas.
And, so 2014, I got hiredto be part of the billion dollar campaign
(12:37):
at the time.
I say the kickoff team for that.
And then the next yearwe decided to do a day of giving,
for Auburn University.
And Tiger gave mejust kind of draws you in because it
it is this,I've always been very proud of the fact
that we have held to this modelthat's very different
than other universities.
Not so much, where, you know,we have this great platform
(13:00):
to tell these stories.
And we hear back from donors every yearI do a Durham donor survey.
Last yearwe had more than 500 donors compete.
Complete it,for Tiger Giving Day,
where they tell us why they giveAnd one of the things I love about it
is we hear from familieswhere everyone in the family,
(13:21):
gets a certain amount of moneyand they pick their projects,
and it's like a day of philanthropywith their kids.
For how that goes.
We have others where,they say, hey, I'm on a fixed income, but
I know that my 30 bucks like,it moves a little needle,
you know, on that bar.
People are really into those bars.
That's thermometersand the donor maps as well.
(13:42):
But, you know, so that,you know,
that gives you a lot of purpose.
But then also hearing backfrom our projects,
the things that we I think maybe 2017 waswhen we started adaptive athletics
on Tiger Giving Day.
And I didn't even knowthat was something Auburn University had.
So to be able to give that programa voice is huge.
(14:03):
You know, I find every yearI love looking through the whole list.
Yes, because,you know, you scroll page and page,
there's so much there.
And inevitably every yearthere's somewhere
between 20 and 35 ish 40 projects.
You know, a year.
It kind of varies, right?
There's always a handful.
That's like,I didn't even know we had that.
(14:23):
Yes. Every single year it happens.
Yes. Same here.
It's like I think there you go.
I never knewI didn't know we had a B lab.
Oh yeah.
I didn't know we had an autism clinic.
I didn't know the career closetexisted for our students
or an eating disorders clinic.
There's so many incredible resourceshere on campus.
(14:45):
Is somethingwe talk about on this podcast a lot.
Actually, we had, last month, we had,alumni on, on the podcast
who was a big partof creating his business here
and use the new venture accelerator,which is one like, yeah,
more students need to knowthat exist, right?
Yeah.
Tiger Giving Day is a really great avenuefor learning about
some of those really great resourcesthat you just didn't know about.
Yeah, find some interestand then find some passionate people.
(15:07):
I passionate people are infectious to me.
I think they are.
And we rely on them quite a bit.
But you know, I will have projects.
There was one year where theautism clinic,
the very next day, the professor told us,I think I was in a hallway conversation
that,literally she saw the numbers, you know,
(15:28):
from the day beforeand was able to call a family and say,
we can getyou the early intervention care
that your child needsbecause that funding is now there.
And so,I mean, if that doesn't get you up
to go to work in the morningand I'm really trying,
you're really tryingto make me cry on this podcast. Yeah.
Well, it's happened beforeand you guys are really fighting it here.
(15:50):
Yeah.
It's it'ssomething that comes up on here
all the time.
As well as Auburn family, the CreedAuburn showing up to help Auburn,
which is so incredible.
I think what's so is so greatis these families do it.
You get like,you know, a little bit of an allowance,
you're going to pick oneyou're passionate about. And that's what.
So if people are funding their passions.
Right. I have a passion for athletics.
I'm a fine athletic. I don't like sport.
I have a passion for artand find something that's art driven.
(16:13):
Right.
If I can get you,I'm going to ask you both this
so you can both,you know, mentally prepare for it.
This is the crystal ball question, okay?
Right.
So crystal ball,what does the kind of the future
and growthof cause marketing tire giving day.
You know what to 16 years.
This will be our own event.
11 years.
(16:33):
11 okay. 16, 16 years for it.
That's what that numbers. Yeah.
So 11 years of tired giving day calls.
Mark, what is the crystal ball next?
