By Rita Price, The Columbus Dispatch
Local charities are looking for holiday shoppers to become donors for Giving Tuesday, a post-Black Friday, post-Cyber Monday kickoff to the busy charitable season.
And the Columbus Foundation is helping to highlight urgent needs among area nonprofit organizations with a new crowdfunding platform set to launch along with Giving Tuesday.
The foundation’s Better Together charitable-giving tool will allow nonprofits to list specific projects online — perhaps for a new vehicle, building repair or set of supplies — with a defined fundraising goal.
“There’s a progress bar and donors can see how far along the nonprofit is,” said Dan Sharpe, the foundation’s vice president of community research and grants management. “Gifts as small as $20 can collectively get the project funded.”
Most Better Together projects that are accepted for listing on columbusfoundation.org are likely to be “in a sweet spot range of $5,000 to $10,000,” Sharpe said. “We’re interested in nonprofits getting in contact with us to pitch their best ideas.”