OCEAN CITY – For the second year in a row, the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore has launched an online campaign to promote local nonprofits on Giving Tuesday.
On Nov. 29, with the “Shore Gives More” campaign the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore (CFES) is encouraging area residents to support their local charities. The campaign comes on the day that has become known as Giving Tuesday, an international movement to promote giving at the start of the holiday season.
“Last year was the first time the Community Foundation organized a Giving Tuesday campaign in collaboration with nonprofits in Worcester County,” said Erica Joseph, president of the foundation. “This year the campaign includes nonprofits from all three counties on Maryland’s Lower Eastern Shore.”
Thanks to the Shore Gives More initiative, anyone interested in supporting local nonprofits can simply visit www.shoregivesmore.org to donate. This year 60 charitable organizations from Worcester, Wicomico and Somerset counties are included in the campaign.
“More than 20 nonprofit organizations serving Worcester County residents will directly benefit from financial gifts made during Shore Gives More,” Worcester County Volunteer Services Manager Kelly Brinkley said. “These nonprofits are listed on the Shoregivesmore.org website, so you can choose the organization you would like to support. This is a dollar to dollar campaign, meaning no administrative fees will be taken out of your gift, so one-hundred percent of your tax-deductible contribution will go to the charity you choose to support.”
Nonprofits citizens can donate to via the website include 4Steps Therapeutic Riding, the Art League of Ocean City, the Atlantic General Hospital Foundation, Coastal Hospice, Diakonia, Habitat for Humanity, the Worcester County Developmental Center and the Jesse Klump Memorial Fund, among many others.
Alexandra Jones of the Worcester County Developmental Center (WCDC) says the Community Foundation’s Shore Gives More campaign reminds local citizens that there are nonprofits right in their own community that they can support.
“The best part about it is the way it brings the community together,” she said.
This year, the WCDC will use any donations it receives to support its Inner Ocean Soap Co. The business, based at the WCDC in Newark, employs 15 of the center’s clients. They make soap using seaweed from the Isle of Wight.
“Our goal is to be able to open a shop in the next few years,” Jones said, “but any donations will raise awareness for it. You’re helping our clients get hands-on training and earn a paycheck.”
To make an online donation to WCDC or any of the other nonprofits featured by the Community Foundation on Giving Tuesday, visit www.shoregivesmore.org between Nov. 29 and Dec. 2.
The Shore Gives More campaign will end the Community Foundation’s month-long effort to promote charitable giving. The campaign to raise awareness began with National Community Foundation Week and culminates with Giving Tuesday.
“We began the month with our annual meeting and awards luncheon and will close out November with the ‘Shore Gives More’ campaign on Giving Tuesday, a charitable day of online giving,” Joseph said.
