In 2021 you made the Valley Giving Guide a huge success. This year brings even more benefits!
Q. What is the guide?
It’s a year-end effort by Blue Mountain Community Foundation (BMCF) to bring donations and attention to nonprofits making a difference in our community.
BMCF publishes the guide in two formats:
- A newspaper insert
- A website: valleygivingguide.org
Q. How much does it cost the YWCA to participate?
Like all the other community organizations, we pay nothing for the printed guide or the operation of the website.
Q. Where is my donation going — to the YWCA, to the Valley Giving Guide, to BMCF? It sounds a little complicated.
It might help to think of your gift not as a donation to the guide; but as a donation through the guide. The VGG website is simply a tool for giving to the nonprofit organizations in our community. BMCF processes the donations and pays the fees and then distributes the funds where you specify. Every penny goes to the participating nonprofits.
Q. Why should I consider giving through the guide?
- BMCF will again cover debit or credit card fees for all participating organizations. Depending on your card, waived fees are like giving 2–5% more without spending another penny.
- Last year, other gifts, like checks, included fees. This year, the foundation is eliminating all fees.
- Plus BMCF is securing funds to provide a bonus on up to $10,000 of each gift. The generous sponsors underwriting the bonus funds are listed on the giving guide website. During the checkout process you can choose to add 5% to the bonus pool yourself. This addition will show up on your receipt as “underwriting.”
Q. How much will the bonus be?
It was 10% last year; this year is still unknown. The bonus will depend on 1) total funds raised and 2) total donated to the bonus pool.
For example, a $500 gift through the guide or BMCF could grow by, say, an 8% bonus – $500 becomes $540. And BMCF covers card fees, so the nonprofit gets it all.
Q. On the Valley Giving Guide website, I saw something about a $20,000 match, but now I don’t. What happened?
That $20,000 was matched (and then some) on the very first day the website officially opened! If you compare the total on our page (which shows a row of adorable kiddos from My Friends’ House) with the total on the Leaderboard, you’ll see that the total on our page “includes $20,000 in matched donations.” If you made your donation on Nov. 29, chances are good that your donation was matched at 100% because of the $20,000 grant from J.L. Stubblefield Trust. The first day’s donations (and each gift up to $10,000 since) will grow by the additional percentage that is still to be determined.
The foundation has made an incredible investment in our valley with the time and funds put into the Valley Giving Guide.
Between amazing friends like you and the support of BMCF, the nonprofits in our community can continue the work of making our valley a safer, more joyful place to live.
We are proud to serve this community and always so grateful for compassionate people like you who believe in our valley’s women and families.