Dear Lowcountry Nonprofit Community,
We have an exciting announcement for you: Lowcountry Giving Day is set for May 3rd, 2016. And our organizations, Bidr and Coastal Community Foundation, are working together to make next year’s event bigger and better than ever.
As CCF reviewed the past two years of Lowcountry Giving Day this summer, the team realized that this event needed to grow much more to keep pace with nonprofits and donors’ desire to get involved. We needed to figure out a way to simplify the process so more people could take part. Lowcountry Giving Day has taught us all so much about online giving and is a wonderful addition to the community – so how could it scale up?
CCF realized that a different group needed to lead this effort. An organization that could streamline the details, bring some real tech savvy to the event and continue to help our nonprofit community grow through new opportunities for giving.
That’s when Bidr joined in. As a nationally-recognized, but local tech firm changing the face of online fundraising, Bidr’s team is the perfect fit to lead Lowcountry Giving Day, with CCF proudly supporting as a strategic partner and sponsor.
With Bidr leading the way, you’ll see some big changes to how Lowcountry Giving Day has been run in the past:
- Bidr will build a custom platform for Lowcountry Giving Day that takes credit card donations on May 3rd. However, each registered nonprofit will also have their own individual text-to-give profile that can be used year-round. This allows donors to find you and donate through Lowcountry Giving Day website any day of the year.
- Bidr’s website has another great benefit to nonprofit participants: after the event, rather than waiting many weeks for a check from CCF, funds raised will be instantly credited to your organization’s bank account.
- SCANPO is also joining us to provide comprehensive giving day webinar trainings that kick off in November. Their trainings will complement Bidr’s work teaching nonprofits how to use the new giving day platform and general guidance throughout the event.
- Any nonprofit can register for Lowcountry Giving Day, with or without an incentive fund. Participating nonprofits have the ability to choose if and how much funding they want to raise for the event. We aim to broaden nonprofit participation with this change.
- CCF has encouraged past incentive donors to continue their support, but will not be securing funding on behalf of any nonprofits in 2016. SCANPO’s training series will provide some guidance on how to raise an incentive/matching fund.
Later this month we’ll be opening registration for Lowcountry Giving Day 2016. We’re really looking forward to this new chapter and hope to have you join us for the ride.
Sam Staley, CEO/Founder, Bidr
Richard Hendry, Interim CEO, Coastal Community Foundation
Stay tuned to Bidr’s blog and Giving News for more Lowcountry Giving Day 2016 updates.
