Giving Tuesday has become a major fundraising event for dozens of area nonprofit groups and endowed funds, and organizers hope this year will be the best one yet.
“It’s grown every year,” said Christy Tustin, executive director of the Golden Belt Community Foundation. GBCF organizes the local version of Giving Tuesday – often stylized as #GivingTuesday – but it is a global generosity movement celebrated on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the United States.
GBCF is based in Great Bend and serves Barton, Pawnee, Rush and Stafford Counties. While it manages several endowed funds, the Foundation always invites any nonprofit group to announce its need and seek Giving Tuesday donations. This year there are 98 groups participating, Tustin said.
Groups that are new to Giving Tuesday this year include the Barton Arts Movement (BAM); The Arts Center at Gray Photo Studio Inc. in St. John; Jo’s Jingle Basket in Ellinwood, a fund for the needy children at Christmas, created by St. Joseph Catholic Church; and VMB Development Inc., a nonprofit corporation created by Julie Stuhlsatz, Great Bend, providing Visual/Mind/Behavior training for children.
Participants were invited to create profiles and list needs on the website goldenbeltgives.org, Mackenzie Mitchell, development and communications coordinator at GBCF, shared a few of the groups’ posted needs:
Golden Belt Humane Society
Funds to cover parvo/distemper vaccines, kennel cough prevention, heartworm tests, feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus tests, microchips, deworming agents, feline vaccinations, as well as veterinary visits.
Birthright of Great Bend
Money for car seats, cribs, diapers, blankets, lotion, etc.
Otis Community Library
$1,500 for purchasing some items for game nights, updating the young adult books section, new adult books, movies, and adding activity kits where patrons can try out a new hobby or skill.
Central Kansas Dream Center
$3,000 to remodel the auditorium to have community events.
Volunteers in Action
Financial support to offset the cost of fuel for medical transportation.
Giving Tuesday Specials
• $10,000 match - This year the GBCF is providing a $10,000 match that will be divided among groups that have endowments with the Foundation. The percentage of the $10,000 that each group receives will be prorated based on the Giving Tuesday donations they receive.
• Most Generous Community - The community in the GBCF service area that donates the most money per capita will receive a $1,000 special grant award to support a community program or project. The prize has gone to Olmitz and Great Bend. “We’ll see who it is this year,” Tustin said. (Great Bend is not eligible because the prize can’t be won by the same community two years in a row.)
• 25th-anniversary giveaways - There are also several small giveaways throughout the month. For example, one donor will be selected by random drawing from all donations received online from noon to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 30. The winner chooses which fund the $100 prize goes to.
“We’re also celebrating the 25th anniversary of Golden Belt Community Foundation,” Tustin said. GBCF has been awarding $25 random prizes on weekdays (Monday through Friday) since Oct. 27, with $50 prizes on Tuesdays and $300 on Giving Tuesday. Winners are posted on the GBCF Facebook page at 2:50 p.m. daily. Again, the prize money goes to the charity of the winner’s choice.
• Charity Give-Back Coffee - The GBCF will tally the Giving Tuesday results and host a Great Bend Chamber Coffee at 9 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 16, at the St. Patrick Parish Center. Last year the celebration had to be held online due to the pandemic; Tustin said she’s excited that it will once again be in person. “That’s always a fun event.”
Four ways to give
There are four ways to make a donation to Giving Tuesday.
• Mail in a Giving Form. Forms were mailed to past donors and are available at the GBCF office: 1307 Williams St., Great Bend, KS 67530.
• Give online at goldenbeltgives.org.
• Drop off at the GBCF office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.
• On Nov. 30 only, drive-through drop-off sites will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Twenty-two banks located throughout the GBCF service area are participating.
