More than 150 communities across the country gathered online for a 24-hour fundraising event, from midnight to 11:59 May 6.
One of the many organizations taking part in the Big Day of Giving was the Los Rios Foundation, which raised $7,635.
Funds raised by the foundation go to fund student scholarships, teacher mini-grants, college enhancement for equipment, building upgrades and new structures, and a student emergency fund for all Los Rios district colleges, according to the foundation’s website.
The non-profit group Sacramento Region Community Foundation, which held its first local online giving day, The Arts Day of Giving, April 29, 2013, and raised $525,000 for 78 arts groups around the country, organized the event.
SRCF used social media competitions in which non-profit organizations had to produce the most creative selfies or memes, or receive the most likes or retweets from a post. The non-profit organization with the best in these categories received between $500 and $1,000.
The fundraiser aimed to raise $100 million nationwide, and SRCF laid out four goals to be met. The group wanted to reach 5,000 donors nationwide, 30 percent of whom will be new to the organizations involved, enlist 400 nonprofit groups to participate by creating a portrait on the Giving Edge, the region’s first nonprofit database, and secure at least $250,000 in matching and prize funds, which the fundraising event has met.
“We raised $3.02 million for 394 nonprofits from 18,915 donors, and offered over $300,000 in Matching and Prize funds. Together we made history in the Sacramento Region,”said Luis D. Sosa, communications associate at Sacramento Region Community Foundation in an email interview with the Current.
There are many 24-hour giving campaigns that occur around the nation, but the Big Day of Giving was organized specifically to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the first community foundation in Cleveland, Ohio.
“All participating nonprofits received key operational funds and exposure to new donors for their organization, which for some is the difference between open and closed doors. It is extremely rewarding to be a part of such an unprecedented and successful regional effort,” said Linda Beech Cutler,CEO, Sacramento Region Community Foundation.
SRCF has grown since its founding in 1983, becoming the region’s primary philanthropic service, with a fundraising movement called GiveLocalNow.
“GiveLocalNow is the result of the vision, leadership and hard work of a broad array of regional leaders who believe we can and must evolve into a more charitable region. The Sacramento Region Community Foundation and the Non-Profit Resource center currently steward the GiveLocalNow movement on a day-to-day basis,” said Sosa.
Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, and El Dorado counties were the four of the 150 communities participating in the event from California.
