Celebrating Our Generous Community

"For months leading up to the Giving Challenge, participating local nonprofits laid the groundwork by working with their staff and board members to develop fun, informative, and moving campaigns to rally support from the community. Organizations shared stories, photos, and videos about the impact they are making in the areas they serve, and many created new relationships within the nonprofit community, with the business community, and with numerous media outlets to enhance their efforts as well." – Murray Devine, Community Foundation of Sarasota County

The buildup to the 2018 Giving Challenge was powerful. 636 nonprofits located in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, and DeSoto counties passionately shared their missions and the valuable work they do to make an impact. In retrospect, the months of strategic preparation, promotion, and hard work seemed to have just snapped by, but the lasting impact of those short 24 hours is a game changer!



In the 24 hours www.GivingPartnerChallenge.org was open for donations, 74,682 gifts from 49,207 unique donors were donated, an increase of 11,115 gifts and 4,001 donors from 2016.

2018 Giving Challenge Statistics

• 74,682 gifts
• $82 average gift
• > $6.1 million contributed by donors
• > $5 million in matching funding from TPF
• > $260,000 in "Best Of" prizes awarded to organizations
• $11,733,241 raised in total!

Compared to 2016

• Unique givers were 49,000, up from 45,000
• Total number of contributions were nearly 75,000, up from 63,000
• Community giving increased over $500,000

"Over the past many months, hundreds of nonprofits have undergone training and immersed in imaginative planning to attract donors. By engaging staff, board, and external partners, each organization has built their own philanthropic muscle. The Giving Challenge is about so much more than the 24 hours, and The Patterson Foundation was proud to strengthen everyone's effort with the matching opportunity." – Debra Jacobs

The Community Foundation of Sarasota County presented the 2018 Giving Challenge with the first $100 of each donation matched by The Patterson Foundation. Prizes were provided by Manatee Community Foundation, Charlotte Community Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, William G. and Marie Selby Foundation, the Herald-Tribune Media Group, iHeart Radio, and Harbor Style Magazine.

The Giving Partner, an online tool for donors committed to transparency, published the profiles of more than 600 organizations that participated in the Giving Challenge, including details of their governance and programs. Its content is continually updated throughout the year. Remember, the web is always open. Can’t sleep? Instead of buying another seen-on-TV pillow, plan your next good deed.