Valley Community Foundation Match Inspires Valley Residents and Employees to Give During 36-Hour Event
Derby, CT (October 19, 2012) – The Valley Community Foundation, an affiliate of The Community Foundation
for Greater New Haven, congratulates the winners of the Valley Gives matching grant prize, which it sponsored as part of The Great Give 2012 - an online giving event that generated more than $500,000 for nonprofits serving Greater New Haven over a 36-hour period between Oct 16-17. The Valley Gives Prize was awarded to nonprofits who received gifts from donors who live or work in Ansonia, Derby, Oxford, Seymour and Shelton. Up to $100 per donor/per nonprofit was matched dollar-for-dollar by the Valley Community Foundation until the match pool of $20,000 was exhausted.
“We were thrilled to see that nearly three hundred generous gifts were eligible to be matched by Valley Community Foundation,” said Jamie Cohen, President & CEO of the Valley Community Foundation. “The buzz around the community was contagious. One long-time Valley resident stopped into our offices to make a donation in person after seeing a Facebook post about the Housatonic Council Boy Scouts of America. They were one of the nonprofits who effectively spread the word about the event and won over $1,600 in grant prize money for their efforts.”
Other top Valley Gives Prize winners included BHCare ($2,510), Online Journalism Project ($1,210) and Center State Theater Inc. of Shelton, which received the largest share of the Prize pool ($6,330). A list of The Great Give 2012 Prize recipients is available at www.valleyfoundation.org.
Center Stage also received one of the many Grand Prizes offered by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, resulting in more than $21,000 new dollars for the seven-year-old community theater group.
John Corraro, a Center Stage performer and Marketing intern, was instrumental in getting the word out to existing and potential new Center Stage supporters through email, Facebook and Twitter.
“From the moment we began promotion for The Great Give 2012, up to the conclusion of the event, our Facebook likes went up approximately 5%. During the event, our reach - through mentions, likes or people sharing statuses - increased 120% and the amount of people talking about Center Stage on Facebook went up 70%, from the prior week."
“We were thrilled to participate in this year’s giveGreater.org® online event supporting local nonprofits. The generosity of Valley resident and employees spanned well beyond our five town service area,” said Carla Sullivan, Director of Donor Service and Grantmaking for the Valley Community Foundation. “Approximately thirty percent of the participating Great Give 2012 nonprofits received a portion of the Valley Gives $20,000 match prize; grants ranged between $25 and $6,330.”
The Valley Community Foundation, established in 2004, connects private philanthropy to the long-term public good of Ansonia, Derby, Oxford, Seymour, and Shelton. It is dedicated to making the Valley a better place to live and work, both now and in the future. Donors interested in learning more about their charitable giving options through the Valley Community Foundation are encouraged to visit the website at www.valleyfoundation.org.
Contact:
James Cohen, President
203-751-9162
jcohen@valleyfoundation.org