Great Give 2017 Raises Nearly $1.3 for Nonprofits
Grand Prizes Won by Nonprofits Providing Land Preservation, Services to Refugees and Immigrants, and Engaging Youth
New Nonprofit Participants Give Old Timers Run for Their Money
Grand Prizes Won by Nonprofits Providing Land Preservation, Services to Refugees and Immigrants, and Engaging Youth
New Haven, CT (May 4, 2017) – The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven (The Community Foundation) thanks the thousands of people who united over 36 hours during The Great Give® 2017 to raise nearly $1.3 Million for nonprofits serving The Foundation's 20-town service area.
"The Great Give 2017 was a great success for our community and for so many of the nonprofits that make our community so special. The $1.3 million raised will make a huge difference for many organizations and many people. Even more than that, The Great Give once again focused the community's attention on the issues, causes and opportunities in our community, and the wonderful work being done by local nonprofits inspired nearly 8,000 individuals to make more than 11,000 gifts. " said William W. Ginsberg, President & CEO of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.
To local nonprofits facing budget cuts and challenges due to national policy changes, The Great Give® 2017 was a very important event in which 34% of all donors reported making a gift for the first time to 301 participating nonprofits. While the majority of gifts came from Greater New Haven residents and around Connecticut, gifts were received from 29 states
Grand Prizes were awarded in tiers to the nonprofits that attracted the greatest number of new donors ($10,000 to Elm City Internationals; $5,000 to Booker T. Washington Academy; $3,000 to Inextricably Bound Community Development Corporation) and the greatest number of donors ($15,000 to New Haven Land Trust; $5,000 to Music Haven; $3,000 IRIS
(Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services). Two new matching gift prizes were added in 2017 targeting younger philanthropists and animal lovers.To engage younger philanthropists, the NextGen Power Hour Match prize provided prorated matching funds up to $5,000 to gifts made by donors born between 1974 and 1988; twelve percent of donors identified as being a NextGen. The Konopacke Match prize offered a matching pool of up to $5,000 for gifts made to nine eligible local nonprofit animal shelters.
In total, $183,000 in prorated matching funds and prizes was provided by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, and presenting sponsors including the Valley Community Foundation (VCF), Alexion Pharmaceuticals ($2,500 Education Prize to Neighborhood Music School; $2,500 Health Prize to Home Haven), Liberty Bank Foundation ($3,000 Greater New Haven Prize to Neighborhood Housing Services; $2,000 Valley Prize to TEAM Inc.) , iMission Institute ($1,000 Prize to Literacy Volunteers of Greater New Haven for boosting economic success) and Pirie Associates Architects ($2,250 Prize for Social and Environmental Justice to New Haven Farms).
In addition, a variety of prizes were awarded to nonprofits for the largest single gift received, first time and repeat giving increases, staff size, greatest percentage of increase in donors and dollars raised as well as randomly-drawn prizes throughout the event.
VCF, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven's partner in philanthropy and the second largest sponsor of the event, provided additional prizes designed to encourage residents and workers in the five Valley towns of Ansonia, Derby Oxford, Seymour and Shelton to give locally. More than $233,500 was donated during The Great Give® 2017 by Valley residents, workers and VCF donor advised fund holders. VCF Grand Prize winners will be announced at its annual Ice Cream Social on Thursday, May 25th from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm at St. Mary's church fellowship hall in Derby. To learn more, please contact the Valley Community Foundation at 203-751-9162.
The Great Give® is the annual online giving event on giveGreater.org®, a local resource for learning and giving created in 2010 by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven to increase philanthropy in the Greater New Haven region of South Central Connecticut. Donors wishing to support their favorite cause or charity can visit the giveGreater.org website to find information on over 380 nonprofits, including their mission, governance, programs, financials and community impact. The site hosts a monthly series called A Closer Look which highlights different areas of local nonprofit services, the issues that impact the health and wellbeing of the region and the work nonprofits do to address them.
Thanks to the generosity of three generations of donors, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven awarded $21 million in grants and distributions in 2016 from an endowment of more than $530 million and comprising hundreds of individually named funds. The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven's 20 town service area includes: Ansonia, Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, Derby, East Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Madison, Milford, New Haven, North Branford, North Haven, Orange, Oxford, Seymour, Shelton, Wallingford, West Haven, Woodbridge. Visit our website at www.cfgnh.org, find us on Facebook at www.facebook.org/cfgnh or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cfgnh.
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