The Park City Foundation is asking residents to imagine where they would be without their local nonprofit organizations.
If they all went away tomorrow, hiking and biking trails would soon be overrun with weeds, trash and erosion, affordable health care would not be provided to the under-insured and many young aspiring athletes would not get the chance to live their dream. There would not be any free concerts, free markets and community art exhibits.
It is nearly impossible for community members to step outside their doors and not feel or see the benefit of at least one nonprofit, said Trisha Worthington, executive director of the Park City Foundation.
That’s why her organization has set aside Friday, Nov. 11, 2011 (11/11/11) as Live PC Give PC, a day for the public to contemplate and donate to any of the 60 nonprofit of their choice that serve Summit County.
The Foundation has made it easy. All people need to do is visit www.livepcegivepc.org from midnight on Thursday, to midnight on Friday, and click, Worthington said during an interview with The Park Record.
As the donations are made, the website will calculate how much money is being raised. To be part of the grand tally, donors will have to give within the 24 hours.
“It’s a virtual event, so donors need to visit the website and search for the nonprofit they want to donate to,” Worthington said. “The vision for the campaign is that everyone that lives, works, plays in Summit County supports one of the many nonprofits. We point out that the trails, the recycle center, the free concerts on Wednesday and Thursday nights in Summit County, the Park Silly Sunday Market, the Kimball Arts Festival, all of those opportunities and events that we love are the results of nonprofit organizations.”
With the 11/11/11 campaign, the Park City Foundation hopes to create a new revenue stream for all the nonprofits and hope they will choose the worldwide web as a cost-effective way to make money as opposed to event fundraising.
“It costs seven cents to raise a dollar online, but if you look at a special event, it can cost as much as 70 cents to raise a dollar.” Worthington said. “Also, the hope is by having a greater awareness, we can bring new donors to the nonprofits.”
All 60 nonprofits that will benefit from the campaign serve Summit County. That way all the donors will be helping their local community.
“You will see some nonprofits that are headquartered in Salt Lake City, but that’s because they have programming up here,” Worthington said. “Utah Symphony | Utah Opera, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Planned Parenthood are among those organizations.”
Worthington was inspired to create the Live PC Give PC event after hearing of a similar fundraising effort that took place in her home state of Minnesota.
“Minnesota did a state-wide online campaign and it was hugely successful,” she said. “In a 24-hour period, they raised $14 million. Granted, they had close to 5,000 nonprofits participate.”
Taking the concept, Worthington scaled it down to fit Summit County.
“We got a group of the nonprofits together six or seven months ago and shared this idea to see if they wanted to do something similar and there was a resounding yes,” she said. “It’s not just nonprofits who are involved, but we also have outreach committees getting in touch with their friends and family members.”
Since the Park City Foundation is fairly new and doesn’t have a lot of funds for advertising and promotion, it is relying on the various nonprofit organizations to spread the word, Worthington said. As an incentive, the foundation will award grants to the nonprofit organizations that have the most donors.
“First place will be $5,000 grant and second place will be a $2,500 grant and third will be $1,250,” she said. “Keep in mind, this does not mean the grants will be awarded to the nonprofits that raise the most money, but they will be given to those who get the most donors.”
Live PC Give PC is a nice fit within Park City Foundation’s mission, Worthington said.
“Our mission is to promote philanthropy,” she said. “We focus on three different areas – donors, nonprofit organizations and the community at large.
“We help families, businesses and nonprofits manage their philanthropic dollars and help invest the money and grant it into the community,” she said. “We provide funding for the nonprofits and education and networking opportunities. We want to strengthen our nonprofit community so we can address needs.”
Park City Foundation is also tapping into Summit County’s Latino community to help with Live PC Give PC and has recruited Nenna De Camps to spearhead the outreach.
“This is the first time that a fundraiser is targeting the Latin community,” de Camps said. “It’s flattering to them that someone is asking them to donate, because they start to feel like they are part of the Park City community.”
The goal of the Latino outreach is to educate the demographic about nonprofit organizations.
“It’s exciting because before, many of them didn’t know the concept of what a nonprofit was or what it does,” de Camps said. “They are starting to realize that nonprofits aren’t part of the government and that their services are from the community. Once they understand the concept, they will give generously.”
For more information about or to donate to Live PC Give PC, visit http://livepcgivepc.razoo.com/.