I just spent 20 minutes on the Community Foundation’s Twitter and Facebook pages re-posting all recent social media posts from our GiveChoose charities. Is it good use of my time?
Heck. Its not just time. The Community Foundation for Loudoun and Northern Fauquier Counties has invested a fair $ amount in GiveChoose, set for this next Tuesday. Its a 24-hour charitable crowdfunding event for almost 50 local charities that starts at 12:01 AM on Tuesday May 5th. Check out the giving portal at GiveChoose.org.
One more fad, you say? The best thing since sliced bread, maybe? Really, its somewhere in between. But, here are some of the meaningful details.
Online fundraising is the fastest growing form of new income for charities. They need to be proficient at it. (We launched the program earlier this year with a half-day training program for all charities.)
Its fantastically cost effective–no paper or postage, and design is typically an in-house creative moment.
In our first year of GiveChoose (last year), 44% of all donors were First Time Donors to the charity they gave to. That’s awesome stuff.
And, finally, it builds community — a connection between businesses (Toth Financial, Alpha Graphics, Backflow Technology, Middleburg Bank, and Alpha Graphics, a private foundation, and others), that, together, created a Prize Pool of gifts to incentivize giving during the 24 hours. There’s nothing quite like winning a prize. Charities get too few of them.
It builds community among charities, as they row together to inspire giving here at home.
And, it builds community as our local households see that remarkable array of local charities, doing remarkable things, helping so many, and making a difference.
That’s why we do it. Will you join in?
