WELCOME TO SANTA CRUZ GIVES: NOV. 16 THROUGH DEC. 31, 2022

By Jeanne Howard

Welcome to the 2022 Santa Cruz Gives holiday fundraising campaign. During the past two years of uncertainty, many doubted that donations to nonprofits would be strong, and now many say uncertainty is the way of the future. Uncertainty creates fear, and fear creates certain predictable behaviors.

But we all know that Santa Cruz County residents rarely follow behavior predicted for the rest of the country! Right on through the uncertain times of 2020 and 2021, locals stepped up to support our community by percentages far above the national average for growth in fundraising, and last year total donations to Santa Cruz Gives reached $1,100,069, crossing the $1 million line for the first time.

This year's slate of projects, presented by 63 participating nonprofits, is the most diverse yet, with work that the selection committee finds both relevant and forward-thinking. We are moved by the thoughtful ideas and work that motivates these organizations to serve, often in difficult circumstances, often with predominantly volunteer labor, and rarely with enough financial resources. We hope you will be, too. We hope that those of you fortunate enough to have your needs met will face uncertainty with faith and goodwill toward our neighbors who can use support.

Thanks a Million!

By Jeanne Howard

We’re overjoyed here at Santa Cruz Gives. The community’s generosity brought us to a major milestone: Raising $1 milllion for local charity. There are still checks to be added to the total that were mailed during the holidays, and more will trickle in for the first week of January, so come back soon to gawk at the final total on the home page.  

Thank you to all who took a moment away from the holiday buzz to donate, and who diverted some precious dollars from needs at home.

A quick arm-chair analysis tells us that many who will appear as small donors to organizations are actually large donors to Santa Cruz Gives. Some gave hundreds, a thousand, or thousands, but supported many nonprofit projects with their gift. Our goal is that each organization presents compelling and essential work: It should be hard to choose. Clearly, it was for many donors.

Small donors are as appreciated as large donors. Just as small and large nonprofits are included — because the work is done collectively by nonprofits big and small — the work is done collectively by all donors, big and small. More of us coming together to support our community is where our strength lies as a community. So, thank you — keep the fives, tens and twenties coming!

Many of the nonprofits worked hard to do their part. We explain in our annual kick-off orientation that Santa Cruz Gives is a partnership. The platform we provide and the strong promotional campaign underwritten by Good Times and other local media partners (noted below) is like a wave, and the nonprofit must surf it to the best of their ability by reaching out to their networks to ask, remind, and encourage them to join the heartwarming “funraising” scene that is the Santa Cruz Gives website!

In the future we hope Santa Cruz Gives will be on the year-end to-do list of all who are privileged to help neighbors in need. Until then, thanks a million!

And to all a healthy, joyous new year.

Local Businesses Donate to Santa Cruz Gives

By Jeanne Howard

Two local businesses recently offered their services to support Santa Cruz Gives. We will look into creating an online auction so that more businesses who would like to contribute to local nonprofits can do so more easily next year. Their time, labor and materials costs are valuable.