'Tis the Season (for Giving Back)

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Community

This time of year, the air is filled with twinkling lights, festive gatherings and joyful gift-giving, but behind the sparkle of decorations, many local families are facing significant challenges, lending an added layer to the spirit of holiday giving. In these times of uncertainty, giving back to the community has never been more crucial, according to Lauren Parsons of Blue Grass Community Foundation (BGCF), a Lexington-based foundation that connects donors with nonprofits and stewards charitable funds across the region.

“We’re definitely seeing increased need…across all sectors,” she said.

One of the most high profile ways that BGCF exemplifies its commitment to helping meet those needs is through its Bluegrass Gives Campaign, a regional giving event formerly known as the GoodGiving Challenge. Co-founded by Smiley Pete Publishing, the parent company of this publication, in 2011, the campaign is designed to support regional nonprofits by providing an easy platform for donors to give to charitable organizations through a user-friendly online directory. Taking place on Dec. 2, a day widely known as “Giving Tuesday,” this year’s campaign features 232 local organizations.

“You can give to all of them, some of them, or just one of them,” Parsons said. “There are causes for everybody to support.” 

Participating in the initiative, which has raised an average of nearly $3 million annually for nonprofits in recent years, is a great way for donors to ensure their contributions are reinvested into the community in a meaningful way, Parsons said. The event is able to stretch the dollars donated throughout the campaign by offering matching funds and prizes for various local charities. 

It’s also a great way for smaller nonprofits that might not yet have widespread recognition to gain followers and donors, she added. 

“There’s a misperception that only the big nonprofits do really well [in the campaign], and that is not true,” she said. “Sometimes, these grassroots nonprofits do really well. We’ve seen groups raise their entire budget for the following year in this campaign.”

Building on its established history as one of the largest online-giving events in the region, Bluegrass Gives is entering a new chapter this year, implementing changes aimed at enhancing community support. In addition to changing the title of the campaign to more accurately and succinctly reflect its mission, the event has been condensed this year into a single, impactful day — a shift from the multi-week format of previous years. This change aims to maintain high energy and streamline the giving process for both donors and nonprofits. 

“We really want to keep the momentum high on that day, and we want to simplify it for donors,” she said.

While nonprofit needs are at an all-time high across the board, among the most urgent needs for Lexington families this year are centered on housing and food security. God’s Pantry, a food bank that serves 50 Kentucky counties and works with over 500 partner programs, is reporting a staggering 85% increase in demand — a historic high for the organization, which was founded in the 1950s. 

At the time of publication, the government shutdown had affected the local salaries of 17,000 federal workers, and the temporary pausing of SNAP benefits, a federal funding program designed to help low-income families with grocery purchases, had created uncertainty for hundreds of thousands of other Kentuckians, including over 280,000 people in God’s Pantry’s service area. Rising grocery prices and decreased federal funding have also had a significant impact on individuals as well as the food banks that help bridge the gaps for low-income families.

“Our agencies have seen longer lines and more new people seeking service,” said Danielle Bozarth, vice president of operations and philanthropy for God’s Pantry. Laura Brooks, the organization’s director of marketing and communication, echoed how immense the strain on food banks is during these times of need. 

“Here at the food bank, our purchasing has gone up from spending about 1.2 million dollars on food last year [to] nearly 7 million dollars on food this year,” Brooks said. That spending is all part of a large-scale operation that distributed 50 million pounds of food to partners and distribution centers last year, equaling 42.5 million meals for those in need. When asked about the upcoming winter season, God’s Pantry expressed that products like peanut butter, cereal, canned goods and pop-top meals are especially needed.

The heightened need for basic necessities has created a ripple effect across the entire nonprofit sector. Large scale federal funding cuts have impacted everything from housing and winter survival support, such as emergency shelters, to immigrant and youth services; environmental and arts-based non-profits have also been gravely affected by funding cuts.

“We’re definitely seeing increased need in those basic areas like human services, food insecurity, housing… but also [other] things that make life worth living, like the arts and education,” said Parsons. “There are just so many funding cuts across different industries…there’s need across the board.”

While funding is always going to be one of the greatest needs for non-profits, supporting these organizations doesn’t require monetary donations. Donating food items to food pantries, volunteering time, and advocating on behalf of nonprofits are also incredibly powerful ways to give back this holiday season.

“We all win when we give back,” Parsons said. “Any cause that is speaking to you, it will need your support.”