From now until Sunday, the Endow Manitoba Giving Challenge is taking place.
During the challenge, gifts given to community foundations like the Dauphin and District Community Foundation will be stretched a little bit further.
"The Giving Challenge is an opportunity for community foundations to grow their unrestricted funds through stretch dollars from the Winnipeg Foundation and the Manitoba Government, so every five-dollar gift you make is stretched to seven dollars", says Kit Daley, Executive Director of the DDCF.
Last year during the Giving Challenge, the Dauphin and District Community Foundation had the third-highest total donations and Daley would love to beat that this year.
"We are asking donors to post on social media that they have made a donation, and then challenge someone else to make one too and that can be a family friend, a business associate, a family member, maybe even a rival business, we're simply trying to promote giving to your foundation and encouraging others to donate."
The DDCF has also partnered with the Dauphin Kings in a competition with the Swan Valley Stampeders. At the Dauphin Kings home game on Saturday, community foundation members will be at Credit Union Place collecting donations. The day before, the Kings play the Stampeders in Swan River and community foundation members for Swan will be collecting donations at that game. Daley says it will be a competition between the two fan bases to see who can raise more for their local community foundation.
Some of the projects that the foundation has contributed to are the North Gate bike trails, the multi-use community courts at Meadowlark Park, the Enchanted Reading Room at the Dauphin Public Library, and the Kings Way trail. They have also made contributions to local playgrounds, daycare centres, the Parkland Humane Society, Dauphin Food Bank, Fort Dauphin Museum and many more. Daley says they have also given out two-million dollars in grants since 1995.
If you would like to donate during the Giving Challenge you can do so online, or you can call Kit Daley at 204-638-4598. Donations can also be dropped off at City Hall in the drop box at the entrance, or at the DDCF office.
