The Give Local DeKalb County campaign raised more money for local nonprofits this year than ever before, despite some technical problems.
A total of $428,297 was raised for 68 local nonprofit organizations that participated in this year's event. That’s double what was raised last year.
Lynette Spencer is executive director of the nonprofit Adventure Works of DeKalb and chair of the Give Local DeKalb County committee. She says the response to the campaign is gratifying. And with the state budget impasse, the money is especially needed.
“You know, everybody’s funding is tentative at the moment, and those dollars, I know at this point, because of the situation with the state, are going directly to consumers,” she says.
Things didn’t go off without a hitch for the online campaign. Payment processing problems led organizers to extend the scheduled 24-hour event into the next day. Spencer credits a $50,000 contribution from the Douglas C. and Lynn M. Roberts Family Foundation with helping to maintain momentum through the technical problems. Spencer also says organizers were able to work around the glitch and make it a positive.
“Because we had the ability to take walk-in donations, I would say it probably affected us in some ways. But in other ways it just made it a busier time for people to come in and be a part of the day,” Spencer says.
Despite the online problems, the campaign still gathered contributions from 30 states and five countries.
