The Great Give 2023 raises nearly $3.5 million for Greater New Haven nonprofits

New Haven, Conn. (May 9, 2023) – The Great Give annual online fundraising event raised $3,548,256 for 520 nonprofit organizations serving Greater New Haven. The giving event, hosted by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, is a community-wide celebration of nonprofits on social media and beyond, with many organizations hosting both virtual and live events for supporters throughout the event.

The 36-hours of fundraising with sponsored match prize pools and random prize draws was held May 3-4, and donations were accepted through May 7. Altogether, more than 15,000 individual donors made more than 24,000 gifts.

“The Great Give, once again, brought out the best in our community. The millions raised by this event goes directly to work that advances, enriches and enlivens every aspect of our community,” said Will Ginsberg, President and CEO of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. “We saw a big spike in Great Give donations in 2020. In each year since, including this year, donors in our community have sustained this very high level of giving. Our community continues to show tremendous support for our nonprofits.”

The Great Give is open to any nonprofit providing programs and services in the 20 towns served by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. Now in its fourteenth year, the event has evolved into an important way for organizations of all sizes to engage and expand their donor bases. Most of the top fundraisers and prize winners are small organizations. The top 25 organizations received $30,000 or more and the top 150 organizations received $5,000 or more.

Several nonprofits promoted giving with their own match incentives provided by donors. Nonprofits also used peer-to-peer fundraising to increase giving. On the donor side, affiliation groups and member organizations new to The Great Give raised money for nonprofits. As examples, Student Government at Yale School of Management raised $1,255 and students at Choate Rosemary Hall provided a $2,000 match for the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen.

The Great Give 2023 was supported by multiple sponsors contributing a total of $226,000 in cash prizes and match donations to different service sectors and organizations in different communities within The Foundation’s 20-town region. The Community Foundation provided a $100,000 pool for a pro-rated match to every nonprofit receiving a donation. The Valley Community Foundation provided a $20,000 matching pool to gifts made by Valley donors.

The Branford, Guilford and Madison Community Foundations offered prizes for organizations in their towns.

The Bank of America Charitable Foundation offered $10,000 to match donations to arts organizations during a “Power Hour.” During this hour, a variety of arts groups held virtual performances and gallery tours.

The NewAlliance Foundation provided a $10,000 matching pool for boosting donations for organizations promoting literacy.

The Black Futures Fund of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven provided six $2,500 random-draw prizes for Black-led and Black-serving nonprofits.

The Progreso Latino Fund provided a $10,000 match pool for organizations that have Latine representation in the executive leadership, serve the Latine community and have annual budgets of under $500,000.

The Konopacke Fund of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven provided a matching pool of $10,000 to inspire giving to independent, nonprofit animal shelters.

Donors interested in supporting nonprofits that serve Greater New Haven beyond The Great Give’s 36-hour event are invited to visit www.givegreater.org, an online year-round resource for local giving provided by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. It is a database of local nonprofit organizations providing services in The Community Foundation’s region. Many nonprofits listed on the site are participants in The Great Give; on the site, donors can search by interest area or name to learn more about a nonprofit’s programs, management, and governance.

About The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven

The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven’s mission is to inspire, support, inform, listen to and collaborate with the people and organizations of Greater New Haven to build an ever more connected, inclusive, equitable and philanthropic community. Established in 1928, The Foundation is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the U.S and has been built by donors supporting a broad variety of issues and organizations. As the permanent charitable endowment for 20 towns in Greater New Haven, The Foundation is implementing a 5-year strategic plan to expand opportunity and equity in our region. Stepping Forward, a commitment addressing the impact of COVID-19 and advancing racial equity is also in place through 2023. For more information about The Foundation visit www.cfgnh.org or follow @cfgnh on facebook and twitter.