Giving Tuesday a success
Thank You!
Without yet knowing the amount of money raised in Northwest Ohio during Giving Tuesday on Dec. 2, I can honestly say that it was a great success!
This idea of a coordinated giving day is gaining momentum. We know at least 214 organizations throughout Northwest Ohio participated in this giving day – more than twice the number who participated in 2013.
As it relates to Giving Tuesday, the intent of Toledo Community Foundation and The Center for Nonprofit Resources was to increase the capacity of local nonprofits or to raise money for themselves.
The Center for Nonprofit Resources offered a training session in early November to interested nonprofits and offered tools and techniques to help organizations prepare for this day. In addition, the Foundation has built an incentive pool to provide matching grants to participating organizations.
On Jan. 24,, local nonprofits that participated in Giving Tuesday can apply for a grant to match, dollar-for-dollar, up to the first $1,000 raised Dec. 2.
While we didn’t track the donations of individual organizations, what we do know is that nonprofits jumped on the bandwagon and used proven practices and innovative strategies to raise funds and increase their own brand awareness. That alone is a great success because it’s something they can use in the future.
We have heard stories of donors giving in incredible ways. In one case, a donor made a gift of $10,000 in support at a local school and in another case, the donor provided a check for $1,000 while emailing friends to encourage similar support. The result was the fivefold increase of this original $1,000 gift.
Toledo Community Foundation will continue to report on these wonderful stories that far out strip any “campaign” number.
Of course, we hope to keep you appraised of the numbers as we learn them, but from the number of participating organizations, the partnerships leveraged, incentives and communications we heard about, Dec. 2 was a monumental day.
Thank you to everyone in our community who participated in some way to make it a great day.
KEITH BURWELL, President, Toledo Community Foundation
No to NEXUS
The pipelines are coming!
One of the first is the Nexus pipeline, a 42-inch high- pressure natural gas behemoth snaking through the sensitive Oak Openings region.
Why would responsible people run a potential time bomb through the wooded park lands of Northwest Ohio? Ohio Farm Bureau Director of Energy Policy Dale Arnold says the region will see many more pipelines in the coming decade.
Will the region be crisscrossed with them willy-nilly, disrupting the lives of area residents for decades? The state or federal government needs to take action. We need established right-of-ways to route potentially dangerous gas pipelines across the state.
No more eminent domain thievery by private companies leaving many homeowners with worthless tainted properties.
PAUL WOHLFARTH, Ottawa Lake
Editor’s Note: The writer’s son has a 100-year-old 20-acre woods in the path of the NEXUS pipeline.
