Give Local breaks records raising $1.8 million for area nonprofits

REPUBLICAN AMERICAN | April 24, 2020

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Give Local Greater Waterbury and Litchfield Hills, an online giving event hosted by Connecticut Community Foundation for the eighth year, concluded a 36-hour flurry of giving at 7 p.m. on April 22 raising a record breaking $1.8 million. The bounty is earmarked for over 250 nonprofit organizations serving the Foundation’s 21-town service area* and will ultimately provide countless benefits to organizations reeling from decreased revenue streams caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Given our current landscape, we really did not know how donors would respond this year. Clearly, they rose to the occasion and jumped at the opportunity to support local organizations in this unprecedented time of need,” said Julie Loughran, president and CEO of Connecticut Community Foundation. The campaign will help organizations make up recent shortfalls to maintain staffing, meet fixed expenses, meet new and emerging demand for services as a result of COVID-19, and be prepared to resume normal operations when the crisis passes.

Over 6,400 individuals throughout the region and beyond contributed during the campaign. “Donors were able to fill their shopping carts with priceless things such as job training, mental health services, meals for the homebound, safer recreational trails, future theatre performances, and so much more that local organizations provide to the community,” adds Loughran.

Connecticut Community Foundation, presenting sponsor Ion Bank Foundation and many other sponsors provided over $128,000 in bonus funds to boost all donations during the event. And, while the giving tallies grew in real-time on the Give Local website, nonprofits vied for $40,000 in cash prizes from sponsors—adding fun, excitement and urgency to the friendly competition and giving challenges.

Total dollars raised for each of the participating nonprofits can be viewed on the leaderboard of the Give Local Greater Waterbury and Litchfield Hills website at www.GiveLocalCCF.org. Grand Prizes were awarded through the generosity of the Ion Bank Foundation.

Leading organizations by the end of the campaign included:

Top five nonprofit organizations: Most donors

1.      Wellmore Behavioral Health (360)

2.      Southbury Food Bank (275)

3.      Washington Ambulance Association (209)

4.      KidsPlay Museum (202)

5.      Landmark Community Theatre (205)

Top five nonprofit organizations: Dollars raised

1.      Wellspring ($63,698)

2.      Lake Quassapaug Association ($59,850)

3.      Roxbury Land Trust ($47,410)

4.      Holy Cross High School of Waterbury ($44,165)

5.      Washington Montessori Association ($39,640)

*Beacon Falls, Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Cheshire, Goshen, Litchfield, Middlebury, Morris, Naugatuck, New Milford, Oxford, Prospect, Roxbury, Southbury, Thomaston, Warren, Washington, Waterbury, Watertown, Wolcott, Woodbury