Add “Founders’ Day of Giving” celebrations to your 2024 Rec Day plans

NIRSA and NIRSA associate member Club Colors have teamed up again to offer campuses the opportunity to purchase customized Rec Day 2024 T-shirts and other swag like water bottles, cinch bags, sweatpants and even fanny packs! Make sure to place your order before February 4 to ensure your swag arrives in time for this year’s Rec Day.

Pledge your support for Rec Day

Are you planning to celebrate NIRSA’s 74th birthday and take part in the 2024 National Recreational Sports & Fitness Day? On (or around) February 22 every year, campus recreation departments across North America remember the vision set in motion by Dr. William Wasson and his esteemed colleagues at the first NIRSA Conference: To celebrate health, activity, competition, and inclusive participation. Will your school be celebrating this year?

After you take the pledge, share photos and videos of your Rec Day celebration at #RecDay and @NIRSAlive will help spread the word.

Founders’ Day of Giving

As campuses celebrate Rec Day, we are asking individual NIRSA members—students, professionals, life, emeritus, retired, and associates—to honor the NIA Founders by donating to the NIRSA Foundation.

2024 will mark the first year since the NIRSA Foundation moved away from making a “Giving Tuesday” appeal. This year, we are inviting supporters of campus recreation to make one-time gifts—or pledge recurring contributions—during what will become our new Annual Day of Giving starting February 22, 2024. It’s the hope of the NIRSA Foundation that campus recreation and wellbeing advocates will want to celebrate the profession and honor those pioneering individuals who founded this organization by giving back through recurring gifts and one-time donations.

Learn more

NIRSA was founded by Dr. William Wasson on February 22, 1950, when he brought 20 intramural directors from 11 Historically Black Colleges and Universities together to share his research on collegiate recreation. NIRSA members all over the world now celebrate this founding date as Rec Day. You can learn more about this special event, download official logos, and even see how members celebrated Rec Day in 2023 by visiting the Rec Day/Founders’ Day page of the NIRSA website.