GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Give BIG Green Bay officially kicked off this afternoon. The one-day event runs until noon on Wednesday.
The event is virtual this year, but is continuing to raise money for 45 local non-profit groups in a variety of categories.
“We hope everyone is going to continue to give, give generously as your economic circumstances allow, but also to simply learn more about what’s happening in this community and connect with these nonprofits,” said Greater Green Bay Community Foundation President and CEO Dennis Buehler. “Bringing everyone together in in the through Zoom and through videos can also give us a new ability to reach out to donors and get some excitement going about what these organizations do…hopefully move them to going to our online platform learn about the organizations and the work they’re doing, and hopefully motivate them to support them in any way they’re able to.”
Buehler says it’s a good opportunity for organizations to tell their story and generate energy around their cause, as well as foster support that can go beyond today and carry throughout the entire year.
“The dollars they are going to receive is above and beyond what they would typically fundraise for the course of the year. They’re not aware they’re in this this event until just a couple weeks ago, so it’s not something they plan on as a part of their budget,” Buehler said.
100-percent of the dollars raised go directly to the organizations and are leveraged further by matching dollars grants. In just over an hour, the community raised over $250,000. The Green Bay Packers matched that. You can check out live, real-time leaderboards of donations and money raised at www.giveBIGgreenbay.org.
“Right when we turned it on at noon, donors were already contributing. We can see in real time how dollars are coming into the event, you can look at the leaderboard and see how every organzations is securing support,” Buehler said. “it is a dynamic and real time opportunity to see how the community is giving. I think it’s something we all get a little bit addicted to throughout the course of the day and the evening, just to see how things are happening…I think we’ve seen during the course of the day how the energy translates into action. People just want to act. They want to know ‘how can I help?’ This, I think, helps motivate that when you can see in real time how it’s going to be benefiting our community across all the organizations.”
And while it’s a different scenario with the virtual event, not having everybody at Lambeau in-person, there was still a lot of optimism in the Give BIG Green Bay base as donations rolled in quickly on Tuesday.
“It shows that people are ready to engage, particularly this year. With the virtual event, I think that shows people already engaged that way. But they also know there’s key need in specific areas this year, so I think that shows the community is ready to support in that regard as well…Seeing the the numbers tick up in terms of the amount of donors and the money that’s raised, so it’s something that is fun to see. I think there’s some anticipation to watch that grow,” said Packers Director of Public Affairs Aaron Popkey. “A lot of them are doing some things that are very specific to the pandemic, other areas like social justice, and those types of things that we’ve seen more recently that affect so many of us. And so many of us [are] wanting to learn more and get behind initiatives that can really make a difference.”
Again, for more information on different organizations and how you can donate, head to www.giveBIGgreenbay.org.
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