Our view: Still time to make a difference

Published 11:31 am Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Time is running out to make your charitable giving go a little — and maybe even a lot — farther.

The sixth annual GoodGiving Challenge, a partnership between Blue Grass Community Foundation and Smiley Pete Publishing, ends at 11:59 p.m. Saturday.

For those not familiar, the challenge allows nonprofits to garner donations through an online giving campaign. This year, more than 120 charities in central and eastern Kentucky are participating in the challenge, which raised $1.3 million for nonprofits last year.

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But what really makes it special here locally is that the Clark County Community Foundation will once again provide a dollar-for-dollar match, up to $10,000 for each of the 12 Clark County nonprofit participants. So far, seven local groups have met their full $10,000 match.

If that wasn’t impactful enough, this year there are 100,000 additional reasons to give to your charity of choice.

Thanks to a $100,000 anonymous donation to the annual online giving campaign, the Blue Grass Community Foundation has put up some additional money. Prizes will be given to the five nonprofits with the most donations. Prizes of $30,000, $25,000, $20,000, $15,000 and $10,000, respectively, will be awarded based on the total dollars earned.

Here is a look at where Clark County nonprofits are, as of Wednesday morning:

— Bluegrass Heritage Museum: $9,920

— Clark County Community Services: $11,269

— Clark County Homeless Coalition: $13,107

— Holly Rood: $3,710

— Leeds Center for the Arts: $9,335

— Life for Pets: $2,940

— New Beginnings of Winchester: $14,335

— Partners in Education: $11,710

— Rose Mary C. Brooks Place: $11,620

— St. Agatha Academy: $23,000

— STRIDE: $15,300

— Winchester Youth Soccer League: $2,680

It is not too late to make a difference right here at home, giving to some great organizations doing amazing work in Clark County.