San Diego Gives, a non-profit Lauren Welch founded specifically to help local organizations leverage individual fundraising into a wider reach with more donations, is hosting a campaign that kicks off July 16 and runs through Sept. 8 with over 300 participating organizations.
Welch, who works in development at Urban Corps of San Diego county said GivingTuesday piqued her interest back in 2020, and prompted her to ask ‘can we do something like this but focus on San Diego?’ before launching the campaign.
GivingTuesday was created in New York 2012 as a day to ‘do good’ and has developed into a movement to support nonprofits across 70 countries.
Welch has lofty plans for San Diego Gives but requires participating organizations to have a San Diego county office and funds must remain local.
“Besides that, we have a nonprofit sub-committee of San Diego Gives that reviews the nonprofits applying to make sure they are sound,” Welch said.
The goal this year is to raise at least $2million for participating nonprofits from a minimum of 4,000 donors to benefit at least 250 organizations with different causes but the same underlying need: funding.
Living Coast Discovery Center Marketing and Communications Manager Sadie Klughers said leaders at the Chula Vista nonprofit zoo plan to use any funding raised through San Diego Gives to purchase biomodels for display in their Shark and Ray exhibit.
“Biomodels provide zoos and aquariums with lifelike replicas of plants to enhance exhibits two-fold. By providing native species of plants that would typically occur in their habitat, the animals display natural behaviors and achieve a better quality of life. Additionally, guests are able to observe a realistic picture of what the animals’ natural space would look like as well, developing a deeper connection to our local habitats,” Klughers said.
However, in addition enhancing the habitat for both animals and visitors, Klughers said, biomodels open up another avenue for the aquarium to teach about conservation education.
Meanwhile, Youth Empowerment Development Consultant Trisha Gooch said the grassroots nonprofit, which provides mentorship and gang prevention programs for at-risk youth and their families from El Cajon to South San Diego county, plans to use funding toward their Transforming Trauma initiative among other programs.
“We are working to make a real impact on young people from low-income neighborhoods, helping them leave gang life behind and learn to contribute to their communities as leaders. Our founder Arthur Soriano, most of the staff and all of our mentors have lived experience and address issues involving trauma, addiction, criminal activities and violence through a justice-involved lens,” Gooch said, and funding from San Diego Gives will help support their work.
The pandemic “changed how fundraising happens for everyone,”Klughers said— in March, 2020, the center was forced to close to the public for the first time in over 30 years.
“We quickly pivoted to the digital environment and discovered even more ways for us to complete our mission, but one thing that never ceased was our dedicated animal care staff. After finally opening our doors again last May, we have been able to continue to inspire the community to connect with and care for our coastal environment,” Klughers said, but top funding priorities now include supporting education programs for camps and field trips, guest experiences for students and visitors, and animal care for exhibit inhabitants and ambassadors.
In contrast, Gooch said the pandemic had an impact on Youth Empowerment’s in-person events but “because we are a young nonprofit, it did not really affect our financial support” and most funding to date has come from contracts and Soriano’s own pocket.
“All of our programs immediately pivoted online and continued uninterrupted. However, we need to be able to train and hire more mentors to reach more young people and their families,” Gooch said and they plan to participate in future iterations of San Diego Gives.
Visit www.sandiegogives.org for a full list of participating non-profits and more information about the fundraiser.
