By Callie Kessler
Southern Tier Communications Strategies, LLC
Cattaraugus Gives Day, held locally on Giving Tuesday, is a great way to support nonprofit organizations with wonderful community missions. We’re so happy this local spin on a global fundraising event offers a 24-hour online platform for local and regional nonprofits that might otherwise go overlooked on this Day of Giving in favor of more high-powered organizations.
Southern Tier Communications Strategies, LLC helps many nonprofit organizations with a variety of strat-comm needs. We come across many worthy causes in this work. Here are a few that are close to our hearts as Cattaraugus Gives Day/Giving Tuesday 2022 fast approaches.
Wondering Which Nonprofits To Support for Cattaraugus Gives Day/Giving Tuesday? Here Are Some Great Ones!
We built a short list of nonprofit organizations that tackle a range of outstanding causes – from saving neglected pets and supporting people with disabilities to protecting abused children and providing faith-based education.
Some are local. Others serve a national/international scope. Either way, they ALL need community support. (Helpful hint to prospective donors: poke around for causes that mean the most to you.)
1. Cattaraugus County SPCA
This is a non-profit animal shelter located just outside of Olean, NY. They focus on saving the lives of all types of animals, and especially abused, neglected, abandoned or lost pets. Over the last 29 years, this no-kill shelter has saved over 40,000 animals and found them loving families. The Cattaraugus County SPCA guides the pet-adoption process with a caring hand. They rely mostly on volunteers to care for the animals and give them a good quality of life while awaiting their forever home. (Donate here.)
2. We Are Dementia Strong
We’ve been working with We Are Dementia Strong for several years. This nonprofit provides education and advocacy for persons living with dementia and their caregivers (they prefer the person-focused term “care partners.”) We Are Dementia Strong, in Clearwater, FL, creates educational content, often sharing personal stories from co-founders Brian LeBlanc, who lives with Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, and Maureen Rulison, who is his wife, care partner and professional patient advocate. They speak often at conferences, and Brian has even addressed the Florida State Legislature and the U.S. Congress. (Donate here.)
3. Archbishop Walsh Academy/Southern Tier Catholic School
These two schools are combined into a private Catholic pre-K through 12 program here in Olean, NY. It’s a safe, nurturing school with small class sizes that embrace each individual student. While faith-based values complement its world-class academic environment, Walsh/STCS is actually inclusive of all faith traditions. It boasts a 100% graduation rate, of which 94% are college-bound – many to U.S. News Top 100 colleges and universities. To fulfill this community mission, however, Walsh depends in part on the generosity of alumni and community members. (Donate here.)
4. Southern Tier Child Advocacy Center
Our children need all the protection our communities can provide. The Southern Tier Child Advocacy Center provides a coordinated, multidisciplinary approach to helping victims of child abuse. It investigates abuse crimes and advocates for children in court to increase the likelihood of conviction for perpetrators. While justice may be found, the path to healing is often much longer. So STCAC offers counseling and other services to abused children to reduce trauma and empower their lives moving forward. (Donate here.)
5. Strength Solutions
Strength Solutions, Inc. was our first nonprofit client. It provides a service many individuals and businesses don’t even know they need, but they’re so much better once they have it: The Virtues Project training. Recognizing and harnessing our individual and collective character strengths makes us feel better about ourselves and improves productivity. It orients individuals toward a collective mission and makes it easier to assign appropriate team roles. Strength Solutions also provides scholarships for people in need, of all ability levels, to access training to improve employment outcomes. (Donate here.)
6. Intandem
This nonprofit organization does so much good for people with developmental disabilities and their families – and its positivity can be seen throughout Cattaraugus and Niagara counties. Intandem enhances the lives of people living with disabilities by offering direct support and services. Impact areas include home and community-based programs, children’s work, residential programs and workforce development to give everyone an opportunity to grow and thrive. (Donate here.)
Let’s Support Great Community Organizations This Cattaraugus Gives Day/Giving Tuesday
These are just a few suggestions for organizations to support this Cattaraugus Gives Day/Giving Tuesday. Here in Cattaraugus County, nonprofits last year raised over $250,000 using the online platform, which offers neat competitions and incentives for creativity and soliciting different types of donations.
That may not seem like a lot when nonprofits globally this Nov. 29 are expected to rake in a record $3.2 billion. But to small nonprofits like the ones listed above, a small piece of the pie makes a BIG difference.
If you’re a small nonprofit that needs help setting up your Cattaraugus Gives Day/Giving Tuesday fundraising event, we can help with that!
