With a click of a button Tuesday, you can help shelter stray Virginia Beach animals, end human sex trafficking in Hampton Roads and provide locals with disabilities therapeutic horse rides.
Nonprofits working toward those goals and more taking part in Tuesday’s “Give Local 757,” a regional 24-hour fundraising blitz that aims to raise $1 million for area charitable organizations; there are 200 participating nonprofits, 17 of which are in Virginia Beach.
The Peninsula, Southeast and Hampton Roads community foundations will host this year’s iteration of the event, which was launched in 2014 as part of a national initiative called Give Local America.
From midnight to 11:59 p.m. May 3, participants can make donations of $10 or more online at givelocal757.org. All Langley Federal Credit Union branches will also be accepting check donations during business hours Tuesday.
Donors can select which nonprofit they want their donation to go toward and are encouraged to give to multiple organizations of their choice.
Last year’s Give Local 757 raised $430,000 for 155 nonprofits through more than 4,000 unique donations, and event planners hope to surpass those numbers this year by raising $1 million for the more than 200 regional nonprofits slated to participate.
“We were thrilled with the results of Give Local,” said Michael Monteith, CEO of the Peninsula Community Foundation. “We asked our community to embrace this campaign and they responded beyond our wildest dreams. Most importantly, we proved that when our community comes together as one, we can make great things happen.”
In addition to the money raised through raw donations, nonprofits also have the opportunity to qualify for special prize incentives this year.
Bank of America will donate $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000, respectively, to the organizations with the top three highest numbers of unique donations – an incentive intended to encourage nonprofits to reach out to a wide base of people and solicit donations of any size over the $10 minimum.
Langley Federal Credit Union will be awarding a special $1,000 prize to the first five organizations to receive 50 unique donations of $50 or more.
Nonprofits will also compete to win one of several challenge prizes, which will be awarded based on a variety of criteria such as most new donors, most social media buzz and achieving an 100 percent donation rate from an organization’s board members.
$45,000 worth of prizes will be distributed in total.
Donors will be able to keep their eyes on Give Local 757’s leader-board as they cheer on their favorite causes throughout the day.
Virginia Beach participating nonprofits are:
- Autism Society, Tidewater Virginia
- Catholic Charities of Eastern Virginia
- Chief Petty Officer Scholarship Fund
- EQUI-KIDS
- Girls on the Run South HR
- Jewish Family Service of Tidewater
- Judeo Christian Outreach Center
- LZ Grace Warrior Retreat Foundation
- ..Reaching Back
- Sugar Plum Bakery
- The Wealth of Music Company
- Tidewater Council, Boy Scouts
- Vanguard Landing
- VB Jaycees Charities Virginia Beach Justice Initiative
- Virginia Beach Parks & Recreation Foundation
- Virginia Beach SPCA
