The Pittsburgh is Art Day of Giving is a 24-hour donation match campaign and opportunity to increase giving to our thriving arts and culture sector. Initiated by the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council and the Heinz Endowments, it is sponsored by The Pittsburgh Foundation and modeled after their October 2010 Pittsburgh Gives Day of Giving. Other contributing foundations include: Hillman Foundation, Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, The Buhl Foundation, and The Grable Foundation.
The match pool will contain between $475,000-500,000 from The Heinz Endowments, The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Hillman Foundation, The Buhl Foundation, The Benedum Foundation and The Grable Foundation. Every organization that receives donations during the match period will receive a portion of the match. The matching dollars will be pro-rated.
Donors will have 24 hours to give. Only credit card gifts through PittsburghGives.org will be eligible for matching funds. No gifts from checks, cash, gift card redemptions, or donor-advised fund grants will be eligible for matching funds.Minimum gift eligible for match: $15
Maximum gift to a single organization: $10,000
Each participating organization is eligible to receive funds with no maximum limit for the organization. Organizations are prohibited from donating to themselves.
Participating organizations will receive pre- and post-event surveys which they must complete and return. Organizations are also required to report gift results including size of donor pool, average gift size, number of new donors, total amount of gifts received from returning donors.
Should have posted and hyped this much earlier--partly I didn't because I wanted to hype the great Kickstarter project by Fleeting Pages (only donations to registered Non Profit Arts Orgs in the region are eligable)
Please remember many of the less known and smaller arts organizations in The region--as well as the larger ones. A few suggestions of some you might not think of.
As you may know, I personally feel the city of Pittsburgh and the country in general is in for a world of hurt. City budgets, state budgets and federal budgets will be cut -- one way or the other if we are to survive. The failure to make rational choices in the past will force us to make harder choices in the future. That's what debt on this scale means!
Anyway, on the 28th,Your donation to any area non-profit from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm EST will be matched 50 cents on the dollar by the Pittsburgh Foundation. It's a small chance to knit together the support networks of what used to be called "civil society", which the wikipedia defines as.
"Civil society is composed of the totality of voluntary civic and social organizations and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society as opposed to the force-backed structures of a state (regardless of that state's political system) and commercial institutions of the market."
Personally, I will try to support the little, historic but very troubled community of Braddock.
"Ninety percent of a community gone. Buildings crumbling into the streets. More youth living in poverty than anywhere else in Allegheny County outside Pittsburgh.
These issues are faced by Braddock, Pennsylvania. Decades of prosperity in this steelmaking town were followed by decades of slow decay after the American steel industry collapsed in the 1980s."
That's a bummer but it's not the "need" that has me stoked, but a mayor and a small community of engaged people doing some of the most exiting and innnovative things in the region, some of which you may have heard about on this blog.
"But in the midst of decay, a movement to renew is taking shape. Braddock Redux, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by Braddock Mayor John Fetterman, is gathering the ideas, the people, and the resources that will spark life back into this once thriving town. Fetterman's pioneering work offers a vision for postindustrial America, and has garnered accolades in the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly, Rolling Stone, and on the Colbert Report.
With a focus on projects that fuse youth, the arts, the environment, and building preservation, Braddock Redux has begun to revitalize its community by:
• Facilitating the construction of GrowPittsburgh's largest urban demonstration farm, staffed in part by local at-risk youth • Securing support and funding for the Mon Valley's first green roof • Providing partnership development for the Braddock Youth Project, Allegheny County's largest youth employment and training program • Preserving and renovating a former school into an art gallery and performance space • Building a mosaic park on a vacant lot • Planting an urban orchard • Providing space and funding for Braddock's only community center
But there is more work to do. Most pressingly, Braddock's community center lacks heat and cannot operate during the winter. Braddock Redux is raising money to install a climate-friendly geothermal heating system. The low operating cost of this system will allow hundreds of at-risk youth to use the community center when the temperature drops.
Your donation to Braddock Redux on October 28th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm EST will be matched 50 cents on the dollar by the Pittsburgh Foundation, up to $2,500 per donation. Please visit www.pittsburghgives.org to register now and learn more about Braddock Redux, and on October 28th to make a donation. Matching funds are limited, and typically are exhausted within two hours on the day of the event."
