6 Monterey County GIVES! 2026 mcgives.com As the 2025 Monterey County Gives! campaign neared its conclusion, our annual sense of disbelief was in full bloom. Coming off a record $14.2 million 2024 campaign, one we didn’t believe could be replicated, the numbers rushed past that total. The ticker finally stopped at $17.1 million. Head-scratching. Gob-smacked. Awe-inspiring. Whichever cliché you choose, it’s applicable. Like any favorite recipe, MCGives! has many ingredients. The website that allows donors to seamlessly research the nonprofits they want to support. The software that securely receives gifts from more than 8,000 donors. The donors who support the matching fund, understanding how it motivates even more giving. Those who contribute Challenge Gifts to their favorite organizations. The marketing and energy the individual nonprofits put into their campaigns. The Weekly’s glossy insert that so often becomes dog-eared from rereading. The staff at the Community Foundation and the Weekly who pretty much add MCGives! as a second day job during the busiest time of year. But the largest ingredient is you, the individual donor who understands a nonprofit’s internal capacity is directly tied to its external impact. We live in a county that is remarkably blessed with great beauty and significant wealth. But Monterey County also experiences food insecurity, homelessness, a very high cost of housing and barriers to health care. It has an environment that needs protecting, children who deserve a quality education and arts institutions that enrich lives on a daily basis but require our support. None of these needs can be met, or programs delivered, without funding. It’s just that simple. There was a day when nonprofit employees were often viewed as big-hearted people who didn’t function well in the for-profit world. The work didn’t feel essential to daily life. That has changed. Whether executive directors, development officers, program or finance staff, the reality is that it takes skilled professionals to navigate the complexity of their organization’s mission delivery, and that collective mission delivery is essential to Monterey County’s quality of life. An investment in our nonprofit community creates benefits that lift all sectors. Donors to MCGives! recognize this. Grants from the 2025 campaign brought the historic total of MCGives! grants to $99 million, $72 million of that just since 2020. This means 2026 will have us charging past $100 million in total grants. That’s a lot of support for our nonprofit community, which means a lot of impact. P.S. We’re happy to announce a new partner. Gina Dalma, the new president/CEO of the Community Foundation for Monterey County, is a strong supporter of MCGives! and will help propel it to even greater heights. Dan Baldwin is president/CEO of the Community Foundation for Monterey County; Steve John is CEO of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation. Important Dates Nov. 12 MCGives! kicks off and website goes live at mcgives.com. Dec. 1 #GivingTuesday is an international day of giving. You can participate through Monterey County Gives! Dec. 31 The Monterey County Gives! campaign ends at midnight. Special Awards $2,500 Ingenuity Award to the nonprofit that offers an exciting and innovative approach to their sector’s challenges. Three $1,000 awards: one for the organization with the most donors; one for the group with the most donors ages 18-35; and one special award for an organization supporting women, families, education and/or the arts. Overall Match $1.725 million + Challenge Gifts $3.4 million = $5.125 million as of Nov. 5, 2026 Good Work Monterey County Gives! brings essential elements together—including you—to fulfill essential needs. By Dan Baldwin and Steve John MCGives! GOALS $16 million 8,500 DONORS by midnight Dec. 31, 2026 18 Animals 26 Arts & Culture 52 Community & Social Services 86 Education & Youth 110 Environment & Sustainability 124 Health, Wellness & Food A STEP A RANCHO CIELO WESTERN FLYER FOUNDATION THE WESTON COLLECTIVE
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