SAMCAR Gives Back Surpasses 2020 Fundraising Goal
This year, the SAMCAR Foundation and our committees started with the goal of continuing support of local charities through fundraising activities that, like so much else, were promptly disrupted by the pandemic. At just the time that fundraising was made more difficult, the need in our community was expanding. So, the Special Events Committee, YPN, and Foundation Council took a chance with online fundraising by creating the "SAMCAR Gives Back" campaign on Crowdrise with a modest goal of $15,000 to close the gap to match 2019 charitable grants. We are pleased to report that this fundraising campaign has surpassed that goal, raising $26,470, thanks to the generosity of SAMCAR members, sponsors, and our community.
With your support, the SAMCAR Foundation was able to award grants to Samaritan House, HEART of San Mateo County, Downtown Streets Team, and CORA in Q2, and to Rebuilding Together Peninsula, LifeMoves, Foster City Village, and Home & Hope in Q3. During the C.A.R. YPN August "Month of Giving," SAMCAR YPN also coordinated a distributed donation drive for Samaritan House, where the need for services nearly quadrupled in 2020 according to a volunteer who spoke to the YPN group via Zoom in August. Additionally, in the midst of the pandemic, San Mateo County was impacted by several wildfires in the region this summer. Led by Barbara LaVey, the Tuesday Marketing Meeting group in Half Moon Bay quickly mobilized to collect $13,000 through the SAMCAR Foundation to donate to Puente de la Costa Sur for CZU fire relief supported by member donations and a $10,000 grant from the Kirby Foundation Fund at the East Bay Community Foundation.
Fundraising was further supported by a $5,000 donation to the Foundation approved by the SAMCAR Board of Directors, the majority of our 2020 Corporate Sponsors electing to convert the value of their tickets to cancelled fundraising events into donations to the Foundation, a $5,000 pass through donation to Caminar from Suzan Wallace, and $20,000 in total voluntary contributions made by Realtor members on their dues billing this year.
It is a great relief that this year's fundraising campaign was a success and as we look toward 2021 we expect that fundraising activities will be similarly impacted next year. With that in mind, as we near the end of the year, it's an important reminder that the voluntary $30 SAMCAR Foundation item on your membership dues bill helps fund these grants too. In fact, if every Realtor made that voluntary contribution, the SAMCAR Foundation would start the year with over $80,000 to support charities working in our communities.
Each of our individual donors deserves our heartfelt gratitude. Thank you for helping the SAMCAR Foundation continue to support this slate of incredible housing-related charities, and getting us ever closer to our vision of providing a roof over every head in San Mateo County.
