Great Community Give Fundraiser Exceeds $5 Million In 5 Years
April 22, 2022
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Great Community Give Fundraiser Exceeds $5 Million In 5 Years
The Great Community Give ended at 8 p.m. Wednesday having raised $1.72 million during the annual online-based day of giving.
The community fundraising day didn’t reach its overall goal, though many nonprofits reached their individual goals. This year’s event reached a handful more donors than last year and featured the largest number of participating nonprofits.
The total was $70,000 shy of the Community Foundation of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County’s goal of $1.8 million for this year, but pushed the event’s total raised over the five years it has been held past $5 million by $36,703.
Additionally, 7,126 unique donors participated in this year’s event, just a handful more than last year’s 7,111 donors, based on the 2021 Great Community Give summary.
The Great Community Give is an event where individual nonprofits join together to raise money through an online forum, said Revlan Hill, the Community Foundation’s executive director. The Community Foundation facilitates fundraising for local nonprofits, who do their own promotion work, she said.
This year, the highest raising nonprofits were Blue Ridge Christian School, which raised around $140,000; Massanetta Springs, which raised over $110,000; and Central Valley Habitat for Humanity, which raised over $60,000, according to the event’s online leaderboard.
Our Community Place, H-Rock Young Life, and Boys and Girls Clubs of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County were the next highest raising, collecting between $50,000 and $60,000 each.
The rest of the Top 10 highest raising nonprofits were Blue Ridge Free Clinic, which raised over $46,000, and Redeemer Classical School, Harrisonburg Education Foundation, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Harrisonburg-Rockingham County, which raised at least $37,000 each.
The first Great Community Give, held in April 2018, helped local nonprofits raise around $276,820. Jenny Burden, executive director of the Arts Council of the Valley, said only around 40 nonprofits participated that year, as not many of the organizations knew about the event.
The following year, the Great Community Give helped local nonprofits raise $536,300. In 2020, nonprofits raised $804,216.
During last year’s Great Community Give, cash giving was introduced, and over $500,000 of last year’s total was from cash and check gifts, which were delivered to the nonprofits during the hours of the event, according to the event’s summary report. Last year’s give raised $1,772,878, about $50,000 more than this year.
This year’s day of giving began at 6:30 a.m. with a cushion of over $170,000 in “early giving,” donations that were accepted from April 6 until the event began, according to Hill.
The Community Foundation collected around $80,000 in sponsorship money for this year’s event. According to Hill, all sponsorship money was distributed during the day as “prize” money, incentivizing more donations during specific time slots.
Local nonprofits Redeemer Classical School and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, an initiative of the Community Foundation, exceeded their individual fundraising goals early in the day.
The nonprofits can attend trainings put on by the Community Foundation, which teach them how to leverage social media and campaign for prizes, Hill said.
Redeemer Classical School, located in Keezletown, was awarded a check at 1:30 p.m. for a “power hour” prize, which it earned for having the most donors give between 11 a.m. and noon. Hill said the power hour prizes incentivize donors to give during a specific time slot, and nonprofits to work hard to make it more likely that they win a prize.
“We’ve been a part of [Great Community Give] every year,” said Ron Hoch, head of school. “We have won a prize of some kind or another every year so far too.”
The Christian school raised money to buy its first school bus, which it plans to use for school trips and transporting sports teams, according to its profile on the Great Community Give website. Some of the money will also go to having the bus wrapped with an ad for the school, Hoch said.
By 11 a.m., the school had already closed in on its $40,000 goal, bringing in $34,000, plus prize money.
By the end of the day, the school exceeded its goal, raising nearly $46,000. The school set out to raise money from 400 unique donors and ended up getting money from 597 donors, according to the Great Community Give website.
“I’m really thankful for it, I mean personally,” Hoch said. “It’s been good for us, but I think, because I live in the nonprofit world, I have lots of friends that live in the nonprofit world, it’s been really good for a lot of our community.”
The Community Foundation launched the Dolly Parton Imagination Library initiative in March, according to Cynthia Prieto, foundation board member and chair of the Imagination Library committee.
According to Prieto, an important part of the Great Community Give is educating the community about local nonprofits. This year, 125 nonprofits participated, the greatest number of participants so far.
The Imagination Library aims to close the “achievement gap” between students who are read to as toddlers and those who are not, said Prieto, retired principal of Harrisonburg High School.
“Our goal was $5,000, already we’re at $6,400,” Prieto said at midday. “Twenty-five dollars and 20 cents gets one child a book a month for free for a year.”
Prieto said she was not surprised that the initiative exceeded its fundraising goal, since so many families registered for the program, open to kids from newborn to 5 years old to get one book each month in the mail for free.
“The prediction was, if we got to 240 [children] in the first month, that was a good launch. If we got to over 900 within a year, that was a success,” Prieto said. “We’re now at 1,400 [kids registered for the program]. The point of it is school readiness.”
There was another ramp-up from 3 to 4 p.m., when nonprofits raised $163,595, the third highest raising hour of the day, which also coincided with a power hour. During 2021’s Great Community Give, the highest earning hours and the hours with the most donations happened during power hours, according to the event’s summary report.
Though the Community Foundation didn’t reach its overall fundraising goal, Hill said the day was about helping local nonprofits.
“Whether we make it or not, it’s going to be a success,” Hill said. “The time of year right now, with the economy the way it is, it’s a challenging goal. For me, no matter what we make today, we’re successful.”
