Fifteen non-profit organizations from St. Lawrence County will each have a share of $42,298 raised during the Northern New York Community Foundation’s 2021 #giveNNY campaign.

More than 300 individuals, families and businesses, and a Northern New York Community Foundation matching grant, helped the campaign reach the record amount raised which will go to

support nonprofits in Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties, announced the foundation recently.

The St. Lawrence County organizations involved joined a diverse group of 46 others from across the North Country in the month-long campaign that encouraged nonprofits to work

together in ways that transcend fundraising, the foundation said in a press release.

The number of participants was more than twice the previous collaboration in 2019 and the most since the #giveNNY movement began five years ago, the foundation said.

Conducting the campaign with COVID-19 protocols in place presented new challenges that quickly became opportunities as technology brought agencies closer together in more efficient and creative ways, said the foundation.

Nonprofits from as far away as Massena and Ogdensburg joined the effort for the first time as travel became a worry of the past for many across the sprawling North Country. Nonprofit leaders attended weekly online sessions to learn and share best practices in marketing, event planning, social media, donor relations, fundraising, and more.

Community-based cohorts of nonprofits that share similar missions or serve overlapping areas quickly emerged as new partners, the press release said. In St. Lawrence County, a group of arts-related organizations dedicated to enriching the vibrancy of the North Country used social media to educate communities about their vital work to diversify culture in the region. In Clayton and communities along the St. Lawrence River, a cadre of eight nonprofits successfully brought together 32 businesses and dozens of individuals to support the campaign through a collaborative fundraiser.

The campaign culminated on March 15 with a full day of radio broadcast on Tunes 92.5/104.5 FM, the press release said.

For a second year, the Community Foundation matched all campaign gifts up to $10,000. Participating nonprofit organizations will receive an equal share of the donations to the campaign as grants from the Northern New York Community Foundation, awarded in the coming weeks. All gifts and 100 percent of the matching grant will be distributed. The Community Foundation itself receives no portion of the total raised.

The following St. Lawrence County nonprofits participated in this year’s campaign:

Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center Foundation; Frederic Remington Art Museum; Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways; Massena Free Community Meals; Massena Meals on Wheels; North Country Children’s Museum; Ogdensburg Boys & Girls Club; Ogdensburg Command Performances; Orchestra of Northern New York; Planned Parenthood of the North Country NY; Police Activities League of Massena; Potsdam Holiday Fund; St. Lawrence County Arts Council; St. Lawrence County Historical Association; and the Wanakena Historical Association.

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