Abilene Gives opens 2024 donations with early online donor portal
ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – The Community Foundation of Abilene (CFA) began its 8th annual Abilene Gives fundraiser on Monday by opening its early donations portion of the event. This is the second year that Abilene Gives will be fundraising during a 12-hour period in lieu of a 24-hour time frame that’s been used in past years.
Abilene Gives 2023 surpasses $2mil fundraising goal in 12-hour period
The 12-hour online fundraiser doesn’t officially start until Tuesday, May 7, but CFA opens to early donations online for anyone who wishes to donate before the official day.
This year the fundraiser will go to aid more than 170 different nonprofit organizations around the Abilene area, and “It can get a little overwhelming,” said Emerald Cassidy, Marketing Director for CFA.
“We just encourage everyone to visit the site. All the action takes place online at AbileneGives.org, and there you’re able to filter by cause area, so you can really hone in on those causes that matter most to you,” Cassidy entreated donors on how best to navigate this year’s giving event.
This year’s fundraisers include nonprofits like Habitat for Humanity Abilene, Abilene Palm House, Big Country Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Abilene Arts Alliance, Food Bank of West Central Texas, and many more.
Abilene Gives local nonprofit profiles with KTAB 4U:
Abilene Gives Preview: Chorus Abilene
Abilene Gives Preview: Abilene Back The Badge Foundation
One participating organization is the Betty Hardwick Center, which uses the funds raised during Abilene Gives to go towards its homeless resource program.
“We have some challenges with permanent supported housing within our community, and we need to try and grow those programs, and so in order for us to grow them we have to grow the match we receive locally, and so this is just one way that people can help solve the problem of homelessness in our community,” Jenny Goode of Betty Hardwick Center said.
All Kind Animal Initiative was the top earner in last year’s fundraising event, pulling in more than $175,000 which was used towards its groundbreaking on a new facility last summer.
$13.1 million dollar animal shelter to break ground in Abilene this August
Andrea Robison, co-founder for All Kind Abilene listed where this year’s donations will go, “Our fundraising for our vaccination clinics, which provides free and low-cost vaccines to the community; our foster programs; spayed and neuter, which helps address really the root cause of pet overpopulation; and education.”
For Camp Able, a Buffalo Gap based nonprofit which provides equine therapy to people with disabilities, fundraisers like Abilene Gives keeps its mission going.
“We like to say ‘Magic happens here,’ and without programs like Abilene Gives it’d be a lot harder to make that magic happen,” shared Cody Cox, director of operations for Camp Able. Elaborating on the direction of this year’s funds, he told KTAB/KRBC, “One of the big focuses this year is using those funds to offset some of the expenses for sessions and provide scholarships for some of those kiddos that may not be able to afford the therapeutic riding sessions.”
Abilene Gives is a 12-hour fundraising extravaganza for local 150+ nonprofits each year. This year’s event will happen on Tuesday, May 7 between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., and is hosted by CFA.
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