Tis the season for giving and that message rang out loud and clear in downtown Lexington as the Bluegrass Community Foundation and Smiley Pete Publishing kicked off the 2016 GoodGiving Challenge.
2016’s GoodGiving Challenge kicked off with a celebration of sorts, complete with steel drums and leaders of local charities cheering and waving signs for their organizations. Laurie Preston is the manager of the massive fundraiser. She tells me the GoodGiving Challenge is vital to non-profits need for resources. “They don’t have the opportunity to do this kind of fundraising with this kind of assistance. We do training that they can utilize all year round for on-line virtual engagement which is something they don’t get. And they’re non-profit professionals. Some of them have tons of staff and some of them, they have volunteers.”
In the past five years more than five million dollars has been raised for hundreds of organizations who joined the GoodGiving Challenge. This year 120 non-profit groups in Central and Eastern Kentucky are participating. The campaign lasts until December 31st. To see this year’s list and give log on to http://www.bggives.org