By ALIN HETT
Hays Post
All photos by Alin Hett/Hays Post.
The third-annual GiveFest, hosted at the Hays Recreation Center, brought donors and local nonprofits together Wednesday, with matching gifts designed to help participating organizations grow funds for the future while receiving money they can use now.
The event continues until 6 p.m. today.
Sarah Meitner, executive director of Heartland Community Foundation, said through GiveFest, donations to participating organizations’ endowed funds are matched with gifts the organizations can use now. The original donations help grow the funds, which can provide ongoing support in the future.
The matching pool was established with unrestricted money from the Patterson Family Foundation. Meitner said matching gifts give nonprofits another way to encourage donations, especially smaller organizations that may not have access to matching funds at other times.
Funds toward matches will be accepted through midnight tonight.
“People are generous," Meitner said. "They just sometimes need a little nudge, a little kick, a little match opportunity and a little bit of peer pressure.”
The foundation also provides participating organizations with tools such as sample letters, emails and Canva templates to help them promote GiveFest and reach donors.
The event also includes a fifth-grade giving program intended to introduce students to charitable giving and local nonprofit organizations. In Ellis County, students receive $15, provided by Insurance Planning, the Fred and Jean Berger Charitable Fund and Sunflower Bank. Students can give the money in $5 increments to as many as three organizations, or give it all to one.
Meitner said the program helps students learn about organizations they may someday support, volunteer with or use.
Heartland Community Foundation serves Ellis, Rooks and Trego counties. GiveFest activities are taking place in all three counties, with local nonprofits and fifth graders participating in each.
