Here are the 45 nonprofits selected for 2023's Give BIG Green Bay
GREEN BAY - With over $522,000 in grant funding on the table, "big" is the operative word in this year's Give BIG Green Bay, a program that annually recognizes a selection of nonprofits that amplify the quality of life in the community.
That historic amount is thanks to the Green Bay Packers Foundation's impact grant of $250,000 and a matching pool of funds from other community donors. But half a million dollars is only the beginning: Every dollar donated in the 24-hour window between noon Feb. 21 and noon Feb. 22 will be matched, pushing the support of nonprofits to greater heights than ever before.
"It's amazing to me to see, each year, how this event galvanizes the community and directs attention to so many worthy causes," Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy said at a press conference Tuesday at the Lambeau Field Atrium. "This is a time of year when it's often difficult for nonprofits to raise money, so it really comes at a very, very important time."
Give BIG Green Bay, a partnership between the Packers Foundation and the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation, selected 45 nonprofits this year from a pool of 144 applications, Murphy said, who offer a "diverse mix … that really tell the story of important work that's been done across our community."
Those organizations' missions range from animal welfare to community improvement, arts and culture to human services, military and law enforcement to environment and conservation, hunger and homelessness to youth development, recreation and sport to health and wellness, and education.
2023 marks the sixth year of programming, and in the last five years, the partnership has raised nearly $8 million to support local nonprofits. Over 4,000 donors raised more than $2.47 million last February alone, with more than 44% of donors identifying as new contributors to the organizations they supported.
Dennis Buehler, president and CEO of the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation, explained at Tuesday's press conference that their commitment is to underwrite program expenses to ensure 100% of contributions go "directly to the nonprofits serving our community."
Based on the percentage of dollars raised, the Green Bay Packers and match pool donors will be allocating a proportion of matching dollars to this year's 45 partners.
"So, if a nonprofit raises 5% of funds that day, they receive 5% of the matching," Buehler said. "This is being done to allow each organization, regardless of their size or reach, to enjoy an ethical share of the matching pool."
Wello, a health and wellness organization that works with community partners across Brown County, has been a long-standing participant of Give BIG Green Bay, and this year marks its fourth time being selected by the program.
Natalie Bomstad, executive director of Wello, said the grant money will be reinvested back into the community by way of its focus on well-being, which most recently includes raising awareness of mental health, giving families greater access to whole foods and focusing on equity and justice.
"I think it's a really great platform, especially having the (Greater Green Bay Community) Foundation come together with the Green Bay Packers to elevate all this work to a higher level and to a higher level of consciousness," Bomstad said. "If you have $10 to invest or if you find an organization whose mission really speaks to you, find out a way of connecting with that organization and volunteering or lending some of your time and expertise."
New and old partners facing different challenges get extra push from Give BIG Green Bay
Stacey Burkhart's three young children zipped around the Lambeau Field Atrium, zooming from Burkhart to the atrium doors and back. They exhibited Burkhart's excitement over being selected as a first-time partner with Give BIG Green Bay.
Burkhart is the president of S.A.G.E. or Share, Accept, Grow, Encourage, an arts advocacy nonprofit in downtown Green Bay. Burkhart's cultural arts space, founded in 2017, is as old as her twin girls.
"My kids participate in as much as possible and it was so important for me to have them here today," Burkhart said. "Those twins have been with me since S.A.G.E. started, and I bring them along to everything. I thought to myself, 'This is probably the most important moment for S.A.G.E. right now. I gotta bring my team along.'"
S.A.G.E. is among the nearly 30% of first-time participants this year, according to Buehler, which he said speaks to the "extraordinary growth in our application pool."
Burkhart said the grant money will help provide curatorial opportunities to local artists in the downtown studio location. It will also help support the organization's largest program thus far, "Creatively Engaged Community," which gets trained art mentors to collaborate with other service-oriented local nonprofits.
Rhonda Chandler, CEO and founder of Lovin' the Skin I'm In, has also worked with many of the other nonprofit partners of Give BIG Green Bay. For Chandler, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, moving to De Pere was a culture shock for her family.
After seeing the lack of diversity in staff at her children's new schools, Chandler founded Lovin' the Skin I'm In especially to empower Black, Indigenous and youths of color between the ages of 7 and 18. The organization offers weekly and monthly meetings to better support children and adolescents in need of adults who look like them.
The organization has exposed Black, Indigenous and youths of color to more STEM activities, organized field trips to the Wisconsin Black Historical Society in Milwaukee and started a haircare initiative that donates Black hair products to people living in local shelters.
