BUCYRUS―While many people are preparing for Black Friday or Cyber Monday, the Community Foundation for Crawford County is getting ready for #GivingTuesday.
The special day is a growing international day of doing good and fundraising and to counter Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it is always held the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving – which this year falls on November 27.
Participating groups around the world are welcome to embrace the day’s name and make it their own, so the Foundation calls it “#Giving2sday” as their board sets aside a lump sum of money from which a second gift is generated for each donation. The “2” in the title is to help donors remember that their gift will inspire a second one.
“This makes the event hyper-local while also being part of a larger movement,” explained Lisa Workman, the president of the Community Foundation for Crawford County. “It is the only truly global day that unites us as people. Known as the Olympics of giving, it is not just a day – but a movement.”
Since so much of the success of #Giving2sday revolves around using social media to raise funds, Crawford County residents are encouraged to go to the website.
From that site, you can easily create your own fundraising page and use the templates provided to email your contacts for donations or post your request on Facebook. Participants are especially encouraged to send their fundraising requests to old friends and classmates who are from here and would have a vested interest in helping Crawford County. Any donations made on that website between now and November 27 will count towards the event, but checks must be dated November 27 to count.
Justin McMullen, a board member of the foundation and chair of the development committee, added that there is again a special incentive to this year’s #Giving2sday.
“This is the second year that OneIT has given us a generous gift of $1,500. Thanks to that gift, an additional $500 will be added to the top-earning fund in one of each of three categories: agency funds, scholarship funds and the school funds.”
In addition to social media, collection sites for checks and cash will be set up all day at the Foundation’s office at 254 E. Mansfield St. in Bucyrus, and from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Los Arrieros restaurant in Bucyrus, Pete’s Cafe in New Washington and the public libraries in both Galion and Crestline.
In 2017, the Foundation contributed over $633,500 in gifts, grants and scholarships in Crawford County. That was also the sixth year of the #GivingTuesday movement and it raised over $274 million worldwide.