Give More 24! aims to raise $1 million for charities

Southwest Washington’s third annual day of online giving will launch at midnight Thursday, Sept. 22.

The event, called Give More 24!, is a day when residents from across southwest Washington, and those living and working around the world, can visit www.Give-More-24.org and give as one community for 24 hours.

The event is organized by the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington.

Those who wish to give can choose to support any of the 128 participating nonprofits, which are categorized into 10 cause areas that include animals, arts and culture, community improvement, education, environment, health, housing, hunger, social services and youth development. Each of the nonprofits serves Clark, Cowlitz or Skamania counties in some way. This year, Camas Christian Academy is among the participants.

Visitors can search by general cause area, specific nonprofit names or county of origin to find organizations that they want to support. Additionally, the site allows users to tap their social networks and rally friends and family members to join them in giving to local organizations.

Each gift received will be tallied on the website in real time until 11:59:59 p.m., at which point the 24-hour community giving marathon will come to a close.

Last year, 2,362 unique donors gave 3,639 gifts to raise more than $695,000 for local causes during the 24-hour period.

This year, organizers hope to raise $1 million for local causes and engage nearly 4,000 donors, according to Jennifer Rhoads, president of the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington.

“People love to see the impact their gifts make, and there is no better way of doing that than to give where you live,” she said. “We’re all philanthropists and — by working together and giving what we can — we will spark the difference we want to see in our community.”