A great opportunity to leverage your donations to support the non profits you care about. Also that same day, the foundation will launch a new website to make researching and giving to local charities easier.
A cut and paste job.
PITTSBURGH, Pa., October 13, 2009 -- The Pittsburgh Foundation will launch a major initiative designed to boost individual charitable giving and support local nonprofit organizations with a special 'Match Day' on Wednesday, October 28.
To celebrate the community's first-ever official day of giving, the Foundation will provide matching grants of $300,000 for the first donations received through its new PittsburghGives program. And a separate fund of $100,000 will provide matching dollars to support Carnegie Library, currently facing branch closures and cuts.
PittsburghGives is a comprehensive directory of nonprofit organizations together with on-line giving tools, developed by the Foundation as an easy-to-use web database to help donors research information about local charitable organizations. The program enables individuals and organizations to give on-line to nonprofits via credit card. The Foundation's donors may award grants directly from their funds to their chosen charities.
The Foundation's matching grants are expected to generate a minimum of $1.2 million in total contributions to eligible nonprofit organizations. "This is historic for Pittsburgh philanthropy," said Grant Oliphant, the Foundation's President and CEO. "Technology is enabling us to move the clock forward in the way that our community supports the critical work of our region's nonprofit organizations. PittsburghGives provides a new, easy and exciting way for people to give to the charities about which they care passionately."
For Match Day on October 28, the Foundation will host a community event at the PPG Place Wintergarden, Downtown, starting at 10:00 a.m. A bank of computers will be available to receive donations, and refreshments will be served. Individuals will also be able to access PittsburghGives and donate through their personal computers by logging on at www.PittsburghGives.org.
PittsburghGives will launch with the detailed profiles of more than 300 local charitable organizations and the Foundation will continue to develop the program.
PittsburghGives is designed to serve as a unique vehicle for nonprofits to showcase their work in the community, detailing information about their charitable programs, missions, management and finances. The Foundation began working with nonprofits in February to build profiles for the PittsburghGives site, and has provided participating charities with materials to help them to promote the program among their supporters and constituents in preparation for Match Day.
Initially, the Foundation planned to provide $200,000 in matching grants, but increased this to $300,000, awarded from its unrestricted grantmaking pool.
The Foundation has added a special $100,000 fund of matching dollars to support Carnegie Library following its announcement of cuts and branch closures to cover a projected budget deficit. Matching dollars to support the Library are provided from two individual donor funds at the Foundation.
“During this harsh economic climate, nonprofits are under even greater strain to meet demand for the vital services and programs they provide, and we hope that our day of giving will inspire and encourage philanthropists young and not-so-young to join in supporting our community,” said Grant Oliphant.
For the Day of Giving, gifts to eligible nonprofits in Allegheny County of $50 or more received by PittsburghGives (up to $2,500 per individual) will be matched
50 percent by the Foundation (to a maximum total of $300,000). For example, a gift of $2,500 will receive a match of $1,250 from the Foundation for a total charitable gift of $3,750. The maximum individual gift for Carnegie Library is $10,000, which qualifies for a matching grant of $5,000.
As a resource for the regional community PittsburghGives is free to access – there are no subscriptions or other charges, with the exception of a credit card fee charged by the service provider for on-line donations.
“After our Day of Giving, we want people to visit PittsburghGives whether they are curious, undertaking research or wish to make a donation. This new program has transformative qualities about the way that giving is done in our community, and the way that nonprofits are able to share information about their work,” said Grant Oliphant.
· The Foundation has also introduced a charitable gift card that may be purchased in increments of $25, $50 or $100 for sharing with families, friends and business associates. The program works like any gift card and is available for purchase from the Foundation.
Recipients of the gift cards may redeem them with the Foundation, directing the dollars to the charity or charities they wish to benefit or the cards may be presented to any nonprofit organization in western Pennsylvania for them to redeem with the Foundation.
The card has a one-year expiration, after which the money received for unredeemed cards will be used as part of the Foundation’s community grantmaking initiatives. To purchase gift cards, visit www.PittsburghGives.org, or contact Charles Stout at stoutc@pghfdn.org. Cards may be redeemed at www.PittsburghGives.org
Posts
