CONFRONTING HUNGER, HOMELESSNESS AND POVERTY

Dear Friends,

Our sincerest thanks for your tremendous response to last week’s project report on our “Beyond Poverty—Spring Drive.”

Within the just one week we more than doubled our total donations from $7,000 to $15,000. This means we have less than one third of the way to go in order to achieve our Spring Drive target, which is $20,000. In addition, our donor group almost doubled in seven days! Your amazing and prompt response allowed us to get a “Matching Bonus” from Global Giving on Tuesday, April 19—we cannot thank you enough!

Our Facebook shares have also skyrocketed within the past week—putting us in the running for Global Giving’s “Social Networking Bonus.”

Of course, your contributions are already helping us to keep our Spring programs going, as these pictures certainly show.

During the annual spring holiday season, needy families in the communities we serve—and especially their children—have grown accustomed to receiving Easter Gift Baskets from us and special supplies for the traditional Easter Sunday family feast. This week, everyone arrived at our facility in full force expecting these special distributions—despite the pouring rain... Your contributions helped ensure that their expectations were well rewarded. Thank you once again for making that possible!

We are delighted with the impact our partnership with Global Giving is having on our fundraising efforts, and we would like to express our deep gratitude to all of you for supporting of our work through this unique and highly effective channel.

Now, with just one third of the way left to go as we strive to hit our $20,000 spring target, we are even closer to getting two more bonuses that Global Giving offers:—

1)      We are in third place—only two steps away from being #1 in this international challenge campaign. Global Giving awards a “First Place Bonus” of $3,000 and a “Second Place Bonus” of $2,000. We are very close to winning one of them. Every $1 of those bonuses would convert to $20 worth of product for our program. Can you help us win?

2)      We can still qualify for a “Social Networking Bonus.” If you use Facebook, and have not yet “shared” our project with your network, you can help us lock in that special bonus. Also, if you use Twitter, you can help us diversify our social networking outreach by “tweeting” about us to your friends through the “retweet” button on our Global Giving campaign page.

Thank you again for your ongoing support.

If we want to achieve the remaining bonuses from Global Giving, we must hit the targets before the month of April ends. We’re almost at the finish line. Please help us get there.

We will keep you informed as we progress—together we DO make a difference!

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your support of our “Beyond Poverty—Spring Drive.”

We are pleased to inform you that within the first two weeks of our campaign, we passed the $4,000 mark with more that 50 donors. This has secured our permanent position on Global Giving. We could not have done it without your help!

We are thrilled that as of today, we have received donations totaling more than $7,000—one third of our Spring Drive target, which is $20,000. Already, your contributions have made a huge difference in our operations, as these pictures clearly show!

Within the last 10 days alone, we distributed more than 34 tons of product—including some 150,000 meals to needy families in the food-insufficient communities we serve.

As you know, we partnered with Global Giving to determine whether this platform would allow us to achieve our seasonal funding campaign targets with greater efficiency. At this point, we are very optimistic.

Of course, we still have two thirds of the way left to go. But, we are now within striking distance of three bonuses that Global Giving offers:—

1)      First of all, there is a “Match Day” on Tuesday, April 19. Donations received on that date, from Midnight to Midnight will be matched by Global Giving up to $1,000.

2)      We are only six places away from first place in this challenge campaign. With about $5,000 more, we will be eligible to receive a $3,000 “First Place Bonus” or a $2,000 “Second Place Bonus” from Global Giving.

3)      Finally, we can get a bonus for our social network activity. If you use Facebook, you can help us spread the word about our project, by clicking the Facebook share button on our campaign page. With just 150 shares, we will qualify for a special bonus from Global Giving.

Thank you again for your support.

We will keep you informed as our Spring Drive moves forward.