Community prepares for the Giving Challenge

In its first four years, the Giving Challenge raised more than $15 million for nonprofits in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and DeSoto counties. Last year, it netted a record $7 million for 449 nonprofits in 24 hours, with a total of 36,417 donations.

The fifth annual Giving Challenge starts at noon Tuesday, Sept. 20 and ends 24 hours later. Within that timeframe, donors can select from a list of more than 550 local organizations to benefit from their donations.
 

The Giving Challenge allows donors to maximize contributions to their favorite organizations and also provides a platform for new or lesser-known nonprofit organizations in need of support.

There are multiple incentives for donating during the 24-hour period, the most prominent of which is the Patterson Foundation’s 1:1 or 2:1 match of donations up to $100 per donor, per organization. (See sidebar for details.)

“Our community’s enthusiastic support of the Giving Challenge, now in its fifth year, is an extraordinary demonstration of our collective giving spirit,” Community Foundation of Sarasota County President and CEO Roxie Jerde said. “Not only does this event provide much-needed support for local nonprofits, it also gives them the opportunity to share the impact of their mission through focused communication and donor outreach, resulting in new donors and more revenue to support their missions.”

Eighty organizations have formed partnerships with other nonprofits for the Giving Challenge — for example, promoting each other’s mission or sharing volunteers. The Community Foundation of Sarasota will also recognize a Best Nonprofit Partnership during the course of the Giving Challenge with $4,000 to be split between partners.

One of those 40 partnerships is between Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida and the Healthy Start Coalition of Sarasota County Inc.

In the past three years, the Healthy Start Coalition has partnered with local organizations that share similar goals. Shon Ewens, executive director for the Healthy Start Coalition, said the decision to partner with Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida is due to the organizations’ shared goal of developing healthy children from birth to childhood and further into adults.

“We offer a continuum of services starting with a pregnant mom,” Ewens said. “We kind of thought, well that baby in her tummy could be a future Girl Scout.”