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Non-Profits Prepare for May 5th Day of Giving

Voice of Community Foundation of the Ozarks President Brian Fogle, breaking down the basics of the inaugural Give Ozarks/Day of Giving, a 24 hour online only fundraiser scheduled for Tuesday May 5th:  “One of the things that makes this work so well, is there’s something for every donor that they can feel good about, can feel passionate about, and know they’re giving to a cause they care about.”

Brian Fogle compares Give Ozarks to a telethon without telephones, and says anytime on May 5th from anywhere in the world really, anyone with access to a computer can browse through giveozarks.org and find a passion and place for their philanthropy:  “On the giveozarks.org page, you can see every non-profit that is participating.  Those that have signed up represent a wide array of causes here in the Ozarks.”

Give Ozarks organizers are preparing for as many as 150 non-profits representing most if not all of the 46 communities across Southern Missouri where CFO a affiliates are found.  Brian Fogle says Tuesday May 5th using giveozarks.org, donors will easily find a fund to favor financially: Everything from those that focus on animal welfare, to poverty alleviation to arts and culture to education.  Those will be grouped by areas of interest, so you can and see all the different non-profits and all the great things they are doing, and choose 1 or maybe 2 that you want to support.” 

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is making available its own on-line fundraising platform Cause Momentum for the May 5th event, and has hosted a series of training sessions on its use.  In those sessions participating non-profits have been learning how important social media is in generating interest in and awareness of the Day of Giving and giveozarks.org. 

Lisa Bakerink is President of Friends of the Garden:  “We bring people, nature and gardens together at the Springfield Botanical Gardens at Nathanial Greene Close Memorial Park.  We of course have promoting the Day of Giving on our social media already.  We have on our web site a link to giveozarks.org  and through our E-mail blasts, and we will continue to do that right up to and on the Day of Giving to maximize the amount we can generate through this event.  On May 5th, we will also be contacting our 1,200 members and our Facebook and twitter followers too. We definitely need membership dollars and donations for specific projects and our endowments, which is what we’re aiming at on Give Ozarks Day.”

Ashley Berry is Assistant Director of GYNCA, the GYN Cancers Alliance.  GYNCA is based in Springfield and provides support services to women in all of SW Missouri.  “Social media is very instant gratification so we’re doing some teases letting people know something’s coming up, that there’s this Day of Giving, and everybody’s participating in the Ozarks. And then as we get into those last 2 weeks prior to the day we’ll really start pushing lots of posts, lots of information.  Social media is so instant in the moment so we want to make sure we’re not abusing that too much too early, and we utilize it specifically on the day of.  It’s really important for us when we schedule the posts.  We’re not going to be able to stay up for 24 hours, I might anyway just because I’m so excited about the day, but using we’ll be using social media to post every hour on the hour to update folks about what the (CFO incentive) contests are that hour and the opportunities for matching funds during that time period.”

CFO President Brian Fogle:  Yes, the CFO has committed $100,000 of our own funds and have been really pleased with the response of the other sponsors for the Day of Giving, so we’re going to have in excess of $200,000 total in matching gifts or incentives to get people motivated and engaged  to give or give more.  For instance, we’ll have A Great Beginning where those who get the most donors from 12AM-1AM get a bonus, and we’ll have contests like that throughout the day.”

For more information on the May 5th Give Ozarks 24 hour on-line Day of Giving, how it works, who you can help, and that day’s Give Ozarks Rally at Jordan Valley Park from 4-7PM featuring entertainment, giveaways and donation stations, visit cfozarks.org and follow the link to Give Ozarks. 

Mike Smith's career at KSMU began in 1980 as a student announcer when the former Navy Submariner attended (then) SMSU with help from the GI Bill. In 1982 Smith became a full time member of the KSMU family as "Chief Announcer", responsible for the acquisition, training and scheduling of the student announcing staff. It was also in 1982 when Smith first produced "Seldom Heard Music" a broadcast of Bluegrass which is still heard on KSMU and ksmu.org every Saturday night at 7CT.
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