GIVE LOCAL LANCASTER BLASTS PAST GOAL

Fate handed Give Local Lancaster another day of donating and the community rallied, giving 36 local nonprofits more than $60,000.   
The online total of $60,865 is expected to rise by about $30,000, once prize incentives and matching funds from sponsoring businesses are added, according to   the J. Marion Sims Foundation, which led the local effort.
“One of the marks of a healthy community is the level of engagement of its citizens. I’d say we get high marks there indeed,” said Susan DeVenny, president of the foundation.
DeVenny also said Give Local Lancaster received donations from 15 states and two other countries.
In its first year with the national Give Local America crowdfunding campaign, Give Local Lancaster was on target to meet its $50,000 goal when the host website crashed about halfway into the online campaign Tuesday.
Give Local America fixed the technical problems and extended the day of giving through Wednesday, to the relief of Lancaster’s nonprofit community.
“Every organization got something,” said Holly Furr, program officer for the Sims Foundation. “The giving and generosity of our community is what powered this. We had people coming in with blank checks, asking the foundation to just pick a nonprofit randomly.”
Lancaster County Council of the Arts received the most donations, with a total of $6,115. HOPE was second and the Women’s Enrichment Center was third, both with more than $5,000. Habitat for Humanity was fourth with $3,445. Lancaster Children’s Home joined the top five with nearly $3,000.
GRASP, Seth’s Giving Tree, Lancaster County Society for Historical Preservation, Lindsay Pettus Greenway Inc. and Lancaster SPCA all received over $2,000.
Nonprofits receiving over $1,500 included Grace Place of Lancaster, Katawba Valley Land Trust, Lancaster County Council on Aging, Christian Services, United Way of Lancaster County, Barr Street High School Foundation Inc. and Communities in Schools of Lancaster County.
Those receiving over $1,000 included Friends of the Del Webb Library, Horse N Around Therapeutic Riding Center, Lancaster Fatherhood Project, Humane Society of Lancaster SC, Kershaw Area Community Resource Exchange, Columbus Parker Track Club and Lancaster County First Steps Partnership.
“I’m really proud of this community, the foundation and the sponsoring business organizations who stepped up to make this possible,” Furr said.
The J. Marion Sims Foundation partnered with the Lancaster County Community Foundation, Lancaster County Partners for Youth and the City of Lancaster to bring the Give Local America effort to Lancaster.  
Checks from the online campaign will be mailed to the organizations by the first of June. The foundation will present checks with the sponsors’ matching funds to the nonprofits at a special event June 20 at the University of South Carolina’s Bradley Arts and Science Building. The foundation will release the total numbers at that time.

5/6/16