A community of givers

Give4Marion, a program of the Community Foundation for Ocala/Marion County, was born of a need to address societal challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The online giving event allows area nonprofits to benefit from 33 hours of giving through an online platform that was designed to accommodate social distancing. It has evolved into a dynamic annual tradition and social media buzz generator. Matching Moments, Power Hours and other incentives add to the excitement for donors as well as the recipient organizations.

Give4Marion’s participating nonprofits have become super savvy in promoting their causes through social media. During the run of this year’s event, which started at 10 a.m. on Tuesday and ended at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, platforms such as Facebook were awash in appeals. One nonprofit offered a ticket to a drawing that included “cool merch” and a three-hour event rental. There were exercise and selfie challenges. You could imbibe on a beer or gulp a cup of coffee for a good cause.

It was all in good fun and resulted in $1,401,135 raised. A total of 3,777 donors made 5,689 gifts, according to the foundation’s leaderboard, which was on full display during a celebratory event at the Reilly Arts Center.

In 2020, the inaugural year, Give4Marion raised just over $310,000. In 2021, donations grew to $532,000 and to $771,000 in 2022. Each donation made through Give4Marion is disbursed directly to the donor’s chosen organization within 5-7 business days. The donations are tax-deductible.

The festivities at the Reilly were just part of the schedule.

After the event rolled out online Tuesday morning, the foundation hosted a Give4Marion luncheon at the Ocala Police Department. Nonprofit business leaders excitedly watched the Give4Marion dashboard go from $340,000 to more than $400,000 in just the one hour they stopped for lunch. Two nonprofits, Marion Senior Services and Empowered, received $1,000 bonuses to their accounts courtesy of a lunch raffle sponsored by Showcase Properties of Ocala.

During the luncheon, Lauren Deiorio, executive director of the foundation, told the audience she was hoping to raise it to $1 million this year.

Ocala Police Chief Michael Balken echoed Deiorio’s confidence in the community rising to the occasion to meet the $1 million dollar mark and thanked the nonprofits for the work they do to care for the community.

Monica Bryant, coordinator of the Marion Children’s Alliance’s Family Violence Prevention Workshop, was at the luncheon. She shared how the task force leads the response in meeting the immediate housing needs of those fleeing domestic violence abuse. As previously reported in the “Gazette,” not only is there an increased need every year, the closure of Marion County’s only domestic violence and sexual assault center has made the work even more challenging.

“Our community averages more than 3,000 reported cases of domestic violence so it’s critical that we are able to provide resources and services to help victims and survivors rebuild their lives. We’re excited about the opportunity to participate in Give4Marion. Public donations will help us meet the needs,” said Bryant.

On Wednesday evening, numerous community members were on hand as the foundation hosted the celebratory event at the Reilly to announce the record-setting final tallies.

Barbara Fitos, the founding executive director for the foundation, said she was happy to see the community respond to Give4Marion.

“To see how far we’ve evolved from the Community Foundation’s founding vision to embrace and foster that giving spirit that has been the hallmark of our community is extraordinary,” she said. “The Give4Marion initiative, by recognizing, harnessing, and supporting the power of our nonprofits making a real difference in our lives, has indeed created a lasting giving legacy.”

To learn more and see final details about this year’s campaign, go to give4marion.org