For the third year in a row, Arlington Community Foundation is excited to host the Nonprofit Wish Catalog featuring grant ideas of 30 local nonprofits with wishes of up to $5,000 each. Open through December 31, the public is able to view and ‘shop’ these nonprofit wishes and donate any amount toward any goal, all in one easy-to-navigate (and easy-to-donate) place.
In 2020 and 2021, thanks to the generosity of so many donors and community members, the Wish Catalog raised over $100,000 for local organizations each year.
One donor, Patricia Rodriguez, shared, “The Wish Catalog makes it fun to give to nonprofits in our community. We are able to donate to our favorite organizations and to learn about others. The website allows us to easily scroll and click, and then provides us with documentation of our contributions.”
The nonprofits participating in the Wish Catalog reported that the process is easy, and that both the visibility and the extra funding have a positive impact in the lives of our neighbors.
After the inaugural Wish Catalog was fully funded, then-CEO of Bridges to Independence, Samuel L. Kelly, Jr., shared, “The impact of fully funding Bridges to Independence’s wish helped empower 134 local youth to break generational cycles of poverty. Additionally, because the community stepped up this holiday season to fund all the projects, families and youth will be fed, housed, educated, and mentored.”
Each year so far, select named and anonymous donors have generously offered matching dollars throughout the course of the Catalog. In 2021, simply announcing that a donor was providing a $5,000 match on Giving Tuesday resulted in over $10,000 in contributions that day alone. These “Wish Maker Matchers” act as a catalyst for others to give, and we gratefully welcome others to match Wish Catalog gifts this year by contacting Christy Cole, Director of Philanthropy, at [email protected] or by calling 703-963-5737.
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