Non Profit NewsPod: Big Day of Giving's Record Breaking Philanthropy

Jeff Holden: [00:00:00] This News Pod is in special recognition of the big day of giving that our Sacramento Region Community Foundation just hosted. I'm speaking with Carrie Wood, executive Director of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, and if you don't know why I am speaking with Carrie Wood, I don't know where you've been for the last at least month.

Kerry, we've got some really big news to share and I mean, it's big on big day of giving, so why don't you start us off? 

Kerry Wood: Well, all of us at the Sacramento Region Community Foundation are celebrating in a very big way because we collectively as a community that nonprofits and the donors came together. And the generous contributors, uh, gave $13.8 million and we beat the all time record, which was set in 2023 [00:01:00] of about the same amount, but we beat it by 46,000.

So we'll take it. Yeah, very excited. 

Jeff Holden: And I know as, as a partner with you guys on the sponsor side of things, we try not to focus on the sheer dollar amount because things change and the economies change and times are different. But it's so exciting to say that this is now a record. It's the most ever raised, and it just contributes to that a hundred million dollars plus that has been raised over the entire time that you've been doing Big Day of Giving.

Kerry Wood: Yeah. We're over 117 million now. 

Jeff Holden: Isn't that incredible? 

Kerry Wood: It really is something we all should be proud of. 

Jeff Holden: Could you walk us through maybe just some of the stats of what it looked like, numbers of donors and, and contributions, et cetera, et cetera? 

Kerry Wood: Absolutely. So there were just about 62,000 donations that were made by 30,500 [00:02:00] donors.

So kind of a two to one sort of ratio here. Two gifts for, for just about every donor that supported 855 nonprofit organizations. 

Jeff Holden: Isn't that incredible? So basically, you know, two donations per donor, roughly is what it looks like. 

Kerry Wood: That's right. 

Jeff Holden: So maybe your plus one worked. 

Kerry Wood: Yeah, we had a, a, the plus one campaign where we encouraged everyone, right.

To give, uh, one more donation, you know, support one more nonprofit, encouraged one more person to get involved and so on. So, you know, we think that that may have had something to do with it. 

Jeff Holden: So do next year we go plus two. 

Kerry Wood: I think so. 

Jeff Holden: 3, 4, 5. I 

Kerry Wood: like that. We'll just see where the ceiling is. 

Jeff Holden: Right. I know one of the things that we spoke of and as we were going through the process and everybody's excited about Big Day of Giving coming up, you know, there was some concerns about the economy.

There were some [00:03:00] obviously issues with the stock market all over the place and, and what does that look like? But it appears. The philanthropic side of Sacramento is so generous that in spite of all that uncertainty, we still ended up with something greater than ever before. 

Kerry Wood: Yes. You know, it inspires me so greatly it inspires our staff to, to see that level of support in spite of the uncertainties.

You know, we, we never know right where it's going to going to land. It's, you know, it, it could have gone the a completely different direction and instead we've, you know, again, broken the sort of all time records for the last. 13 years. So I think that this is a testt testament to our community. It's a testament to rally be behind nonprofits who are, not only do they need support more than ever given so many funding cuts have taken place, but they are really such a [00:04:00] backbone of our, of our community.

And I think that, you know, people realize that and have come forward. 

Jeff Holden: Well, it was interesting to see too, one of the biggest issues we know that we've got is food insecurity, and we saw Yellow Food Bank and Sacramento Food Bank really, really perform exceedingly well, which was great to see with over a thousand donors to the food bank.

I don't recall what YOLO was, but it was high as well. So a lot of people recognizing some of the issues that we've got in the community, we saw a lot of support for our public. Media with both CAP Radio and KVIE well supported, so people may be aware of some of the pending cuts that may be coming from NPR and, and then we saw so many unique organizations.

It was nice to see Salvation Army up at the top with, again, recognition for homelessness and reintegration and support. Were there any surprises on your end? 

Kerry Wood: I can't say that there were [00:05:00] necessarily surprises in too many areas. Maybe except for the arts. You know, we did see a surge in giving for the arts, which I'm so thrilled about.

But you know, I think we anticipated more, I would say basic needs type organizations being supported, especially, you know, at this, this time. So it was a pleasant surprise to see, you know, that the arts organizations also received a good. A good deal of support because you know what, what vibrancy they bring to our, our communities and I think that we need as much joy as we can get.

So that could be, you know, that they, donors have spoken and, and shown that that's really, really critical. 

Jeff Holden: Well, and and truly that is a release in difficult times. Yes. It's a place to go and we see something like the Sacville Harmonica and Opera do so well. It's encouraging to say that Sacramento really does recognize.

The value of its arts organizations and not at the diminishment of [00:06:00] anything else. It's just that they see it and that's, 

Kerry Wood: yeah, absolutely. Huge 

Jeff Holden: plus. 

Kerry Wood: And whenever we have anybody come to us asking, gosh, where should I give? There's, you know, I. 855 organizations, how do I choose, you know, and you know, we try to always keep it, you know, based on someone's values, et cetera.

But another, another indicator of maybe why some organizations that may not have previously gotten the same level of support are getting that is, you know, there's a question out there of what if this organization went away? Mm-hmm. You want, you wanna make sure you are supporting the organizations that you care about.

'cause if they go away. Then, you know, that leaves such a huge, huge gap and a, a huge void. So, you know, we hope that maybe, maybe there was some of that that went on as well. 

Jeff Holden: And I'm sure, and the thing that's really, again, encouraging to see under the circumstances that we're faced with, with everything going on, that all [00:07:00] the effort really did pay off and those nonprofit organizations worked it appropriately.

I wanna put a shout out for the bark. The newsletter and suggests that if anybody hasn't subscribed, you're in the nonprofit space. It really is a supportive tool. And now on the back end of it, now that we've had our big day of giving with the success and everything that you recognize with gratitude, that people who supported you and Absolutely.

And I saw this recent, uh, edition of the newsletter with all the details, all the things. If you're uncertain on how best to go about doing that, I. We need to thank the community in every way, shape we every way, shape and form that we can because it was a significant step that everybody took on May 1st.

Kerry Wood: You said it so well. I I don't have a whole lot to add there other than, you know, it, it takes a village. Right? And, and the media. That nonprofit podcast network and your efforts. Thank you. [00:08:00] Everybody played a role. You know, it really boil it down. You can't say that it was any one thing, and it was a collective effort by the nonprofits, the media, by our, our foundation, by, you know, our sponsors, you know, and so many people that really came forward to make this, make this happen.

Jeff Holden: And this is the 13th year, right, Carrie? That's right. So 13 years in the community understands, they're starting to recognize the momentum that it gets each year. Just carries it forward. Before we close, I will put the the bark link in the show notes of the news pod here. But I wanna say thank you to you and your team because you guys gave it up.

I mean, that's a lot of work. It's a lot of connection. It's a lot of day to day to day to day, especially as we get close and you even hosted a kickoff in your offices. The day before at 10 o'clock at night. That's [00:09:00] unbelievable. And, and what a great team, what a great organization and thank you guys for all that you do, because without it, there wouldn't be the big day of giving.

Kerry Wood: You're welcome. It's definitely a, a labor of love. 

Jeff Holden: Well, congratulations to everybody. Congratulations to the nonprofits, the 855 organizations that got something through Big Day of Giving, and congratulations to Sacramento for showing its interest. In the philanthropic side of things as well as the organizations they support.

Kerry, thank you so much. 

Kerry Wood: Thank you, Jeff.