The annual Give More 24! online giving marathon concluded Thursday, exceeding its goal of raising $3.5 million in donations. In the end, the campaign raised over $3.6 million from over 6,000 donors to support 216 nonprofits around Southwest Washington.
The top five organizations that each exceeded $100,000 in donations were: the Free Clinic of Southwest Washington, the Children’s Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, Share Inc. and FISH of Vancouver.
In previous years, only one organization had ever exceeded $100,000 in donations, according to Maury Harris, senior communications officer for the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington.
“We’re amazed once again by the generosity of the community,” Harris said. “There’s a lot of people out here in Southwest Washington who really care about the community.”
This year, the average online donation increased from $166 to $174, with over 11,000 total gifts made, according to Harris. In total, nonprofits received over $1.5 million in matching funds.
Fosterful raised just over $20,000 from more than 80 donors, meeting its goal for the day of giving.
“The energy of the day was magnificent, as usual,” said Sarah Desjarlais, the executive director of Fosterful. “I think the key to success was our volunteers really stepped up.”
Desjarlais praised the supportive environment throughout the day, not just from the community but from other nonprofits as well.
As one of the top three nonprofits that raised the most money, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School received over $119,000 with the most total donors, exceeding 280.
“It’s absolutely phenomenal and vital for us,” said Vikki Pynenburg, the development and marketing director at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School. “What I love about Give More 24! is that it supports over 200 nonprofits.”
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School first participated in Give More 24! in 2015. The school raised $10,000 that year, according to Pynenburg. This year, it made more than 10 times that amount.
Much of the money raised from Give More 24! goes to tuition assistance to support students and families at the school, according to Pynenburg.
Many nonprofits exceeded their fundraising goals, such as PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center. Its goal was to raise $26,000, and it walked away with over $76,000. Santa’s Posse set its goal at $25,000 and received over $41,000 in donations by the end of the day.
“Without a doubt, we’ve met the big goal that we were planning on which was to create some excitement around giving,” said Matt Morton, president of the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington. “It’s just a great example of how the community can come together.”
