The second annual East Texas Giving Day will be held Tuesday, April 25, 2017. This year donations will be accepted from 6 a.m. until midnight. East Texas Giving Day is an online crowdfunding event that happens online at EastTexasGivingDay.org and is powered by East Texas Communities Foundation.
“In our first year nonprofits raised nearly a half million in unrestricted funds. With experience and knowledge of online fundraising, we anticipate even larger numbers in 2017,” said Kyle Penney, President of East Texas Communities Foundation. “The generosity of East Texans is astounding. We know with their support we will raise even more funds to fuel the important work of nonprofits serving our local communities.”
The purpose of an area-wide Giving Day is to bring the region together on one day and as one community, enthusiastically raising money and awareness for East Texas nonprofits. This initiative, organized by East Texas Communities Foundation, provides citizens across ETCF’s 32-county service area an easy platform to support the mission of local nonprofits that serve as the backbone for many communities.
“East Texas Giving Day is a great way for folks to support organizations that they already care about, as well as discover a few new favorites that are doing great work,” Penney said. “The organizations will each have profile pages available for viewing at EastTexasGivingDay.org that tell their stories.”
On April 25th, transactions will be securely processed through the Giving Day website and donors receive an immediate tax receipt via email at the conclusion of the donation process.
Nonprofits can register online to participate in East Texas Giving Day now through Feb.15, 2017. Each nonprofit will submit $100 at the time of registration. All registration fees will be used to promote the event regionally; ETCF will not receive compensation for hosting East Texas Giving Day. Once a nonprofit has submitted their registration, ETCF staff will review the nonprofit’s status and verify that they are in fact a 501(c)(3) public charity in good standing with the IRS. When the nonprofit is cleared to participate, they are encouraged to begin sharing the news with their current donors through social media outlets and other traditional means.
“Our first year resulted in 36 percent of donors indicating they were first-time donors to the charities they supported,” Penney said. “This is one of the key results that inspired ETCF to host a Giving Day in the first place and falls in line with national Giving Day numbers.”
Nonprofits will again have the ability to secure their own matching funds for the 18-hour event.
“It is very rewarding for a regular contributor of a nonprofit to see his or her gift have an impact,” Penney said. “What greater impact than for their gift to be an incentive for area residents to collectively match that through an online challenge.”
A new feature in 2017 will be the ability for a donor to preschedule a gift to the charity they wish to support. Prescheduled gifts will open to the public on Monday, April 10, 2017.
“The opportunity to preschedule gifts will allow nonprofits to start sharing in the ‘buzz’ related to giving day” said Penney. “When the early gifts start showing up, and nonprofits promote those gifts, it builds enthusiasm and inspires more donors to support their work. The excitement is contagious.”
Participating nonprofits and donors can track donations pledged throughout the day of April 25th in real-time by watching the leaderboard on the home page of the web site. The minimum donation that can be made is $20 with donations being accepted online during the event at EastTexasGivingDay.org. All transactions processed on Giving Day will incur approximately 5 percent in fees based on the costs of the Giving Day platform and actual credit card fees. Nonprofits will receive funds six-to-eight weeks after the conclusion of the event.
“Our goal in hosting East Texas Giving Day is to reach new donors and give them simple access to support local causes. We also want to use this opportunity to build a new generation of philanthropists for our communities,” Penney said. “Our goal for 2017 is to raise $1 million, in a single day, for participating nonprofits.”
Ongoing updates about the event will be posted on ETCF’s Facebook page at facebook.com/SimplifiedGiving and the foundation’s website etcf.org.
