MAHONING VALLEY, Ohio — More than 1,000 people donated over the final month of 2023 as part of the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley’s Giving Tuesday And Beyond campaign, helping raise more than $235,000 for local nonprofits.
Over the campaign, which ran from Nov. 27 to Dec. 31, all donations to agency funds housed at the Community Foundation were matched up to $2,000 per fund, as well as a $100 bonus for each unique donor to a fund during the opening week of Giving Tuesday And Beyond. In total, community members donated $90,606 to 30 nonprofits, earning the organizations an extra $144,779 in matching funds from the Community Foundation.
“The response to the Giving Tuesday And Beyond campaign went above and beyond anything we could’ve expected. The entire Community Foundation team – and the nonprofits who take part in the campaign – is so proud of how the community stepped up,” says Josh Medore, the Foundation’s community impact coordinator. “This is our third year holding the Giving Tuesday And Beyond campaign and it’s by far the most successful.”
The 31 funds that received a donation during the 2023 campaign is double the number from 2022, while the amount donated by the community tripled.
By giving to agency funds, donors support the long-term sustainability of nonprofits. Separate from typical financial reserves, nonprofits use these funds to sustain ongoing programs, build for their organization’s future and support special capital projects and initiatives. The latter is how the Trumbull County Historical Society will use the funds donated to its fund with the Community Foundation, says Executive Director Meghan Reed. In March, the society will break ground on a 2,000-square-foot expansion at the Morgan History Center in downtown Warren.
“That’s where the bulk of money from Giving Tuesday will go,” she says, with some funds likely directed to the history society’s next big project: the National Science Fiction and Fantasy Museum. “It’s really a unique opportunity to be able to ask so many people, many of whom can give $10 or $20 at a time, all at once. It’s something that we want to be able to continue, certainly this year and hopefully into the future as well.”
The Trumbull County Historical Society was among the organizations that saw the biggest jump in donations between 2022 and 2023. Two years ago, there was one donation for $10 – from Reed herself. Last year, thanks to a big social media push and engagement among the society’s board, there were 54 donors giving $1,838.
“As an organization, we’ve streamlined our social media a lot more. We hired a social media coordinator to be more regular and more engaging, so for 2023 we were much better equipped to handle this kind of campaign. That’s probably a big part of our results this year,” Reed says. “But something I think that made a huge difference also was engaging our board in more tangible ways, like offering a gift card to whoever referred the most donors.”
Also drawing in their board to help with the Giving Tuesday And Beyond campaign was Youngstown CityScape, says Executive Director Sharon Letson. The organization had already been considering the idea of a crowdfunding campaign, she says, when the announcement of the 2023 Giving Tuesday campaign was made.
“This was a year when operating budget was in the red. Fundraising was down and I was preparing for a board meeting to have an honest conversation about what help we needed and they were that help,” she says. “The stars aligned, with these smaller fundraising efforts, with the board being brought in to tap into their networks and resources, and the Community Foundation’s Giving Tuesday campaign.”
With a large base of support from more than two decades of work around Youngstown, CityScape has the highest number of donors in the campaign, with 329 people making gifts to their agency fund. Between their donations and matching funds from the Community Foundation, CityScape raised $34,900 during Giving Tuesday And Beyond – an average of $38.46 per donation.
Since starting its Giving Tuesday campaign, the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley has emphasized the importance of small donations. The minimum gift amount required to be matched and receive the bonus match during boost week is just $10, allowing that gift to then be turned into $120 during the opening week of Giving Tuesday And Beyond.
In the 2023 Giving Tuesday campaign, more than half of the 1,065 donors were those who gifted $10. The median donation was just $20.
“We’ve all had the thought of, ‘Will my $10 make a difference?’ This campaign is a perfect example of why the answer is yes,” Letson says.
Adds Reed: “Those kinds of donations are important to us because it’s really something from the entire community. … We’re an organization that’s for every person in the community, not just those who have the means to donate $10,000. When we get a small donation from someone who can maybe only afford $10 or $20- that to us is a very clear indication of what we mean to the community.”
To continue supporting local nonprofits, the Community Foundation will present a free webinar on March 7 in collaboration with Giving Tuesday on how organizations can engage with supporters, build relationships in the community and tap into different forms of generosity. Registration is available HERE.
“We’re honored to have them share their insights and expertise with the Mahoning Valley’s nonprofit community,” CFMV’s Medore says. “The Giving Tuesday team has been a great help to the Community Foundation since we joined their Community Leaders program, and we look forward to seeing how they can help local organizations tap into an incredibly passionate community.”