More than 120 local environmental, animal welfare, human service, youth, arts and culture, and community advocacy nonprofit organizations throughout Chautauqua County are participating in Give Big CHQ, an online fundraising event that ends tonight. Submitted photo

A community-wide effort to raise dollars and awareness for local nonprofit organizations kicked off its fourth annual 24-hour online fundraising event at midnight.

Hosted by the Chautauqua Region and Northern Chautauqua Community Foundations, Give Big CHQ features more than 120 nonprofit organizations throughout Chautauqua County that are collecting donations until 11:59 p.m. tonight. Each organization has created its own individual fundraising page with the goal of raising essential dollars to support their missions.

According to Tory Irgang, CRCF executive director, for many organizations that do not have the capacity to collect online donations, or even a website, this day of giving has become a game changer in terms of donor outreach and awareness of what they offer our community.

“In addition to being an easy, convenient way to support one, or many of the organizations you believe in, this day has truly become about bringing people together, one dollar at a time,” she said.”

Of the more than $625,000 generated from this event over the past four years, more than 75% of the donations received have been less than $50.

“Our community continues to surprise us with their generosity,” said Diane Hannum, NCCF executive director. “We are excited to see what this year’s event brings.”

Throughout the day, the Community Foundations are sponsoring a $30,000 pool of stretch fund dollars to help support participating nonprofits’ fundraising efforts. The Stretch Pool funds will be shared by all qualifying nonprofits that receive online donations during the time frame of 7:16 a.m. to 7:16 p.m. on June 10. Dollars will be awarded based on the number of online donors each qualifying nonprofit receives proportional to the total number of all online donors from the qualifying nonprofits during the designated date and time frame.

Donations will be accepted through 11:59 p.m. tonight.

For more information, visit www.givebigchq.org and follow #GiveBigCHQ on social media.