In the DNA of United Way is raising funds to fill a community chest which is then distributed to local programs by way of targeted and systematic grantmaking. This is what we have been doing to move our community forward ever since being founded in 1929 on the heals of the Crown Hill Fire. That approach has been tried and true for decades, and was the subject of last month’s article, with us having just announced our brand new round of community impact grants.

Over the past few years, we’ve been working on expanding the ways in which we raise funds to put back into the community beyond this proven process. After all, the need is great, and we can never rest on our laurels. To that end we have worked at developing additional opportunities for nonprofits locally to participate in fundraising that is collaborative, which is the subject of today’s article.

When I say collaborative fundraising, what I mean is the somewhat counter-intuitive system when organizations work together to raise funds. Some of which might be shared and some of which will directly benefit their own organizations. Two of those which I’d like to talk about are Over the Edge and a new concept we are working on called Greater Nashua Gives.

Over the Edge has been an event which we’ve been running for about 6 years now. The concept is really simple: individuals raise money, typically a minimum of $1,000, for the “privilege” of rappelling from the top of a really tall building. In our case it’s the Brady-Sullivan 24 Story / 300 foot high tower in Manchester. The money which the individuals raise goes back to the organizations they have designated to benefit from those funds. The approach is also team based. For example, last year over 20 teams participated in the event. Each team had from 3 to 6 individuals, many of whom raised several thousand dollars. A small portion of the fundraising went back to United Way to help pay for the costs of the event, with the lion’s share – over $125K – going to the organizations which participated. We don’t put any restrictions on the organizations which can participate, as long as they are registered 501(c)3 nonprofits serving New Hampshire.

Of course, we also participate in the event with a United Way team and the funds we raise end up going back out to the community through our grantmaking process. We’re actually already in the stages of planning out our 2023 event, which will take place on June 27. If you are interested in participating as an individual or you are interested in forming a nonprofit team… or you are interested in sponsoring the event as a business, now is the time to contact us for more information. Just reach out to me at mapfelberg@unitedwaynashua.org

The other collaborative fundraising event I wanted to talk about is “Greater Nashua Gives.” Here at United Way, it is also known as “Mike’s newest hairbrained scheme.” The idea was born this year on the heels of our 24-hour radio marathon, which we held the Sunday after Thanksgiving into Monday evening. During those 24 hours which were generously sponsored by AmeriHealth Caritas NH, we interviewed dozens of local leaders of organizations as well as other civic leaders and community volunteers. The idea was to spread the word about the goodness in Greater Nashua. I will say that the entire event was tremendous fun and got a lot of engagement, with people calling into the station (WSMN 1590) as well as logging in on Facebook with questions and comments. The whole idea was to get the community in the mood for Giving Tuesday, which happens each year as a nationwide day of philanthropy after Thanksgiving.

That got me to thinking about Giving Tuesday itself in our community. From my perspective we are losing a lot of opportunities on Giving Tuesday. The normal donors that any of our nonprofits have don’t generally participate in donating on Giving Tuesday, but many many others do. And so, the local nonprofits I know of don’t really work hard to create a strong Giving Tuesday message, but all are out there with what amounts to as a “me too… don’t forget us on Giving Tuesday” theme. In my opinion we could do a lot better than that. So, next year we will be doing a 24-hour radio marathon strictly around giving back on Giving Tuesday. And at United Way we will be building out a website giving platform for dozens of local nonprofits to participate in. Furthermore, we will be looking to build a corporately sponsored bonus pool of $24K ($1K per hour) which we will use as matching funds or giving incentives for people to participate. I have this vision that by doing so we can create a strong, community-wide Giving Tuesday campaign which is more effective for all who participate, especially when compared to the current fragmented and after-the-fact approach we currently employ.

With these two examples I hope you can see that there are more ways to support the community and individual nonprofits than the traditional approaches. That’s where we are working to bring additional resources to the community with the goal in mind of making the GREAT THINGS HAPPEN which we always talk about when we LIVE UNITED.

Wishing each of you a Happy Holiday and a wonderful New Year. May 2023 be filled with blessings, peace, and joy for all of us.

Mike Apfelberg is president of United Way of Greater Nashua.

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