Three, five, ten yearsnext 11 years
look like as it kind of growsand evolves, right.
Tricky question.
I know it is a tricky question.
I think that every yearwe learn something new.
(16:56):
And the Auburn familywill let us know
what they think about it.
I foresee I always wantTiger giving day to be a day
that is accessible to anyone at anygiving level,
and I always want to make sure.
I mean, as long as I'm in the saddlethat, you can find
(17:17):
what you're interestedin, you know, with it.
So I think that it is an honor to stewardthat and continue to cultivate it.
You know,there may be other opportunities
in the future as wellfor a similar type platform,
you know, maybe more focus,you know, in on different things, but
and cost marketing,you know, we're really
(17:39):
our goal is to make surethat wherever you are in your life
right nowas a member of the Auburn family,
that you know what is out thereavailable, you know,
if you're interested in it,we can find it for you.
So we either want to engageyou where you are or provides
you with a philanthropic opportunity,where you are and connect you
with the people that are doing it.
(17:59):
Which again, is one of my favorite parts.
It's notthe advancement is a kind of
a glue connection betweenthe people that want to help do something
and the people who are doing the work.
And it's a really great wayof connection.
Again, when I first learned thatthat's the way
we kind of do givingand fundraising here at Auburn, it was.
So I don't know.
(18:21):
It's not the way I imaginedit works in my head.
I don't know where the idea came from,but it's just when I learned
that it was very personable, very storydriven, very project
based, very individual.
This is the person doing the thingthat you're passionate about, based.
It was like it felt right.
Yeah. I had no idea this was even a job.
(18:41):
So yeah, yeah, yeah. It's incredible.
Yeah. That's wonderful.
And then coach,if I could time for crystal ball.
Question.
What does the future I knowwe talked about
you have a two yeargiving a project as well.
What does the future entail for you guys?
I meanfor Tiger Giving Day in the short term
it's it's getting these chairs createdand allowing our power soccer team
(19:03):
to continueto compete at a high level
and allow us to bring in recruitsand then maybe eventually
turn the Auburn Power chairinto the worldwide chair
that everyone wants to playand sign me up.
That that'skind of our plan for basketball
with all of our other sports.
We, we want to continueto play at a top level
with basketball, with tennis,possibly adding some other Paralympic
(19:25):
sports in the future if,if it makes sense for us,
and then really, our short termand even long term
goal right nowis to try to figure out
what happens with,with our program
when the Coliseum comes down.
So we're we're housed in the historic.
Oh, yeah,historic buildings, Memorial Coliseum
camera nowhere, man.
Right there.
(19:45):
But, but we know that that buildingis not going to stay.
Or for sure.
Every Coliseum has to crumble. Even.
No one in Rome.
So there has to be a new homefor Auburn adapted athletics.
And, whether that is a Tigergiving Day project,
which might be outside of the scopeof 5 to 30,000 to grab.
Yeah, you may have some other ideas,but there we go. I like it,
(20:06):
heard it here first, but itis trying to figure out what
what's the long termhome for Auburn adapted athletics.
And then what can we do to bettersupport our student athletes?
Both in the classroom,on the court and even off the court.
That's always kind of been our goal.
Absolutely.
Two thoughts.
First, a very, you know,low level thing here.
I just want to sayevery time you say Power Soccer,
(20:27):
that might be the single coolestname for any sport
I've ever heard in my life.
Just want to throw that out there.
Whoever.
Like, that's the name.
Coolest thing ever.
Yeah, just throw that out there for sure.
And second off,I think Auburn adaptive
athletics is one of the coolerthings that I'm really proud of
that Auburnbecause it's one of those it'd be
(20:47):
it'd be sad and I think I thinkyou learned
that we had it through Tiger give mediaif I'm not mistaken. Right.
It's the thing that I wantmore people to know about
because it's so cooland I'm so proud that we do it
and we do it so well.
And it's such a level.
It's really it's really incredible.
