For the third consecutive year, Centre Gives raised more than $2 million to support local nonprofits.
Centre Foundation’s 11th annual 36-hour online giving event concluded at 9 p.m. Wednesday with a total of $2,180,591 raised through 15,577 gifts to 200 participating nonprofit organizations.
“We’re incredibly proud of our community and the generosity that helped nonprofits raise over $2 million this year,” Molly Kunkel, executive director of Centre Foundation, said in a statement. “The organizations that benefit from Centre Gives are able to do so much good, and we are blown away by our community’s continued support of these nonprofits.”
This year’s event included the first Centre Gives Fest, held during the final four hours on Wednesday at the Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza in State College. The celebration featured music, food, activities by several organizations and giving stations.
Centre Foundation originally hoped to hold the festival in 2020, but that was put off because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kunkel said the foundation was “thrilled to finally be able to be here,” to hold the in-person event.
“It meant a lot to us to see how many people came out for Centre Gives Fest and celebrated Centre County’s most philanthropic 36 hours,” she said.
Centre Gives not only offers a chance to provide support for nonprofits but for community members to learn about organizations.
“Events like this give not only the nonprofits the opportunity to tell their stories but people in the community to learn about them,” Kunkel said. “I hear from donors every year that go on to give to one organization they know about and then they look and find ‘Oh I didn’t know there was an organization that did this,’ and they end up giving and supporting others… It’s a community that gives broad support.”
Brittany Sherman, prevention educator for Centre Safe, said Centre Gives is important for both the dollars raised and the ability to reach more people in the community.
“Centre Gives is one of our most important fundraisers of the year not only because it’s one of our biggest but also because we’re able to connect with the most community members every year, which is just incredible,” Sherman said. “We really love the community mindset. We say it takes a community to prevent sexual and domestic violence and we can’t do that without partners like Centre Foundation and Centre Gives.”
Since its inception in 2012, Centre Gives has raised more than $14.6 million for organizations working in the areas of arts, animals, education, environment, health and social services and more.
Gifts during Centre Gives are boosted by a $300,000 stretch pool provided by Centre Foundation and the Hamer Foundation, as well as $40,000 in prizes.
Prizes of $1,000 were awarded to the top five large and small organizations with the most unique donors.
Large organization prize winners:
Centre County PAWS
Schlow Library Foundation
Centre Volunteers in Medicine
State College Food Bank
Pets Come First.
Small organization prize winners:
Centre Wildlife Care
Nittany Greyhounds
Park Forest Preschool
Nittany Beagle Rescue
The Hundred Cat Foundation
Additional prizes ranging from $100 to $500 were awarded to dozens of organizations in 17 other categories.
