Fundraising with a Social Distance Twist
Six feet away. This mantra s
eems to be on the forefront of everyone’s mind as coronavirus continues to impact communities across the United States and the world. So, while Erica Amenda, a Financial Planning Specialist at Ameriprise Financial Services LLC, knows she cannot be in close proximity to individuals in her community, she still feels it is important to help in whatever way she can.
In fact, Ameriprise Financial Services recently completed a virtual fundraiser for Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin through a new online fundraising platform called Online Harvest, that was released June 16. Amenda’s group was the first team to successfully complete a virtual fundraiser this month, raising $920.
Amenda said the process was easy to set up. “I even added additional team members for everyone in our office so we could promote it individually to be added to our team goal,” she said.
The new platform allows for individual fundraising, as well as team-oriented fundraising, where friends, family, and colleagues can join together to reach a common goal. Amenda said individuals who wanted to donate had no issues using the new website. She shared she would use the platform again, and the team had “great support (from the Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin Team) when we did run into issues.”
Since mid-May, Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin had a 67% increase in food distributed and 40% more neighbors in need than 2019.
The money raised on Online Harvest is used to purchase “reliable and available food products,” which include staples like rice, pasta, cereal, meat, and peanut butter. Food Resource Manager Jeff Joslyn said these items are essential to have available to member pantries at all times.
“When you rely on donated items, you don’t know what you’re going to get,” Joslyn said.
Since large groups cannot be together at this time, providing support by donating food and raising money for neighbors in need is critical. “It seems like a no-brainer to donate money, and Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin can direct the best way to spend (it) when it comes to fighting hunger in our community,” Amenda said.
