Updated: June 15, 2018 at 11:27 a.m.

Alumni have until Friday to donate to a fundraising campaign that will give $25,000 to GW’s unpaid internship fund.

Steve Ross, an alumnus and a member of the Board of Trustees, sent an email to alumni May 31 announcing the launch of a matching donation challenge to raise money for the Knowledge in Action Career Internship Fund, which supports students’ unpaid internships. If 250 alumni donate by the June 15 deadline, Ross will donate $25,000 to the fund, the email states.

“Make your gift to KACIF today to open doors for GW students and provide them with the opportunity to access that real-world experience,” Ross said in the email, which was obtained by The Hatchet. “Together, we can help ensure a student’s financial situation is never a barrier to any ‘only-at-GW’ moments.”

University spokeswoman Maralee Csellar said Ross, his wife Debbie and fellow trustee Scott Amey have issued several giving challenges in recent years to help fund unpaid internships. Ross and Amey have been donating to KACIF since it was first established in 2013.

The pool gives $1,000 to $3,000 grants to unpaid student interns, depending on their financial need.

“As three of our most loyal supporters, they were happy to lead by example again this June and use their generous donation as a galvanizing force for other alumni, parents and friends to make fiscal year-end gifts to GW,” Csellar said in an email.

She said as giving milestones are reached, more details will come forward. The final amount raised and total donors will be revealed in July’s end-of-the-fiscal-year report, she said.

This post has been updated to reflect the following correction:
A previous version of this article incorrectly named the Knowledge in Action Career Internship Fund on one reference. The name of the program has been corrected. We regret this error.