After a community outpouring of local goodwill during the inaugural fundraiser last year, the Whitefish Community Foundation’s second-annual Day of Giving and Unity was once again a resounding success.
During the 28-hour fundraiser on May 4-5, more than 1,100 donors helped raise a total of $476,655 for 92 different Northwest Montana nonprofits.
“The Day of Giving & Unity was created to help nonprofits respond to the unique circumstances brought on by the COVID-19 crisis,” Whitefish Community Foundation Executive Director Linda Engh-Grady said. “Once again, our community has rallied together to support nonprofits as they adapt and continue to provide programs and services during this challenging time. We are so grateful for our donors who are helping us during this time of critical need in our community.”
The Day of Giving and Unity was launched last year in response to the coronavirus outbreak by the same group that organizes Giving Tuesday the week after Thanksgiving every week.
“Last year we didn’t’ know what to expect, we were all in a bit of a panic,” Engh-Grady said. “People were stuck at home so we had a captive audience, which made them an easy target to capture.”
“Overall I think it’s a relatively new campaign, so we did okay,” she continued. “The key is that there’s a lot of charities in the campaign and there were 14 new ones. Their awareness for this fundraising is just starting and it’s a really good start.”
More than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the nonprofit community continues to be impacted. The economic downturn brought on by the virus has spurred an increased demand at places like food banks and homeless shelters and limitations on social gatherings that were in place for much of the last year all but removed the ability to hold in-person fundraising events.
To meet those challenges, the Day of Giving and Unity operated mostly online, while also accepting donations at Glacier Bank, First Interstate Bank and Park Side Credit Union at their branches in Flathead County and Eureka. Donors were able to specify which of the 92 nonprofits they were donating to, and the WCF offered $1000 in matching funds to any nonprofit that raised more than $2,000. Eighty of the 92 participating organization raised that amount, leading to WCF contributing 80,000 to the overall total.
In addition, to further spur donation, WCF provided 24 separate $100 incentive grants throughout the 28-hour campaign.
“This is fast and quick — it replaces the need for some of these charities to go into their spring fundraiser figuring out how to get those last few operating dollars,” Engh-Grady said. “This has no cost to the charities and they get their money quickly, with matching incentives.”
Last year, 78 different local nonprofits participated in the inaugural Day of Giving and Unity, and raised $485,645, which was further compounded by $77,000 in matching grants by WCF. Over the past two years, the campaign has generated $1,039,300 for local nonprofits.
“These are charities serving the entire Flathead Valley, so in my opinion it makes sense for us to be in it together,” Engh-Grady said. “It’s amazing to see how generous the donors are. Next year we’d like to see all of the nonprofits reach the matching dollar amount.”
The community foundation is itself a nonprofit that collects and manages funds, and distributes that money as grants to individual charities. Last summer, WCF established a COVID-19 emergency response fund, which Engh-Grady said has distributed $230,000 in grants, including several large grants to the North Valley Food Bank and Flathead Food Bank.
The Whitefish Community Foundation’s largest annual fundraiser is the Great Fish Challenge, which kicks off in July. Last year’s fundraiser raised $2.7 million for 56 participating nonprofits.
To learn more about the Whitefish Community Foundation and the Day of Giving and Unity visit whitefishcommunityfoundation.org.