Founded in 2020, Lovin' the Skin I'm In is just over two years old, but this is the second time they've participated in Give BIG Green Bay. Chandler hopes this year's donations will allow the organization to pay its all-volunteer staff.
"Everyone is volunteer, because the mission is so near and dear to their hearts. Everyone gives their time," Chandler said. "We're rapidly growing and would love to be able to hire our staff."
Community Services Agency Inc (COMSA), a refugee and immigrant resource center in Green Bay, is also in its second year with Give BIG Green Bay, and since its last go in the grant pool, its needs look very different. Much of that is the result of an ongoing housing crisis that has left many immigrants and refugees scrambling to either avoid evictions or find housing stability following eviction.
Said Hassan, cofounder and executive director of COMSA, said more than 50% of walk-in clients are struggling with housing needs, and many are at the mercy of language barriers and a lack of employment and rental history in the U.S. Those issues have always existed, but were exacerbated by the pandemic.
"To make sure we have sustainable opportunities for our kids, we have to sacrifice ourselves. Coming to this country, it's not a walk in the park," Hassan said. "Those discriminations and those unconscious biases still exist. We see it every day — the deliberate and unconscious biases."
Charles Caston, a crime victim advocate for We All Rise, another participant in this year's Give BIG Green Bay, agrees that housing, and specifically evictions, have been a problem deeply felt by Black residents in the greater Green Bay area.
"We have dealt a lot with people receiving five-day notices on evictions, even following the COVID pandemic," Caston said. "As far as helping people who have been longtime renters who got laid off because they got COVID, we definitely put a lot of dollars toward eviction prevention."
Give BIG Green Bay's grant will also help We All Rise launch its new GED program, which will offer classes starting in March. Additionally, We All Rise will be offering free child care services at its youth center, which will include free transportation.
"We watch the numbers every day. The homeless numbers are growing. Unemployment numbers are growing, the eviction numbers are growing," Caston said. "The best thing we can do is allocate our dollars to make sure that people will continue on the job search, continue to keep housing, help our survivors thrive."
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This year's Give BIG Green Bay partners
The following nonprofits have been selected for this year's Give BIG Green Bay. Potential donors can support any of these organizations by visiting Give BIG Green Bay An asterisk indicates this is the organization's first year with Give BIG Green Bay.
Animal welfare
Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary
Wisconsin Humane Society – Green Bay Campus
Arts and culture
Green Bay Community Theater*
Heritage Hill State Historical Park
Pulaski Area Historical Society*
Share, Accept, Grow, Encourage (S.A.G.E.)*
Community improvement
Definitely De Pere
Volunteer Center of Brown County
NeighborWorks Green Bay
Education
Bridge the Gap For Autism
Einstein Project
Junior Achievement of WI – Greater Green Bay Area
Literacy Green Bay
Northeast Wisconsin Latinx Rising*
Syble Hopp School
Environment and conservation
Ducks Unlimited*
Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance
Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust
Health and wellness
Brain Center of Green Bay
Brown County Oral Health Partnership
Make-A-Wish Wisconsin – Northeast Wisconsin Chapter
Options for Independent Living
The Gathering Place*
Vivent Health
Wello
Human services
Aging & Disability Resource Center of Brown County
ASPIRO
Community Service Agency (COMSA)
Curative Connections
Family & Childcare Resources of Northeast Wisconsin
We All Rise: African American Resource Center
Hunger and homelessness
Ecumenical Partnership for Housing
House of Hope Green Bay
Paul’s Pantry
Safe Shelter*
The Giving Tree*
Military and law enforcement
HOOAH WI
Fall Prevention Alliance of NEW (N.E.W. Rescue Task Force)
Recreation and sport
Green Bay Bicycle Collective
myTEAM TRIUMPH Wisconsin Chapter
Youth development
Boys & Girls Club of Greater Green Bay
Friends of PALS, Youth & Families
Lovin’ the Skin I’m In
Rawhide Youth Services*
Wisconsin Miss Amazing*
Natalie Eilbert covers mental health issues for USA TODAY NETWORK-Central Wisconsin. She welcomes story tips and feedback. You can reach her at neilbert@gannett.com or view her Twitter profile at @natalie_eilbert. If you or someone you know is dealing with suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text "Hopeline" to the National Crisis Text Line at 741-741.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Give BIG Green Bay names 45 nonprofits to benefit from fundraising