Great Community Give Fundraiser Exceeds $5 Million In 5 Years
- By JILLIAN LYNCH Daily News-Record
- Apr 21, 2022
The community fundraising day didn’t reach its overall goal, though many nonprofits reached their individual goals. This year’s event reached a handful more donors than last year and featured the largest number of participating nonprofits.
The total was $70,000 shy of the Community Foundation of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County’s goal of $1.8 million for this year, but pushed the event’s total raised over the five years it has been held past $5 million by $36,703.
Additionally, 7,126 unique donors participated in this year’s event, just a handful more than last year’s 7,111 donors, based on the 2021 Great Community Give summary.
The Great Community Give is an event where individual nonprofits join together to raise money through an online forum, said Revlan Hill, the Community Foundation’s executive director. The Community Foundation facilitates fundraising for local nonprofits, who do their own promotion work, she said.
This year, the highest raising nonprofits were Blue Ridge Christian School, which raised around $140,000; Massanetta Springs, which raised over $110,000; and Central Valley Habitat for Humanity, which raised over $60,000, according to the event’s online leaderboard.
Our Community Place, H-Rock Young Life, and Boys and Girls Clubs of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County were the next highest raising, collecting between $50,000 and $60,000 each.
The rest of the Top 10 highest raising nonprofits were Blue Ridge Free Clinic, which raised over $46,000, and Redeemer Classical School, Harrisonburg Education Foundation, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Harrisonburg-Rockingham County, which raised at least $37,000 each.
The first Great Community Give, held in April 2018, helped local nonprofits raise around $276,820. Jenny Burden, executive director of the Arts Council of the Valley, said only around 40 nonprofits participated that year, as not many of the organizations knew about the event.
The following year, the Great Community Give helped local nonprofits raise $536,300. In 2020, nonprofits raised $804,216.
During last year’s Great Community Give, cash giving was introduced, and over $500,000 of last year’s total was from cash and check gifts, which were delivered to the nonprofits during the hours of the event, according to the event’s summary report. Last year’s give raised $1,772,878, about $50,000 more than this year.
This year’s day of giving began at 6:30 a.m. with a cushion of over $170,000 in “early giving,” donations that were accepted from April 6 until the event began, according to Hill.
The Community Foundation collected around $80,000 in sponsorship money for this year’s event. According to Hill, all sponsorship money was distributed during the day as “prize” money, incentivizing more donations during specific time slots.
Local nonprofits Redeemer Classical School and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, an initiative of the Community Foundation, exceeded their individual fundraising goals early in the day.
The nonprofits can attend trainings put on by the Community Foundation, which teach them how to leverage social media and campaign for prizes, Hill said.
Redeemer Classical School, located in Keezletown, was awarded a check at 1:30 p.m. for a “power hour” prize, which it earned for having the most donors give between 11 a.m. and noon. Hill said the power hour prizes incentivize donors to give during a specific time slot, and nonprofits to work hard to make it more likely that they win a prize.
“We’ve been a part of [Great Community Give] every year,” said Ron Hoch, head of school. “We have won a prize of some kind or another every year so far too.”
The Christian school raised money to buy its first school bus, which it plans to use for school trips and transporting sports teams, according to its profile on the Great Community Give website. Some of the money will also go to having the bus wrapped with an ad for the school, Hoch said.
By 11 a.m., the school had already closed in on its $40,000 goal, bringing in $34,000, plus prize money.
By the end of the day, the school exceeded its goal, raising nearly $46,000. The school set out to raise money from 400 unique donors and ended up getting money from 597 donors, according to the Great Community Give website.
“I’m really thankful for it, I mean personally,” Hoch said. “It’s been good for us, but I think, because I live in the nonprofit world, I have lots of friends that live in the nonprofit world, it’s been really good for a lot of our community.”
The Community Foundation launched the Dolly Parton Imagination Library initiative in March, according to Cynthia Prieto, foundation board member and chair of the Imagination Library committee.
According to Prieto, an important part of the Great Community Give is educating the community about local nonprofits. This year, 125 nonprofits participated, the greatest number of participants so far.
The Imagination Library aims to close the “achievement gap” between students who are read to as toddlers and those who are not, said Prieto, retired principal of Harrisonburg High School.
“Our goal was $5,000, already we’re at $6,400,” Prieto said at midday. “Twenty-five dollars and 20 cents gets one child a book a month for free for a year.”
Prieto said she was not surprised that the initiative exceeded its fundraising goal, since so many families registered for the program, open to kids from newborn to 5 years old to get one book each month in the mail for free.
“The prediction was, if we got to 240 [children] in the first month, that was a good launch. If we got to over 900 within a year, that was a success,” Prieto said. “We’re now at 1,400 [kids registered for the program]. The point of it is school readiness.”
There was another ramp-up from 3 to 4 p.m., when nonprofits raised $163,595, the third highest raising hour of the day, which also coincided with a power hour. During 2021’s Great Community Give, the highest earning hours and the hours with the most donations happened during power hours, according to the event’s summary report.
Though the Community Foundation didn’t reach its overall fundraising goal, Hill said the day was about helping local nonprofits.
“Whether we make it or not, it’s going to be a success,” Hill said. “The time of year right now, with the economy the way it is, it’s a challenging goal. For me, no matter what we make today, we’re successful.”
