Holdrege, Neb. – After some uncertainty and uneasiness from several nonprofit organizations in Phelps County, give2GROW 2024 is back on. This is a welcome decision for many nonprofits who rely on the annual event to provide much needed funds for their operations.
Following the Phelps County Community Foundation’s April board meeting, it was decided to postpone the annual November fundraising event. That decision came after recommendations to take a hiatus and improve on issues with the process. The goal was to improve the website and a few other parts of the fundraiser, then restart with a better and more efficient event. Interim Executive Director Lacy Chapman said PCCF wanted to update their grant-making procedures and policy.
After raising more than 10 million dollars in the past 13 years of give2GROW, many nonprofit organizations expressed their concerns following the postponement news. PCCF sent out notifications to those organizations and others involved with the fundraiser about three weeks after the April 4 board meeting. Charles Reeser, PCCF Board President, said the news wasn’t received well.
According to Reeser, Chapman and the PCCF staff discussed the possibility of reversing the decision and moving forward with give2GROW. She went to the board and told them this was something she knew was needed. She was confident they would be able to do it successfully. Reeser thought it was “very brave” for them to work on this after it had been initially postponed. An email was sent to the board members on Tuesday, May 28, asking for those members to vote remotely on whether or not give2GROW should be restored. By the next day, it was back on.
Chapman said give2GROW 2024 will be held on their original date of November 14, but it will be a little different. Advertising and social media communications will be simplified and mainly left to the individual nonprofits to handle. The biggest change will be the lack of incentive prizes given to those who meet certain criteria. Last year, those prizes included an hourly prize given to a random organization, prizes for the greatest number of donors, those who received the most in-state or out-of-state donations, and so on. Chapman says at this time, everything else will stay the same.
PCCF was established in 1976 and has grown to serve Phelps County with over 30 million dollars in charitable funds. Last year, give2GROW raised nearly 1.2 million dollars from 3,350 donations, which benefited 86 organizations. Reeser said, “Our motto at PCCF is ‘Rooted Here for Good’, and I want that to carry through.”
After the votes came in on Wednesday, PCCF sent out a notification as quickly as they could; give2GROW would happen after all. The next board meeting is scheduled for the first week of June, and they’ll officially put the restart in their records.
