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More than two dozen Clark County nonprofits will spend the first week of December participating in an online donation campaign.

This year, there are 25 nonprofits from Clark County participating in the annual GoodGiving Challenge, which is facilitated by the Blue Grass Community Foundation. That’s the most local nonprofits to ever participate in the challenge.

Statewide, there are 126 nonprofits participating.

This year’s challenge will run from 9 a.m. Dec. 1 until 11:59 p.m. Dec. 7, and just like in years past, donors can log onto bggives.org to read about nonprofits and make contributions.

Also like years past, the Clark County Community Foundation will be making a dollar-to-dollar match for all donations up to $10,000 made to local nonprofits.

Nonprofits can also win some of $600,000 worth of other matching prizes through the online challenge.

For most local nonprofits, the GoodGiving Challenge serves as their major fundraising campaign for the year.

Donors can give to a variety of local causes, from addiction recovery to the arts, history, animal welfare, education, homelessness prevention and more.

Local nonprofits participating include:

• Achieving Recovery Together: ART is a community of people in long-term recovery plus their friends, families and allies. The mission is to increase the number of people living in long-term recovery from a substance use disorder and to make the quality/accessibility of services easier to manage by creating a recovery-oriented system of care.

• BCTC Winchester-Clark County Campus: As a regional campus of Bluegrass Community & Technical College, the Winchester-Clark County Campus provides academic and technical coursework, workforce training and GED programs.

• Bluegrass Heritage Museum: The Bluegrass Heritage Museum brings the history of the area to life by collecting, preserving, interpreting and exhibiting objects valuable to the history of Winchester, Clark County and the region.

• Clark County Community Services: The mission of Clark County Community Services is to provide a central location where individuals and families can receive assistance in time of crises and to empower responsive families toward self-sufficiency.

• Clark County Homeless Coalition: CCHC empowers individuals and families experiencing homelessness to achieve housing stability through street outreach to shelter, housing assistance, case management, life and employment skills.

• Clark County Youth Sports Association: CCYSA’s mission is to promote the development of the young people of Clark County physically, spiritually, mentally and socially by implementing a positive youth sports program that is available to every interested young person, regardless of ability to pay.

• Friends of Hemp: Friends of Hemp is growing the U.S. agricultural hemp industry through education and opportunity. They focus on building market demand, which directly benefits the American farmer. The primary focus is the Hemp Feed Coalition, which seeks to improve access of hemp as an animal feed.

• Friends of the Clark County Animal Shelter, Inc.: Friends of the Clark County Animal Shelter is a volunteer organization committed to saving animals from the local shelter to lessen and even eliminate the need for euthanasia by arranging to transport animals to rescues in areas where effective spay and neuter regulations have dramatically lowered the number of animals needing homes. In addition to saving animals from our shelter, the group supports access to low-cost and free spay and neuter services.

• Habitat for Humanity of Madison & Clark Counties: As a local affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, Habitat for Humanity of Madison and Clark Counties has a shared mission of putting God’s love into action by bringing people together to build homes, communities and hope.

• Holly Rood: Holly Rood is a 200-year-old house that belongs to the people of Clark County and Kentucky. It was built as a home for James and Susan Clark with construction beginning in 1812 and completed in 1814. James Clark later became the governor of Kentucky. Holly Rood is used to promote the understanding of local history while being actively involved in the present.

• Hospice East, Inc.: Hospice East is a nonprofit community-based organization dedicated to serving terminally ill patients and their families in Clark and Powell counties.

• Leeds Center for the Arts: Leeds Center for the Arts has been used by the community in Clark County for more than 90 years. What started as a movie theater was converted to a community arts venue in the 1980s and strives to energize the community through the beauty and emotional power of the arts.

• Legacy Greenscapes: Legacy Greenscapes, Inc. was founded in 2017 to provide leadership and financial support to promote green spaces located in Winchester and Clark County for generations to come. Its primary purpose is to manage Legacy Grove and other public spaces so people can freely enjoy clean, safe and beautiful parks.

•  LIFE for Pets: LIFE for Pets works in the Central Kentucky area to eliminate the need for euthanasia of adoptable cats and dogs and feral cats. This is done through low-cost spay and neuter and trap-neuter-return programs.

• Marco Shemwell Foundation: The mission of Marco Shemwell Foundation is to bring hope, comfort and healing by creating Marco Moments that leave ripples of positive change.

• New Beginnings of Winchester: New Beginnins’ mission is to equip women and men to make life affirming choices regarding pregnancy, parenting and sexual integrity.

• Partners In Education of Clark County: PIE’s mission is to enhance the quality of instructional services provided to students through the use of school volunteers and business partners. PIE has 20 partners with a total of 100 volunteers serving more than 1,500 students in the Clark County School System.

• Rose Mary C. Brooks: Brooks Place provides safe, comfortable and affordable housing that will strive to nurture residents spiritually, physically, socially and mentally while enhancing their retirement years.

• Rowland Arts Center: The RAC’s goal is to encourage the young people in the community to dream big and prepare them for success in their middle and high school years. Staff invests their time and energy as mentors, seeking first to offer an environment of safety and trust, then working intentionally to have meaningful conversations with the students.

• St. Agatha Academy: St. Agatha Academy is a Catholic school within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington offering a classical liberal arts education program beginning with Montessori preschool, Montessori kindergarten, elementary and middle school programs.

• STRIDE Program: STRIDE works with children and adults with disabilities and developmental delays and their families to provide therapy services, a day training program, one-on-one community living supports, respite, summer camps, Special Olympics and much more.

• Swimchester Sailfish, Inc.: Swimchester is a USA competitive swim team. Founded by a group of parents who saw a different vision of USA swimming, the Sailfish offers year-round training and competition for athletes of all ages and ability.

• The Beacon of Hope Emergency Shelter Inc: The Beacon’s mission is to provide safe shelter, food and resources towards self sufficiency for the homeless members of the community and surrounding counties.

• Winchester Community Work Group: Winchester Community Work Group inspires to improve lives, build community and inspire hope one house at a time.

• Winchester-Clark County Farmers Market: As the only Kentucky Proud Farmers Market serving Winchester and Clark County, this market provides the community with locally grown produce, meats, honey, baked goods, jams and jellies, sauces, flowers and crafts.

During the 2019 challenge, local nonprofits raised more than $470,000. STRIDE led with donations locally, raising more than $44,000 last year.

Since 2011, more than $11 million has been raised for area nonprofits through the annual challenge.