24-hour giving event to launch Tuesday

By Nicole DeFeudis

For the Gazette

Published: 04-27-2017 2:39 PM

 

For the fourth year, the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts will help improve the quality of life in the Pioneer Valley through its annual fundraiser, Valley Gives Day.

The online fundraiser will be open Tuesday for just 24 hours, when community members will be able to donate to 407 registered nonprofit organizations from Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin counties.

Michael DeChiara, Valley Gives coordinator at the Community Foundation, said the goal of the fundraiser is, “that we have a stronger, more vibrant, high quality Pioneer Valley.”

The registered organizations range from education to animal welfare, science, technology and everything in between. According to DeChiara, there are about 20 to 30 new organizations participating this year.

Valley Gives Day began in 2012. The fundraiser has occurred every year since, except for 2015. Last year, Valley Gives received over $1.6 million in donations, from just under 10,000 donors, DeChiara said.

The event once took place in the winter, but was moved to the spring last year. In previous years, the main focus was on the amount of money raised, DeChiara said. This year, more emphasis will be put on increasing the amount of donors.

“No matter where you live, you’re part of the Valley and your donation matters,” DeChiara said. “If you live here, there’s something they (the nonprofits) can probably touch that would be meaningful to you.”

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To encourage an increase in donors, the Community Foundation has created prizes as an incentive for the organizations. For example, the top three nonprofits that get donors across the most towns and cities will be rewarded with a monetary prize. First place for this category wins $2,500.

Since 2012, Valley Gives has raised over $7.2 million for the community. The fundraiser will run from midnight to 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.

Participating nonprofit organizations can be viewed on the website, valley-gives.org/about.

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