The Big Give Ends Big for Three Small Charities

When ABC7’s Gilda Dennis called in late March asking us to recommend three charities for the station to include in their local piece of Oprah’s Big Give national fundraising promotion, we had no idea what a fabulous, collaborative project we were getting into! All we knew was that the station was prepared to give a bonus check of $10,000 to one small, Southwest Florida agency that succeeded in raising the most money by April 16th. 

Our staff suggested We Care Manatee, which provides free specialty medical care to the uninsured; Joining Our Youth (JOY), a new, all-volunteer group that helps teens that are “aged out” out of the foster care system at age 18; and Mothers Helping Mothers, which donates baby and school supplies and other support to needy families. Each is a real, “feet on the ground” human service agency that does remarkable work with little or no staff, infrastructure or marketing. The Community Foundation also volunteered to be the promotion’s fiscal agent at no cost, which meant collecting the tax-deductible donations; keeping track of each agency’s fundraising tally; and promoting the campaign on our Website, in a newspaper ad and with our donor advisors, board of directors and friends.

Now, just a month later, the three charities have each raised more money than they ever dreamed of. They’ve benefitted from the free public relations campaign of a lifetime— including $172,000 of free airtime on ABC7—and discovered that our community is indeed among the most generous and giving in the country. Even in this time of economic recession and hardship, our neighbors responded with open hearts to the human service needs provided so well by these little organizations.

Thanks to our own family of Community Foundation donors (who contributed almost $36,000 overall) and the hard work of the volunteers and supporters who really embraced the competition on behalf of their favorite organization, The Big Give on the Suncoast brought in a whopping $77,770.82! Added to that total is the $10,000 bonus prize from Oprah and ABC7. And to further add to the excitement, the Community Foundation contributed two $5,000 grants to the second and third place winners, courtesy of the Betty Pritchard McKeon Permanent Donor Advised Fund. 

This brings the grand total awarded to $97, 771.

At the Big Give party on April 22nd we announced the fundraising winner…We Care Manatee. They edged out Mothers Helping Mothers by a nose, but all three organizations are truly Big Winners. As We Care Manatee’s Interim Executive Director John Howard said, “To have this happen is so wonderful financially because we depend upon donations for over 60 percent of our budget…but more importantly, for all three charities the publicity has been of immeasurable value.” JOY’s Tish Fitzgerald told us that her organization will now be able to provide 38 teens aging out of their foster homes with bicycles and bus passes, as well as new apartment set-ups and more mentoring.

Finally, to ensure that these charities are as strong and effective in achieving their missions as they can be, the Community Foundation’s Nonprofit Resource Center has given each organization one year of free workshops and training. Together, the Community Foundation and ABC7 “did more than just hand over a check; we taught these agencies how to fish,” said Gilda Dennis, the station’s marketing director. A major happy ending for Oprah’s Big Give on the Suncoast!

Here are the final tallies for the three agencies:

We Care Manatee- $38,176.61

Mothers Helping Mothers - $32,971.20

Joining Our Youth (JOY) - $26,623.01