Major boost for Giving Challenge
Sarasota-based philanthropists Joe and Mary Kay Henson have pledged to donate $100 to every nonprofit that will take part in the Giving Challenge 2024, the Community Foundation of Sarasota County’s 24-hour online giving event happening noon to noon on April 9-10.
Donating $100 to all 728 participating nonprofit organizations will leverage a 1:1 match on all donations from $25-$100 that The Patterson Foundation is again contributing. This means that the Hensons’ donation will become $145,600.
“This is an opportunity to double our money for a great cause,” says Mary Kay Henson. “We absolutely have confidence in the Community Foundation to recognize these organizations are worthy of help.”
In 2022, the Hensons donated $100 to all 667 participating nonprofits, turning a $66,700 donation into $133,400. That year’s Giving Challenge raised $16.2 million in 24 hours. More than $6 million of those dollars were provided by The Patterson Foundation’s match.
Dollars raised during the Giving Challenge are unrestricted, so the organizations themselves can put them to best use. In 2022, organizations each raised an average of $14,356, which, for many, offered new possibilities for pursuing their missions, expanding reach, and enhancing their potential.
“By uniting donors with the common goal of strengthening our nonprofit community, the Giving Challenge illustrates the potential our region has for charitable giving,” says Roxie Jerde, president and CEO of the Community Foundation. “To think what our friends at The Patterson Foundation ignited a dozen years ago by supporting the challenge with their matching gifts is just extraordinary. For donors of every means, knowing their money is doubled is a great incentive for giving. We didn’t realize until last year just how much impact this match could have.”
The average gift made during the Giving Challenge in 2022 was $96, and the average person contributed to two organizations.
The Giving Challenge has raised $75 million since 2012 to roughly 700 nonprofits serving Charlotte, DeSoto, Manatee and Sarasota counties. Visit givingchallenge.org.
Submitted by Rebecca Abrahamson