You did it! 4.1 million actions for good in Central Texas for #GivingTuesday
We are proud to announce that the Central Texas community participated in over 4.1 million actions-for-good over the course of last week’s Giving Tuesday, benefitting and impacting many nonprofits, initiatives and the people of our community.
For the second consecutive year, ILHIGH served as the official Community Leader in the Central Texas region for Giving Tuesday, an annual global event that takes place on the Tuesday immediately following Thanksgiving and after the consumer-based shopping events of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Throughout Giving Tuesday, ILHIGH tracked monetary donations to Central Texas nonprofit organizations as well as actions-for-good through social media posts using the hashtags #ILiveHereIGiveHere and #GivingTuesday and by accumulating volunteer data from their expansive network of local nonprofits.
In total, 4.1 million actions-for-good were recorded in Central Texas alone, which includes a total of over $1.3 million dollars given by Central Texas residents contributing to the success of the Giving Tuesday campaign on November 27, 2018. The original goal for Central Texas in 2018 was 2 million actions-for-good, which local residents and businesses successfully met and surpassed for the second straight year after hitting the 1 million actions-for-good goal last year and coming in at a total of 1.6+ million actions-for-good. Local nonprofits reported that they raised an additional $1.47 million from donors worldwide during the most recent campaign.
“Giving Tuesday has once again given us a time to come together and showcase the inspiring generosity of the Austin community. Of course here in Austin, we have our own unique way of celebrating #GivingTuesday – taking action for good. This year Austinites were ready to step up and help their neighbors resulting in 4.1 million actions that will make a huge impact on our city for years to come,” said Lindsay Muse, Interim Executive Director of I Live Here I Give Here. “As this was our second year participating in the global campaign, our team knew our local residents would step up to support, but even our own expectations were surpassed by the generosity of our community. We can’t stress enough that nonprofits are still in need of your support throughout the rest of the holiday season and with only a few weeks left in the year we want to encourage everyone to continue to give back to causes and organizations that are important to them, or find a new one to help make a positive difference today.”
Included in the total monetary funds raised are donations to local nonprofits from notable Austin-area businesses including Silicon Labs, Rackspace, HEB, Square Root, Homeslice and RetailMeNot, who in total gave over $338,000, more than double the amount reported last year, in addition to a substantial amount of volunteer hours and donated items. Donation amounts are still pouring in from local businesses and donation totals are expected to climb in the weeks ahead.
ILHIGH would like to thank several sponsors and partners in particular who have helped to make this year’s campaign so successful, including Howry Breen and Herman, Drillinginfo, Texas Mutual, UFCU, Charles Schwab, Silicon Labs, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Eric Copper - Broker Associate and Bazaarvoice.
The Giving Tuesday 2018 celebrations featured a special pop-up event that same day at Canopy in East Austin in partnership with Big Medium which featured an array of local nonprofit organizations and activities for all ages as well as complimentary music, food and cocktails. The pop-up event alone saw a total of 724 actions-for-good from attendees on site. Pop-up participants included 2nd Street District, who provided prizes for attendees who took the most actions-for-good at the Pop Up Party; Austin Humane Society, who brought pets available for adoption; Big Medium, which offered a variety of family-friendly arts activities; Circle of Health International and #BossBabes, who hosted a conversation space for social justice, human rights and women’s bodies, as well as merch shop; Down Home Ranch, who sold poinsettias grown by the special-need ranchers at Down Home Ranch; Meals on Wheels, who sold homemade holiday pies, with each pie purchase providing a week’s worth of meals for local seniors; and Texas Folklife, who offered music from Fiddler Brandon C. Janes IV from Córdoba, Argentina; along with additional on-site opportunities provided by Breakthrough Central Texas; LIVESTRONG; Ronald McDonald House Charities Central Texas; Special Olympics Texas; Susan G. Komen and more.
Through charitable actions from the Central Texas community on Giving Tuesday, several hundred nonprofits across Central Texas were able to benefit from both monetary donations and an array of actions-for-good. Highlights from Giving Tuesday 2018 include, but are not limited to the following:
Central Texas Food Bank was able to secure a triple-matching gift, which allowed the Food Bank to raise over $78,750 – the equivalent of over a half a million meals. They also reported that more than 100,000 volunteers supported the Food Bank in the month of November.
Skillpoint Alliance raised $4,488, enough funds to provide OSHA 10 certifications for 448 people enabling them to further their career. The local nonprofit organization provides in-demand plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and certified nurse aide training to vulnerable members of our community.
Generation Serve raised over $31,000 during the campaign and hosted their second annual Family Volunteer Day. The annual event focused on service had hundreds of families attend to volunteer throughout the day.
Down Home Ranch was able to raise enough funds to give 80 of their Ranchers with Down syndrome and other disabilities the unique opportunity to attend a class of their choice at The University of Texas in Austin.
Hill Country Conservancy was able to raise over $37,000 to ensure land, water, and access to nature. Recent flooding in the area and a city-wide boil water notice has brought more attention on the need to conserve and preserve land near springs and critical water features in the Barton Springs Aquifer region. This funding will allow them to save 1,480 square feet of Hill Country land and waterways.
Home Slice Pizza was able to raise just over $28,800 in total for SAFE, CASA of Travis County, Austin Bat Cave and Carrying Hope through their second “DOUGHvember” charity dinner series each Tuesday in November at their original dine-in restaurant.
KLRU-TV (PBS Austin) raised $140,000, more than doubling last year’s total through the help of a match from Entergy Texas.
Big Medium raised $10,000 during their annual EAST Austin Studio tour to support their community arts programming which was matched by Tito’s Handmade Vodka.
This Giving Tuesday campaign demonstrated to the world the generosity of the Central Texas community, and ILHIGH hopes for those actions-for-good to continue throughout the rest of the year.
More information on the Giving Tuesday global movement is available at www.givingtuesday.org. If interested in staying up to date additional news and announcements, make sure to also follow along on Facebook at @AmplifyATX, on Twitter at @ILH_IGH, and on Instagram at @AmplifyATX.