The Community Foundation for Loudoun and Northern Fauquier Counties has selected four nonprofits to participate in a fundraising challenge on Giving Tuesday, a world-wide day of giving held each year the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

Earlier in the fall, the Community Foundation announced the opportunity for Loudoun-based human services nonprofit organizations to apply to participate in the Giving Tuesday Matching Challenge, a new grant opportunity offered by the Foundation in response to COVID-19 relief efforts. The four selected organizations will conduct fundraising campaigns with the goal of raising at least $5,000 on Giving Tuesday, held on December 1, 2020. The Community Foundation will match up to $5,000 of donations made to the participating organizations on Giving Tuesday, as well as the week before and the week after December 1. The four nonprofits selected to participate in the challenge are ECHO, Loudoun Abused Women’s Shelter, StoryBook Treasures and Women Giving Back.

Matching grants will be provided by the Community Emergency Relief Fund, which was established by the Community Foundation in March 2020 to collect and disburse donations to address the impacts of COVID-19 in the Loudoun community. Since March, the Community Relief Fund has disbursed more than $210,000 to nonprofits in Loudoun providing rental assistance and supportive services to Loudoun residents in need due to the health and financial impacts of the pandemic.

Now the Community Foundation and the four nonprofits participating in the Giving Tuesday Matching Challenge hope to double the impact of the donations raised on Giving Tuesday by matching with grants provided from the Community Emergency Relief Fund. “We know our community and the nonprofits chosen to participate are up for this challenge,” said Nicole Acosta, Director of Grants and Nonprofit Programs at the Community Foundation. “The donations made by our generous community and matched by the Community Emergency Relief Fund will go a long way to supporting these organizations helping Loudoun residents.”

To help the organizations meet their fundraising goals, donations can be made between November 24 and December 8 to the four nonprofits participating:

• ECHO: https://echoworks.org/donors/
• Loudoun Abused Women’s Shelter: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/lcsjlaws
• StoryBook Treasures: https://www.storybooktreasures.org/donate/
• Women Giving Back: https://womengivingback.org/donate-sponsor/