Partnership Supports Local Nonprofits
The Dallas Foundation, Communities Foundation of Texas, and Lyda Hill Philanthropies partnered with Catchafire, which is an organization that matches skilled volunteers with nonprofits, to bring virtual support to more than 300 nonprofits in North Texas.
Catchafire helped hundreds of Texas nonprofits access $1.4 million in critical services via 6,700 volunteer hours.
“The Dallas Foundation, Lyda Hill Philanthropies and Communities Foundation of Texas came together really recognizing that the nonprofit sector was struggling mightily to work through COVID and to really ensure that our community of nonprofits had the resources they needed,” said Dallas Foundation CEO Matthew Randazzo. “We had several rounds of conversations to understand how this might work and ultimately landed on this collaboration that really helped to mobilize volunteer resources for the nonprofit sector at a time when volunteerism was at an all time low.”
Beneficiaries of the partnership included youth organization that had to reimagine their sleepaway camp for middle schools girls interested in STEM, a nonprofit helping women veteran owned businesses scale to a literacy institution helping adults earn their Texas Certificate of High School Equivalency, and AES Literacy Institute, a North Texas nonprofit that that helps people 17 and older that did not finish high school by offering a three-to-six-month alternative program that allows them to earn their Texas certificate of high school equivalency.
“Since the start of the pandemic…nonprofits have seen skyrocketing demand for services, at the same time diminishing revenues and, we have to remember, many lost longstanding fundraising opportunities amid all the uncertainty, so we just love that Catchafire was this tool we could offer — and it’s only just one tool within organization’s toolbox — to access this virtual on-demand support to close that gap,” said Lyda Hill Philanthropies Director Margaret Black.
Nonprofits interested in partnering with Catchafire can email grants@cftexas.org to learn more.
