Deadline: the deadline for submitting proposals is April 12, 2024.
Envision Opelika is excited to announce Opelika Giving Day will be held on Wednesday, May 22, 2024. This 24-hour online fundraising challenge provides an easy and exciting way for individuals, companies, or organizations to support local non-profits, celebrate the joy of helping others, and inspire a new culture of giving within our community.
Why should you apply?
- A giving day incorporates your organization into a greater community. Being portrayed as part of a greater community of organizations can establish trust between you and new potential donors.
- A giving day is a great jump-start for your next fundraising campaign. People are more likely to give once they see you have some traction, so take advantage of the excitement of a giving day and leverage it to amass the social proof you need to motivate others to give during a future campaign.
- You can more easily discover, and connect with, like-minded organizations. Partnerships, especially between organizations, are an important part of producing ideas and solutions that address the challenges in your cause sector. Giving days are an amazing way to discover other organizations in your area and find out what they’re working on.
- A giving day is an opportunity to acquire new donors or, at least, reach a new audience. Even if you don’t raise a ton of money on a giving day, by utilizing the day’s attention and momentum you will have gotten in front of at least a few new faces. Anytime you have a chance to showcase your passion for your cause, you’re creating an opportunity to connect with potential donors and build trust with a community of supporters.
Applications are now available for Opelika non-profit organizations interested in submitting a project for consideration. Applications and fees are due by 5:00 pm on April 12, 2024. Application submission is not a guarantee that an agency will be selected to participate in Opelika Giving Day. Those selected to participate will be notified by April 26, 2024.
Application Fee: There is a $25 application processing fee. Applications will not be considered until the fee is received. Please submit your fee by check or cash to Envision Opelika, at 1103 Glenn Street, Opelika. If you would like, you may also pay online. Go to the “Donations” page and click the “Donate” button under the campaign “Application Fee.”
Best Practices, “Project”: This One Day Event fundraiser works best if you can show the community a small, manageable project with a clear beginning and end. Yes, your non-profit needs money for its infrastructure and to support your ongoing mission. But the best practice for a fundraiser of this type is to pick a small package type of project. For example, the Opelika Bicycle Advisory Committee last year raised money for a project to install 2 “Dero” Public Bike Repair Stations. They could estimate the cost needed to install these and show photos of what they look like and how they would help the community in a short, finite goal. Try to come up with one short-term project such as these examples:
- Good: raise funds to help our nonprofit medical clinic serve the community.
- BETTER: raise funds to purchase diagnostic kits to provide early screening for a 90-day wellness campaign.
- Good: receive funds to help underprivileged students
- BETTER: raise funds to purchase fully stocked “back-to-school” backpacks for 50 kids;
- Good: We help seniors live independently with transportation, deliveries, internet assistance, and social activities.
- BETTER: help us purchase/repair a van for our Senior Transportation & Deliveries service
Project Title: On this application, the “Project” is the short title of the short-term project. For example, the Bicycle Advisory Committee’s project title could be “Bike Repair Stations.”
Please send us an email at [email protected] to request a Word docx version of this application.