Every September, Give More 24! brings us a day to support nonprofits across southwest Washington. Over the last six years this 24-hour, online giving marathon has grown into one of our region’s largest and most anticipated charity events. This time around, the big day of giving falls on September 24.
Last year, more than 4,000 donors joined forces to support nearly 170 nonprofits during this day of generosity. Matching gifts and nonprofit prizes also helped giving go further. When the clock struck midnight, all the donations added up to $1.7 million for local causes. Pretty impressive, right? You can check out the full recap here.
Still, a single day to support nonprofits doesn’t seem like enough. Thankfully, Give More 24! was never created to become the only day to give. The goal of Give More 24! is to encourage more giving, hence the name. It’s a day for everyone to give something extra, and hopefully apply that concept to their giving and volunteer efforts throughout the year.
Four Ways to Give A Little More 
In fact, there are several ways for our region’s do-gooders, changemakers and caretakers to start supporting nonprofits today. Here are the four ways to amplify local giving before the day:
- Save the Date: Add the day to your calendar so you don’t miss out. With $400,000 and counting in matching funds and a dozen nonprofit prizes up for grabs, September 24 is a great chance to amplify your giving. If your on Facebook, you can join and share our event there too.
- Plan Your Giving: The giving day website doubles as a localized nonprofit search engine with more than 200 organizations. Just visit GiveMore24.org/search. Here, you can filter by cause area, geography and name to discover and rediscover local causes you love.
- Start A Fundraiser: Access tools to rally friends and family around a cause. With peer-to-peer fundraising, you can create your own fundraising page and inspire your basketball team, bingo crew or book club to amplify any organization of your choice.
- Social Media Shoutouts: Word of mouth is another way to amplify generosity, so share our animated video or this save the date post on Facebook. Or visit our downloads page for tons of pre-made social media graphics ready for posting to your profiles.
Nonprofits Are Essential
As you can see, we can all choose a way to amplify nonprofits that works best for us. Maybe you can challenge yourself to find more than one way to contribute in 2020. If we all do something more, our efforts will add up to one huge impact.
That’s what makes Give More 24!, our region’s largest charity event, so important. For one day, it brings together the strength and generosity of our entire region to support and celebrate the impact of local nonprofits—some of our region’s most essential organizations.
After all, charitable organizations work year-round to improve lives and communities across southwest Washington. This year, when many of our neighbors are facing financial struggles and health risks due to the pandemic, nonprofits are stepping up assistance.
At the same time, the pandemic has created strains for nonprofits. With large gatherings canceled until further notice, many organizations are struggling to fundraise and produce valuable programing, such as plays, concerts, exhibits and more. Still, nonprofits are agile. Many are adapting, scaling and delivering the essential programs and services that are needed at this difficult time.
All of this means that supporting local nonprofits matters more than ever this year. Lucky for us, our region’s day of giving is an easy and powerful way to make a difference from a safe distance.
If each of us gives what we can, I have no doubt that we’ll surpass this year’s $2 million goal. When we do, I’ll be the first and last one celebrating. The only difference is that this year I’ll immediately start thinking about how I can give more to support this essential sector. I hope you’ll join me.