CHICO — For the second year, the North Valley Community Foundation is kicking off its Week of Giving fundraiser to support dozens of local organizations in need of funding.
The weeklong event, which begins on Giving Tuesday, has been years in the making, said Logan Todd, NVCF vice president of Grant Programs and Client Services.
“Last year was our first one, although we meant to start sooner,” Todd said. “We had developed and announced it for the third week of November 2018 but once the Camp Fire hit, there was no way we could do it then.”
Though the fundraiser may start on Giving Tuesday, the foundation, as well as the involved organizations, start the work months in advance. Todd says he begins by reaching out to the organizations the foundation has worked with in the past.
Organizations learn new methods of fundraising with help from the foundation in the form of webinars that involve in-depth discussions and round tables.
“A lot of nonprofit fundraisers might do annual campaign events so a lot of this is just trying to bring them in and give them more tools to work with,” Todd said.
This year, there are 79 organizations involved which can be found through the NVCF website at www.nvcf.org/wog-participants.
The Week of Giving times itself with Giving Tuesday to align itself with a nation-wide effort to fundraise for nonprofits.
“Giving Tuesday is a national online effort, but the Week of Giving is our creation,” said Executive Vice President of Communications David Little. “We decided its better to give people seven days rather than just one.”
Little said the primary focus of the Week of Giving is to keep it local. Organizations come from Butte County as well as surrounding communities such as Glenn and Colusa counties.
As part of the event’s evolution since 2020, this year brings some quality of life improvements for both donors and the organizations.
The website used by the NVCF now allows for organizations to share their stories in the same area where donations can be given rather than solely spreading awareness through social media and using a link to the donation button.
Little said another change is donors can now give money to multiple organizations in one transaction, similar to using a cart when online shopping.
The fundraiser is off to a strong start so far. By noon Wednesday, a total of roughly $10,000 had been donated to the various local causes with an average donation of $133. Organizations can see how much they are receiving in real-time through the website, Todd said.
“Everything is tax-deductible,” Todd said. “Every donation to all of the organizations is fully tax-deductible and donors will receive the notice immediately.”
Little said the Week of Giving will be an annual event going forward.
One of the organizations on the list is the African American Family and Cultural Center in Oroville. Executive Director Tiffany McCarter said the center has a large-scale project coming up in 2022 that donations will go toward.
“The reason I think it’s super important is because we’re trying to, in 2022, make an absolute change in our community,” McCarter said. “We’ve taken a look at the 48 blocks surrounding the African American Family and Cultural Center and realized we are overwhelmed with garbage, appliances and other trash.”
McCarter said the center is going to do a major city cleanup to help those living in the surrounding neighborhoods help in disposing of waste.
“One example of why it’s important is because a week and a half ago, one of our neighbors, a lady we’ve known for a long time, went into cardiac arrest,” McCarter said. “Her yard was so full of trash and garbage that they had to pull her out into the street, which is traumatic enough, but they had to cut off her blouse and do CPR in front of everyone. It was a big wake-up call for us. We decided we needed to get into our family and neighbors’ yards to start cleaning up.”
McCarter said the goal will be to start new with a clean slate for the center’s neighbors and eventually raise enough money to pay for waste management bills for those who can no longer afford them.
“We just need a little bit of help financially — that’s a big way to help besides volunteering,” McCarter said. “It costs money to throw stuff away and get rid of things.”
Chico State giving
Chico State took part in Giving Tuesday by holding its own fundraising events for various needs.
Krysi Riggs, Chico State director of annual giving for university advancement, said that with the basic needs project day of giving, the program provides housing assistance and a small grant program for students to help with utility assistance.
The primary drive took place Tuesday, with hygiene products bins set up at all of the buildings at Chico State, so that staff and students could make donations of unopened hygiene products. Hygiene products can also be donated at the Hungry Wildcat food pantry, which is located in the Student Services Center, Room 196. The hygiene products drive is going on all week.
“We’re making sure we support basic needs,” Riggs said. “We want to support students who have difficulty making ends meet.”
Chico State did matching gifts and challenges, with two power hours on Tuesday.
Between 9 and 10 a.m. Tuesday, all gifts were matched with a 1:2 ratio of up to $2,500 completed and the full $2,500 match was met, tripling the gift. Between 2 and 3 p.m. on Tuesday, all gifts were matched 1:1 up to $2,500, doubling the gift.
The challenge was met for faculty and staff.
“We always encourage the campus and community to provide for and support the fund,” Riggs said. “We have an extensive team working on this. It’s exciting. I think that every gift, large or small, makes a huge impact for students at Chico State. It’s exciting to see how the basic needs drive really supports our young people as they focus on individual dreams.”
To give to the campaign, visit https://catsgiveback.csuchico.edu/campaigns/basic-needs-project#/.