Ralph Serpe
Adams County Community Foundation
(11/29) For the third year running, the people of Adams County made their generosity known, surpassing $3 million in donations during the Community Foundation’s annual Giving Spree. While the amount of contributions echoed prior years, the 2023 Giving Spree was propelled by a new kind of energy, with a return to the in-person festival style event not seen since 2019.
More than 1,000 people showed up at the Gettysburg Area Middle School to take advantage of the opportunity to browse 100 participating nonprofit displays. They were eager to meet and talk with the staff and volunteers who are on the front lines of service in our community in health and human services, education, historic preservation, the environment, animal welfare, the arts and more. Those nonprofits ended the day richer not only in dollars, but in friends.
On December 15, the Community Foundation will hold the "Big Reveal" where we distribute the Giving Spree contributions to the nonprofits specified by each donor. While the Giving Spree is officially a one-day event, the incentive pool is still open for contributions until the end of November. The total of the incentive pool will be distributed to the participating nonprofits in proportion to the contributions they received during the Spree.
A very special aspect of the Giving Spree is the option for donors to designate any gift as a "forever gift." Forever gifts are added to designated endowment funds which are invested by the Community Foundation and used to make annual grants to the nonprofit for decades to come. This year, 15% of the dollars contributed during the Spree were designated as forever gifts. These gifts are a vote of confidence, strengthening the nonprofit today by ensuring resources for the future.
While the staff and board of the Community Foundation is proud to organize and manage the annual Giving Spree, this incredible event, filled with inspirational moments, does not happen without an army of helpers. These include the 75 volunteers who distributed yard signs, set up tables, greeted, assisted, and thanked people dropping off contributions, and everything else the volunteers do.
We can’t thank enough the people and businesses who support the Giving Spree with sponsorships, including Presenting Sponsors Brown Advisory, Sharon C. Magraw, Cynthia & David Salisbury; Event Sponsors C.S. Davidson, Destination Gettysburg, FirstEnergy Foundation, Huston-Fox Financial Advisory, Kampstra Wealth Management, Pella Rolscreen Foundation, John & Kim Phillips, Julie Ramsey & Bruce Bigelow, Rice Fruit Company; Incentive Match Sponsors J. William Warehime Foundation Fund, Thomas E. & Florence B. Metz Fund, Sharon C. Magraw, Cynthia & David Salisbury, Knouse Foods Fund; and Media Sponsors Community Media of South Central PA, FOX43 WPMT, Gettysburg Times.
The annual Giving Spree has the intense energy of a sprint, but the Community Foundation ultimately is running a marathon for Adams County. The donors who have contributed forever gifts, support the Fund for Adams County, or who have have created their own charitable endowments at the Community Foundation understand that. They know that the Community Foundation will stay the course, supporting the nonprofits of this community year after year, decade after decade, and they have chosen to join that race.
What was your favorite Giving Spree moment? I’d like to know. Email me at rserpe@adamscountycf.org or call 717-337-0060. Ralph Serpe is president & CEO of the Adams County Community Foundation.
