Charities Raise $340,000

Great Community Give Blows Past Funding Goals

HARRISONBURG — Joe Paxton gazed at the sign in front of The Community Foundation of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County Wednesday afternoon, the sign showing that local charities had received more than $200,000 in a one-day online fundraising drive.

“This is just fantastic,” he said to no one in particular.

Paxton, the chairman of the foundation’s board, and others were blown away by the generosity exhibited during the inaugural Great Community Give. The event allowed donors to contribute to any of 53 local charities through a single online platform.

The day’s fundraising goal was $70,000, which organizers said was an amount set based on the results similar-sized localities had realized in their first community give drive. By the time dusk settled, the total raised in 13½ hours topped $275,000.

The initial goal was eclipsed between 6:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. Contributions blew past the second goal of $135,000 midday.

“I mean to tell you, the community has been fabulous,” Revlan Hill, executive director of the foundation, which organized the one-day online philanthropic effort, said in the early afternoon.

By 4 p.m., the third goal of $205,000 — a combination of the first and second goals — was surpassed and a final goal of $250,000 was set.

That one didn’t stand a chance, either.

Combine that amount with the $65,000 contributed in advance by the business community to provide grants throughout the day and the participating charities raked in more than $340,000.

Hill said organizers thought the $70,000 goal was realistic, but they weren’t prepared for area donors to nearly quadruple the amount.

“We really didn’t know what to expect,” she said of the initial goal. “We thought long and hard.

“We certainly wanted to have a goal that we would have the ability to get to, but we didn’t know exactly how the community would respond. We could not be happier.”

Boys & Girls Club of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County took in the most money, with donors contributing $36,685. H-Rock Young Life received the most individual donations at 341.

Rocketing past four donation goals is a great thing, Hill said, because of what will be done with the money.

“The good thing is,” she said, “the more money that comes in, the more money the nonprofits have to help with their mission, and that’s really the purpose.”



​Revlan Hill (right), executive director of The Community Foundation of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, and fomer City Councilman Abe Shearer talk Wednesday about how to post the oval showing $205,000 had been raised on a sign along South Main Street during the Great Community Give. The inaugural event, which allowed donors to contribute to any of 53 local charities through a single online platform, raked in more than $340,000. The amount raised quickly blew past the day’s initial fundraising goal of $70,000 and eclipsed each subsequent fundraising goal set throughout the day.