Arlington Tomorrow Foundation Rallies Behind City’s Nonprofits at Arlington Gives!

By Lindsey Perkins Wade

Posted on September 17, 2015, September 17, 2015

More than a thousand people celebrated North Texas Giving Day in the American Dream City at the Arlington Gives! Rally held on September 17 at the Levitt Pavilion, where the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation awarded $31,000 in bonus grants to qualified Arlington-based nonprofits in attendance. The Foundation awarded of $50,000 to organizations before the day was over.

North Texas Giving Day is an annual online giving event, coordinated by the Communities Foundation of Texas, to encourage north Texans to make charitable contributions to the nonprofit organizations of their choice. All contributions made from 6 a.m. to midnight on that day were matched, in part, by the Communities Foundation and others like the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation, to ensure contributors' dollars were multiplied.

Two thousand organizations participated in North Texas Giving Day, 76 of which were are based in Arlington.

The Arlington Gives! Rally featured local school bands from Lamar High School, Seguin High School and Pantego Christian Academy as well as an opening number performed by the Arlington Master Chorale.

City Mayor and Arlington Tomorrow Foundation Board President Jeff Williams welcomed the energized crowd and expressed gratitude to the nonprofit staff members, volunteers, donors and supporters who dedicate themselves to caring for and enriching the lifestyle of our city.

"Thanks to Arlington nonprofit organizations, our children are healthier and safer, our City is more attractive and enjoyable, seniors are assured of hot meals and health care, animals are sheltered, neighborhoods stronger," the Mayor said.

Chris Hightower, executive director of the Arlington Museum of Art, unveiled the first of 20 fiberglass starsthat will be positioned throughout Arlington's Cultural Arts District, Downtown and Entertainment District. The project was made possible by a $50,000 grant from Women Inspiring Philanthropy at last year's Arlington Gives! Rally and by a matching grant from the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation.

During the day, the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation bestowed nine bonus grants totaling more than $50,000 to the following qualified, Arlington-based charities which we registered for the North Texas Giving Day activities.

Award Recipients

• Green Oaks School was named the Most Spirited Organization at Arlington Gives! and won $10,000.
• Grace Prep c was randomly selected from the organizations in attendance to receive $5,000.
• Girls Inc. of Tarrant County received $5,000 as the winner of the drawing of organizations that "liked" the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation Facebook page.
• Pantego Christian Academy received $5,000 for having the most donations during the 6 a.m.-10 a.m. time block.
• Joseph Catholic School later earned $5,000 for the most donations during the time period from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The remaining two winners for the later time blocks will be announced on the Foundation's website and Facebook and Twitter social media accounts.
• Pantego Christian Academy's Band Booster received $1,000 for being the Most Spirited Band Booster Club.
• The winner of the People's Choice Award, which is a $10,000 donation based on votes from Arlington Gives! Rally attendees, was Advocates for Special People, Inc.
• Arlington Classics Academy was awarded two $5,000 grants for garnering the most number of donors during the time block of 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. and again during the hours of 7 p.m. and midnight.

The 2015 North Texas Giving Day will go in the record books as the largest yet in terms of money donated and the number of contributions made. All told, more than $33 million representing 119,000 gifts from almost 72,000 donors were collected during the 18-hour online event. All of us at the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation were honored to help sponsor this year's Giving Day activities and to help celebrate the charitable organizations making a better place for us to call home.