It’s been a rough couple of weeks for communities across the country, as our regularly scheduled life has been disrupted by a health crisis. Though we need to continue efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus, while supporting our neighbors and local businesses, we can’t forget about the organizations that do so much to strengthen Arizona. The nonprofit community.

Tuesday, April 7, marks the 8^th annual Arizona Gives Day, the 24-hour online giving campaign which raises money for local nonprofits. Since its inception in 2013, over $17 million has been raised. Last year alone Arizonans raised more than $3.6 million, and that’s just from a lot of people giving a little. We encourage everyone to find a cause and nonprofit (975 registered) they’re passionate about and make a donation of any size, even if it’s just $10.

Nonprofit Emergency Relief Fund

Many nonprofits use Arizona Gives Day as their main fundraiser, since hosting in-person fundraising events can be expensive and labor intensive. This year amid COVID-19 health concerns, those ancillary fundraising events have come to an abrupt halt. The local nonprofit community is already reporting significant losses in critical funding due to the cancellation of events and decreased staff/volunteer capacity.

• In a survey sent to participating nonprofits, over 89 percent of respondents indicated that their organization has been, or expects to be impacted by the spread of COVID-19.
• Out of those impacted, over 84 percent reported decreased revenue from canceled events/contracts, while over 61 percent express concern for budgetary implications related to strains on the national economy.

To alleviate this loss of funding, the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits has set up a Nonprofit Emergency Relief Fund, which will be distributed evenly among all Arizona Gives participating organizations on Arizona Gives Day. There are TWO ways donors can give to the Arizona Gives Nonprofit Emergency Relief Fund.

• 1) Donors can increase their donation at checkout.
• 2) Donors can give directly to the Nonprofit Emergency Relief Fund by visiting AZGives.org/AZNonprofits.

With your help, the Nonprofit Emergency Relief Fund can start to bridge this gap by collecting critical funds that otherwise would not be possible through in-person events and planned programming right now.