#BrooklynGives 2017 Raised Over $365K for Twenty Local Nonprofits
On November 28, 2017, #BrooklynGives, a 24-hour online fundraising event established to celebrate local nonprofits in Brooklyn, NY, took place for its second year in conjunction with #GivingTuesday.
This Giving Day was established by the Brooklyn Community Foundation to unite charities and donors in a fun and engaging initiative to support the important causes throughout their community.
Twenty Brooklyn nonprofits were selected to participate in the day and compete for the Brooklyn Community Foundation’s Spark Prize. All twenty nonprofits received up to $5,000 in matching funds and five were selected to receive the $100,000 spark prize!
How Did this Giving Day Work?
Awareness and funds were generated through the official website for #BrooklynGives 2017, BrooklynGives.org, where the twenty participating nonprofits each had a giving profile that their supporters could easily find and donate through.
Each nonprofit was listed in order of “Most Raised” and “Most Donors” on the #BrooklynGives leaderboards, making it easy for site visitors to keep track of how their favorite nonprofits were doing throughout the day.
Exalt Youth topped the leaderboards for having the Most Raised with nearly $38,000 in donations, and Atlas: DIY had the Most Donors at 179!
Local sponsors, businesses, news outlets, nonprofit participants, supporters, and community members alike, all helped spread the word about this incredible celebration of the important work being done by these key organizations.
Local Events to Celebrate the Day
The Brooklyn Community Foundation hosted two local events for #BrooklynGives 2017, a Kickoff event at TD Bank and a Last Call event at Gotham Market.
Event 1: #BrooklynGives Kickoff at TD Bank
From 8-10 am, there was a kickoff event at the TD Bank located at 211 Montague St in Brooklyn Heights.
Event Details:
- Mini press conference and breakfast to drum up awareness for the day’s fundraising activity
- 8 am – Guests arrived and breakfast was served
- 8:30-9 am – Remarks:
- Brooklyn Community Foundation (BCF) Welcome: Cecilia Clarke
- BCF Chairman Alan Fishman
- Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams
- Additional Elected Officials
- TD Bank Representative
- National Grid Representative
- Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce CEO Andrew Hoan
- Closing: Cecilia Clarke
- 9-9:30 am – Photos and Facebook Live Interviews with Spark Prize Finalists
Following this first event, the marketing team from GiveGab met with seven of the twenty participating organizations for quick individual interviews. All seven interviews can be found on GiveGab’s YouTube channel.
Interview with Exalt for #BrooklynGives 2017 at TD Bank
Event #2: #BrooklynGives Last Call
The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce held a Last Call event at Gotham Market at the Ashland in Fort Greene from 6-9 pm, with a $15 fee that was shared among the twenty Spark Prize finalists.
Drinks and food were served with motivational speakers sharing their passion for the local nonprofits and the efforts being done through the #BrooklynGives platform. Video footage from this event, along with more individual interviews conducted by the GiveGab team are in the works, so stay tuned by subscribing to GiveGab’s YouTube channel.
More details on this event can be found in the results article published by the Brooklyn Community Foundation: Read the article!
#BrooklynGives 2017 Results
#BrooklynGives 2017 brought in over $365k in donations from 1,221 donors to the twenty participating nonprofits!
The five nonprofits selected to receive the Spark Prize of $100,000 were announced on January 5, 2018. You can learn more about each prize recipient here.
With even more Brooklyn nonprofits being invited to participate next year, #BrooklynGives 2018 is expected to raise even more awareness and funds for a number of Brooklyn nonprofits! You can stay up to date on the details of this event and other important work being done by the Brooklyn Community Foundation by subscribing to their newsletter.
As the official Brooklyn Gives partner for the first time this year, the GiveGab team would like to congratulate all the participants, those who made the day possible, and the Brooklyn community, on the success of this day. We can’t wait to see you shine again next year!