Mayor John Turner issued a mayoral proclamation on Thursday morning declaring Nov. 27 of this year as Giving Tuesday, which is a fundraising effort that has continued to gain steam among nonprofits across the country since its inception.
Giving Tuesday is held on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving and was first conceived in New York in 2012 by the Belfer Center for Innovation and Impact, according to the Giving Tuesday website. Its purpose is to provide a platform for nonprofit organizations so that they can better facilitate and encourage the donation of resources and time to an organization of one's choice.
The organization that brought it to Siloam Springs is Ability Tree, a local nonprofit with a focus of serving children with special needs and/or disabilities. The nonprofit is currently working to raise funds for the expansion of its operations by opening a new 10,000-square-foot facility off of Tahlequah Street, and that is a primary reason they chose to sign up as a participating organization in the movement, said Joe Butler, Ability Tree CEO and founder.
The facility is expected to cost about $1.7 million and thus far, the organization has about $830,000 on hand, Butler said. To raise the remainder, Butler said Ability Tree has received a $400,000 matching grant from a Tulsa-based nonprofit called the The Mabee Foundation.
Since it is a matching grant, the organization is expected to raise the roughly $475,000 that is left in order to receive it and they have a deadline of Oct. 1, 2019, to do so, Butler said. That said, donors can rest assured that all donations given on Giving Tuesday and thereafter will be doubled.
Butler said Ability Tree plans on requestimg that the city continues to recognize the day. He also said he hopes that next year, a collaborative event can be held with other nonprofits across the city such as the Boys and Girls Club of Western Benton County, the Manna Center or Kind at Heart Ministries to promote the day and allow people to give to a cause they care about.
"We don't want to just make it about us, we want to make it about just giving to an organization of your choice that means something to you," Butler said. "Whether that's giving your time or giving your money, most nonprofits need people to do both at some level, whatever level that is. So it's not really about us, it's more about giving to the organization of your choice. Not just on Giving Tuesday, but make it a habit, just make it a part of your life that you give your money and you give your time on a regular basis, because when you do that, it helps sustain local nonprofits that meet critical needs of people living in your community."
Ability Tree's effort to expand their infrastructure is part of the organization's "Time to Grow" Campaign, and they hope to break ground on the project by March of 2019. For more information about Giving Tuesday, visit givingtuesday.org and for further information about Ability Tree or their new facility visit abilitytree.org or abilitytree.org/timetogrow.
General News on 11/21/2018