There's just one more day left until North Texas Giving Day.
For those who may be newcomers to North Texas or aren’t familiar with the event, here's a little cheat sheet.
WHAT IS NORTH TEXAS GIVING DAY?
North Texas Giving Day is the largest region-wide philanthropic event in the U.S. The effort has been led by the Communities Foundation of Texas since 2009.
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Over 3,000 nonprofits across the region are taking part in the giving event, which started on September 1 and culminated with the big final push for giving on September 19th.
The mission of Communities Foundation of Texas is to improve the lives of all people in various communities by investing in health, wealth, living, and learning, outside of North Texas Giving Day.
“364 days a year at Communities Foundation, we give money all over the, all over the world. But most of our fund holders live here in North Texas,” said Calvert Collins-Bratton, Chief Relationships Officer for Communities Foundation of Texas.
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Many organizations rely on North Texas Giving Day to fill the gaps in funding for the year.
Officials say overall giving has decreased since the pandemic – even more so this year because of inflation and political campaigns for the election year.
"Nonprofits are not immune from economic pressures like the rest of us, everything is a little bit more expensive these days. And so that has meant that it's harder for them to operate to just keep the lights on and the programs going and to pay to recruit and retain staff, but also to raise donor dollars,” said Collins-Bratton. “It's not always easy to raise money, and there's a lot of competition out there. So this is a very cost-effective way for them to use our platform.”
As North Texas grows, so does the need for more residents.
“North Texas has been a boom town, a boom Metroplex. And while there are more people coming from all over the country, that also means that needs are going to go up. And sometimes nonprofits can be the best, quickest, and most efficient way to serve the needs of that community,” said Collins-Bratton.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The entire event takes place online, with some in-person events by various nonprofits aimed at driving focus back to the online space on NorthTexasGivingDay.org.
The website also features an online quiz to help find local nonprofits that match a person’s interests or passions.
No donation is too small and 100% of donated money goes directly back to more than 3,000 nonprofit organizations registered and verified by Communities Foundation of Texas this year.
“We're the pass-through. And because of our generous sponsors like Amazon and other foundations, they underwrite the cost to host this. That includes all credit card fees. So every dollar that someone might donate, some every single dollar goes to the nonprofit that they select,” said Collins-Bratton. “There's no administrative cost or burden. That's really important to us because a lot of these are really little nonprofits that rely on this day to raise a lot of their operating dollars. We want to continue to be able to facilitate that.”
As of Wednesday morning, over $17 million had been raised. The goal is to raise $60 million by this Thursday.
