Community Foundation for Greater New Haven announces giveGreater.org winners

NEW HAVEN  – The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven has announced the winners of the giveGreater.org 2010 Challenge, which attracted more than $500,000 for local nonprofits.

"The figure reflects both the amount of Challenge prize money awarded by The Community Foundation as well as all gifts made to nonprofits via giveGreater.org," according to a statement.

To meet the Challenge, local nonprofits with profiles on giveGreater.org had to get at least 50 donors to give $50 each from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31. 

“By virtually any measure, The Community Foundation’s giveGreater.org 2010 Challenge was an outstanding success,” William W. Ginsberg, president & CEO of CFGNH, said in the statement. “The success of the Challenge reinforces several things: there exists here a deep reservoir of commitment to this local community; new technologies, tools and resources can assist in tapping that commitment to increase local giving; the more local people know about local issues, opportunities and organizations, the likelier they are to give locally; and the technologies of today and tomorrow can be used to reinforce local connections every bit as effectively as others are using it to reinforce global connections.”

The Community Foundation allocated $200,000 to be awarded as grant prizes to the nonprofits that received the most number of gifts, the statement said.

Winners are:
Christian Community Action ($5,000 - Early Bird Prize)
Columbus House ($5,000 - Third Place Prize)
Fair Haven Community Health Center ($15,000 - Early Bird Prize & Second Place Prize)
Gaylord Hospital ($10,000 - Early Bird Prize & Third Place Prize)
Neighborhood Music School ($15,000 - Early Bird Prize & Second Place Prize)
New Haven Symphony Orchestra ($5,000 - Early Bird Prize)
Project Access of New Haven ($5,000 - Third Place Prize)
Solar Youth ($5,000 - Early Bird Prize)
Squash Haven ($20,000 - First Place Prize)

In addition to the larger prize winners listed , 37 other organizations that met the Challenge received grants each worth $2,875.

"The giveGreater.org 2010 Challenge marked the launch of giveGreater.org, a new online knowledge and giving resource provided by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven in partnership with Guidestar, a leading source of nonprofit information. The website was created to increase giving to local nonprofits by providing one searchable database for people to find, learn about and give to nonprofits serving the Greater New Haven area," the statement said.

One hundred nonprofits have created profiles on giveGreater.org. The Community Foundation will double the number of profiles now on the database. These new nonprofits will attend training sessions on how to create a profile; training on the use of social media will also be repeated this year, the statement said.

"The giveGreater.org profiles will be used in The Community Foundation’s grant application processes; thereby maximizing the value to these time-strapped nonprofits of the time invested in giveGreater.org. Other funders have expressed an interest in using the information provided by giveGreater.org in their grant application processes too," the statement said.

Editor's note: Information in this post was provided wholly by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven