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OC Giving Day donations climb to nearly $4.5 million

There is no doubt now that Orange County Community Foundation was on to something when it began hosting online “Giving Days” in 2015. Back then, a solo 30-hour marathon raised a collective $1.8 million for 347 local charities.

Now there are more collaborative Giving Days during the year – 10 – that have involved a half-dozen to up to 20 nonprofit organizations at a time. The groups work together under a common theme, such as Stand and Salute to benefit military veterans or Help Them Home to tackle homelessness. Each online effort runs 24 hours.

The formula, relying heavily on social media campaigns and making strong connections with donors, has led to annual increases in dollars raised, reaching nearly $4.5 million donated this year. All of the theme days exceeded overall goals set by the participating charities.

The amounts this year ranged from $2.1 million for Help Them Home in April that involved 20 nonprofits to $113,000 raised by 10 organizations during February’s Love Is outreach to support healthy teen relationships.

The Giving Day vehicle also has delivered in a big way during the coronavirus pandemic, providing an accessible and safe way for a community energized to do more to help others in need while maintaining health and safety protocols. Use of social media – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter – fuels the response and allows charities to engage with donors who may not have been in their traditional wheelhouse.

“As our donor base gets younger and younger that is going to grow,” said Carol Ferguson, director of donor relations and programs for Orange County Community Foundation.

The foundation is looking at growing the Giving Day presence on the professional networking platform LinkedIn next year, she said.

“That would be a great way to reach more of the corporate businesses that might be interested in supporting Giving Days.”

Last year saw a total of $3.2 million in donations, twice as much as the 2019 Giving Days brought in. That increase in charitable giving fits with a national trend analyzed in the annual “Giving USA” report by the Giving Institute that noted how online donations across the United States reached their highest share of total giving in 2020, Ferguson said.

Ferguson also credited the nonprofits themselves, particularly those that mentor others in conducting their Giving Day campaigns, for the work they put in to make their themed day successful. Each Giving Day has a steering committee that helps guide the outreach.

“They’re just getting better at this,” she said. “We’re providing them the tools and the more they do it, the more they can nail down their message.”

One increasingly successful method is peer-to-peer encouragement of donations, basically showing your own passion for a cause to influence others in one’s professional or social network to also lend their support.

“It really helped to grow their audience,” Ferguson said, noting that 37% of the 8,435 donors who supported this year’s Giving Days were peer-to-peer recruits.

And matching dollars put up by corporations or individual donors also served to fuel donations, to the tune of $1.6 million.

“If I know if I give on this day that my dollar is doubled, I’m more likely to give,” Ferguson said.

For next year, it’s likely that the number of themed Giving Days will remain at 10. But Ferguson said there is some consideration being given to hosting a Giving Day that supports groups engaged in multicultural activities that celebrate diversity and support equity and communities of color.

“We’ve explored it and we’re really excited about it,” Ferguson said. “We’ll see if the organizations come together.”

2021 Giving Days

Here are the amounts raised for each Giving Day hosted by Orange County Community Foundation in 2021:

Love Is (healthy teen relationships) – $113,155

The Future is Working (workforce development) – $179,519

Help Them Home (homelessness) – $2,163,132

Empowering Possibilities (people with disabilities) – $129,242

Stand & Salute (military veterans and their families) – $188,008

Preserving Dignity (older adults in need) – $389,684

Impact Anaheim (underserved youth) – $234,021

Greatness Amplified (Boys & Girls Clubs) – $474,625

Protect & Preserve (sustaining OC ecosystems) – $144,502

Igniting Potential (supporting OC youth) – $454,218

Find out more about each theme day and the organizations they supported at bit.ly/2XyyzVW.


Source: Orange County Register

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