2020 Giving Challenge: The Time is Now, and the Time is Right

We’re one day away from the start of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County’s 2020 Giving Challenge — a 24-hour online giving event that energizes our community, enhances our collective impact, and strengthens nonprofits doing incredible work across our region. And what perfect timing! With people now sheltering at home due to COVID-19, anyone can participate and follow the action.

For the seventh time, the Giving Challenge presents a unique opportunity for nonprofits in our community to set big goals, get creative, and engage their current supporters, all while reaching new ones. It gives organizations the ability to raise unrestricted funds, providing flexibility to use the funds to advance their mission in real time.

Encouraging participation and collaboration, the Giving Challenge seamlessly aligns with The Patterson Foundation’s aspiration to strengthen people, organizations, and communities. Each organization uses imaginative planning to achieve their aspirational goals, without any limits — the possibilities are theirs. While any organization could do a virtual fundraiser by themselves, by being part of the Giving Challenge, their efforts are amplified. In fact, donors who monitor the leaderboard may discover an organization to support for the first time.

This 24-hour giving phenomenon affirms the diversity of our caring community and the vast array of missions that resonate with givers. Citizen philanthropists can connect to local, trusted nonprofits listed on The Giving Partner — an online resource sharing profiles of hundreds of nonprofits serving Charlotte, DeSoto, Manatee, and Sarasota counties transparently providing information donors need to ensure their contributions will truly make a difference.

Over the last many months, more than 700 participating nonprofit organizations planned, imagined, collaborated and are ready to optimize Giving Challenge 2020. Individuals are inspired to #BeTheOne to strengthen a cause close to their hearts, contributing to a people-driven movement for good, while creating new opportunities for organizations looking toward the future.

With The Patterson Foundation’s 1:1 match contribution for all unique donations between $25–$100 — with no cap on the total number of individual donations a nonprofit can receive — the Giving Challenge is a chance for anyone to increase the power of their individual support. Since 2012, donors have provided more than $40 million in unrestricted funding to support nonprofits listed on The Giving Partner — a total that includes more than $16 million in matching dollars and prizes from The Patterson Foundation to catalyze participation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented new challenges for many — including nonprofits that depend on generous donors to fuel their essential missions in our region. At a time when physical distancing is necessary for our health and well-being, the digital nature of the Giving Challenge makes it one of the most effective ways for people to connect with and strengthen the nonprofit community amid COVID-19. We have learned that people want to make a difference. Givers must give, just like helpers must help. It is ingrained in our DNA, and doubling their donations makes giving all the more meaningful.

This is an opportunity for each of us to rally behind the nonprofit organizations working tirelessly toward fulfilling our shared aspirations for our region — an opportunity The Patterson Foundation is honored to incentivize once more. Be the One to make a difference during the 2020 Giving Challenge by visiting givingpartnerchallenge.org between noon tomorrow, April 28 and noon Wednesday, April 29.