And and to see it even grow outsideof where it's at now would be so cool.
(21:10):
And also Power soccer.
So cool.
Just absolutely incredible.
Well,I think this is a really great chance.
You know, this is this is thethe shameless plug,
moment of your podcast right here.
So,where to learn about Tiger Giving Day.
How do we find it? Where to find it?
What do I do? I want to participate.
(21:31):
I want to donate.
I want to learn more.
Where do I go?
How do I do that? Absolutely.
So Tiger giving dawgcan do write it down.
March 25th.
And you can see all 35 projects there.
We have one from every college on campus,including most of our units,
(21:51):
Student Affairs, jetpack,the Jewel, outreach, Athletics,
several from the Provost office as well.
Like, the career closet.
This year,notably, for the first time,
we've got all three ROTC branches.
We'll have a presenceon Tiger giving it awesome.
So Army air Force and,Naval and Marine Corps,
(22:15):
ROTC projects as well.
So that's it, Tiger giving, dawg,if you remember nothing else
from the podcast TigerGiving.org.
And it's a great resourceand it's a really great thing.
It happens every year will be.
Yes, every spring.
I'll come up beginning of the year. Yes.
Trying to get in before Tax Day,you know. Absolutely right.
(22:35):
Yeah I know it's a sweet spotbut it's been holiday giving.
Yeah. No I get it I get it.
No it is helpful.
It is really great.
And it's so it's somethingyou look out for every year.
Yes.
Always you know30 some odd or so projects
which is really incredible.
And then coach want to learn more butadaptive athletics or specific sport
want to learn more.
Where do I go?
Want to go to a game? Watch an event?
(22:57):
Where do I go to learn? Yeah.
Well first off TigerGiving.org,that's the one they were supposed to do
what they need to remember.
That's what we're remember.
Take nothing awayfrom this podcast TigerGiving.org.
That's where my buddyall of our stuff is was listed
on our social media.
Auburn adapted with with Instagram.
We've got a website Auburn adaptive.com.
But everything's listed on there.
(23:18):
All of our gamesfor all of our sports are free of charge.
Power soccer and basketballplay over at the Coliseum.
So it is it is still being useddespite what people might think.
Our basketball season is is wrapping up,this month, our power soccer season.
We don't have any more,no more home games this year.
But in the future, come.
Please come to the basketball gameif you're around this weekend.
(23:41):
I know people watchingwon't be able to see it,
but, this weekend we have gamesif you guys want to come out
to some games.
But, yeah.
Wonderful.
Well, I wanna say thank youboth so much for what you do
for spending some timejust hanging out with me on the podcast,
learning more about what you guys doand what makes you guys tick.
I appreciate it.
And and good luck.
You know,always coming up here soon
(24:01):
and excited to see what happens.
Well, thank you, Carter.
Thanks for having us.
Where are you going?
Tiger giving dayhas been a blessing to us
for the last seven years.
We're very fortunate that we have,we've hit our goal every year.
And I think,the success rate for all of our,
Tiger giving day projects over the last11 years is really, really high.
(24:21):
So a thank you to the Auburn familyas well
for all their love and support,not just of adaptive athletics,
but for Tiger giving that period.
Yeah.
As a several severalI mean hundreds of projects
have been funded over the years.
It is 400 plus project.
I did want to put you on the spot,but I was I was very glad for 400
plus project for that number.
As of September, withover more than
(24:44):
16,000 donors over 11 years.
That's incredible.
So yeah, there you go, Tiger.
Giving day, dawg.
That's where rememberingand every dollar counts.
You know, it all works.
Well, I appreciate you guys for comingand listening as well.
Thanks for spend some time with us.
And we're excited to see,what comes next.
We'll be back again next monthwith more members of our family.
(25:04):
Learn about themand what makes them tick as well.
Excited to see you then.
And until next timeWar Eagle! War Eagle! War Eagle!
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