A regional giving event held last Tuesday across the Ozarks raised more than $1 million, organizers announced Friday.
The final result for “Give Ozarks,” the region’s first 24-hour giving event, is $1,018,962.
This updated amount reflects the addition of cumulative prize awards and donations that participating nonprofits collected in cash or checks on Tuesday, May 5, and delivered to the Community Foundation of the Ozarks by 5 p.m., Thursday.
“Give Ozarks” registered 7,649 donations, not including individual cash donations made at Give Ozarks-related events, for about 150 nonprofit agencies representing at least 46 communities within the CFO’s 58-county service region. About $39,000 was raised in this area last Tuesday. In this area, $36,860 was raised. Many organizations participated: CASA of South Central Missouri, $4,340; Houston Education Foundation for laptops for the district’s new media center, $2,677; Houston Education Foundation Endowment match, $10,202; Stars Foundation, $5,335; Texas County Food Pantry, $673; Trinity Springs, $380; and Texas County Memorial Hospital Foundation for Ambassadors program, $15,028.
The final amount includes $92,975 in prizes provided by sponsors, representing 59 separate cash prizes and $120,000 in CFO endowment matching funds awarded to the 24 agencies selected for those challenge grants. The prize winners are all listed at: http://cfozarks.org/give-ozarks-prizes/.
“First, we would like to say ‘thanks a million’ to the donors who made more than 7,500 gifts to make the Ozarks a better place for everyone,” CFO President Brian Fogle said. “In a time when daily headlines seem to trumpet bad news across the globe, it’s so refreshing to be reminded just how generous and helpful our friends and neighbors are. When you throw a first-time party like this, one ever knows who may show up. Thank you for the thousands that did, with their hearts and pocketbooks open to assist others.”
Some other statistics from Give Ozarks Day include:
nAbout 30 percent of donors indicated they were first-time donors to their selected organizations.
nThere were about 675,000 hits to the Give Ozarks website over the 24-hour period.
nThe number of unique visitors to the site was about 32,000.
nWith in-kind sponsorships, including media partnerships, the overall total value of Give Ozarks day exceeded $1,061,000.
The goals for Give Ozarks, presented by the CFO and BKD Wealth Advisers, were to increase awareness of the importance of philanthropy for the Ozarks region; promote the important work nonprofit agencies do for our communities; and introduce a large-scale crowdfunding event as a new way for donors to participate in philanthropy.
“It has been our privilege to be a part of Give Ozarks,” said Jack Thurman, president of BKD Wealth Advisers. “This was a great event that has such a wide range of benefits to our community. We look forward to participating in this for years to come.”
The Springfield-based web development firm, Mostly Serious, created the Give Ozarks website in partnership with the CFO.
Along with the CFO and BKD Wealth Advisers as presenting sponsors, the platinum sponsors include The Musgrave Foundation, The Commerce Trust Co./Coover Charitable Foundation and Ron and Janice Penney along with a host of Gold, Silver and Bronze sponsors detailed at https://giveozarks.org/sponsors. Media partners include KY3, 105.9 KGBX, the News-Leader, and Ozarks Public Broadcasting.
The CFO is a regional public charitable foundation, founded in 1973, which includes 46 affiliate foundations and nearly 600 nonprofit partners and schools.