 Hi, everyone. I'm Barry Silver with Common Good Vermont. And it is Giving Tuesday today. I am here with a number of local nonprofits. And we're here to celebrate a worldwide day of philanthropy that takes place today on Giving Tuesday, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving every year. And we, as I said, we're in the Channel 17 studios today doing this live show to learn more about some local nonprofits and how we can help support them today and also throughout the rest of the year. So I will briefly introduce my guests. And then we'll get into the program and you'll learn more about them and more about the organizations that they represent. So to the right of me is Sarah Wool. And she's the director of development and communications with Agewell. And then next to her is Erica Nichols Fraser, communications manager for Clif, which is the Children's Literacy Foundation. And then Kelly Docherty, executive director of Steps Vermont, or Steps BT. Steps to End Domestic Violence. Steps to End Domestic Violence. Sorry, I was going by your Twitter handle. You guys are so active on social media and you'll be talking about that a little bit later. So Steps to End Domestic Violence. And then Dan LeClaire over at the end of the table, who's the director of development for 1% for the planet. Thank you all. Welcome and thank you all for being here. Thank you for having us. So we are a small group, but we're a really great example of how diverse Vermont's nonprofit sector is. And I was really excited when we pulled together this group that we would have representation from Vermont's aging community and early childhood literacy, violence prevention, and the environmental sector. I don't want to talk too much because I want to make sure that you all have time to talk about your organizations and your campaigns. But I do want to talk about Giving Tuesday and share a little bit more about what Giving Tuesday is in case there are people out there watching who aren't familiar with it. It's been around, I think, the first Giving Tuesday was in 2012. So this would be the sixth year. It's been growing exponentially in terms of its reach and impact for the nonprofit community, not just in Vermont, not just in the United States, but all throughout the world. It's really a global fundraising and awareness raising effort for the work that nonprofits and the social good sector does around the world. And it's been called, I think it's really a way to kick off the charitable season. So even though we're celebrating today on Giving Tuesday, it's really an opportunity for people to think about their year and their holiday and end of year giving. And it's been called the antidote to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which we just experienced yesterday. And hopefully, today, instead of spending money on stuff, you'll be encouraged to do good and give back to those that really give so much to your community. And then one other thing that is mind-boggling was that last year, over $177 million was raised online. So I think that's a global figure, and that's pretty staggering and just amazing in terms of the amount of generosity that there is out there in the world. So we want to tap into that generosity today and really start with you, Sarah, and talking a little bit about your organization, Age Well. You're giving Tuesday plans and what you want people to know about how they can support you today and, I guess, every day. Thank you so much for having us. I'm Sarah Wol from Age Well, formerly the Champlain Valley Agency on Aging. And we are the largest agency on aging in Vermont. So we serve all of Northwestern Vermont, basically, all the way down from Brandon up to the Canadian border. And we are basically the network for the aging population. And so we coordinate services. We provide Meals on Wheels. We're the largest provider of Meals on Wheels in the state as well. And we really connect the aging population with all the resources and all the supports they need to hopefully stay at home where they typically want to be and remain healthy, vibrant, and engaged, which those are typically the three biggest threats to aging would be hunger, isolation, and loss of independence. So if it's a call to our helpline, that's typically kind of where everything is funneled through, people will call and say they're in need of meal deliveries. They're in need of access to transportation. So the helpline really kind of diverts people to the proper resource. And then Meals on Wheels is probably our most recognized brand. And that is truly enabling people to access nutrition, which is also really key to keeping people vibrant and healthy. And that sometimes may be the only person that somebody sees in a day is that one meal delivery. And so for Giving Tuesday, this is kind of our way of kicking off the end of year giving. And we're fortunate to have a $2,500 matching gift on the table from Lane Rocksbury. And I just got an update that we are almost to the $2,500 already. So we're hoping to get there and raise at least $5,000. We do have a goal of $10,000, but that may be a little bit lofty. But our aging population, particularly in Vermont, is growing exponentially. And the resources, as with I'm sure you'll hear, many nonprofits are decreasing. So we are really relying on the community to help support the, we are one of the few remaining Meals on Wheels delivery services that do not have a wait list. So really community support is helping us to kind of bridge that gap in the increase in demand and the need for services. So please visit hwellvt.org to learn more about all of our services and to hopefully help us meet our goal today. Great. Thank you for having us. Well, thank you. Thanks for telling us about your work. That's, I didn't know how comprehensive it was, I guess, in terms of the amount of services I was aware of Meals on Wheels, but all the other things that I wanted to do. Pretty much anything the aging population needs, we will connect them with those resources and or provide them. Great, and the hotline as well, people can find that number on the website. Yep, it's all on the website. Have you done a Giving Tuesday campaign before, or is this a? We have, and this is our really, I think our first, I think really complete campaign. We are on Facebook, all of our staff members have their own page, and we have this matching gift, which we have not had before. So we're feeling really confident this year will be our kind of gang buster year. Right, well we'd like to help make that happen. Anything else, so it's great, you've grown your campaign, so obviously you've learned some stuff from participating in Giving Tuesday in the past and recognized that there's some real opportunity to spread the word about your mission and your organization. I think everybody likes a kickoff celebration, so I think we really see this as kind of the starting gate where hopefully by end of year we'll make it to our final goal, but this is for every, I think, non-profit out there, this has really created some pomp and circumstance around Giving, and on the trail of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I think this makes people feel good about where their dollars are going, and it's exciting. It's a really exciting time of year for non-profits, and we're all hoping to close that gap that I think we all have in our budget, so this is where we do it. And I think that's an important message too, is that the day, today is Giving Tuesday, but the giving doesn't end today, so think about making a gift today if you can do it, terrific, but there is a need and the need continues and there is a gap that needs to be filled and that can't be filled without your support. And throughout our website is agewellvt.org. Okay, terrific. All right, well let's move on to talk about Cliff. Sure, so I'm Erica Nichols Fraser with the Children's Literacy Foundation, or Cliff, as you'll hear us refer to it throughout the conversation. So the Children's Literacy Foundation's mission is to nurture a love of reading and writing among low income, at risk, and rural kids up to age 12 in both Vermont and New Hampshire. So we do serve both states, although I'll focus on Vermont in this conversation since that's where we are. But I really think that that love of reading and writing is really essential to what we do, that it's not just giving kids the resources, the books, and the ability to read, but that it's really encouraging them to view reading and writing and literacy as a whole as really valuable, worth their time, and enjoyable and positive experience. We know that that is, early literacy is one of the strongest indicators of a child's academic and then future professional and personal and social success as well. The ability to communicate, the ability to connect with others, to empathize with others through reading their stories are really important. And unfortunately, so many families in this state do have very limited access, limited resources, and the idea of having a lot of books at home just really isn't something that is doable for a lot of families. And so while we are a lot more than books, we do bring literacy programs all over the state. So we have six basic programs. They all involve an element of storytelling and they all involve our, we have currently 61 or 62 children's authors, illustrators, poets, graphic novelists, and storytellers that we work with, including, I'm gonna promote a couple, Jason Chin, who is a fabulous South Burlington author and illustrator. He'll be coming to one of our programs at the Sustainability Academy in Burlington this Thursday. Oh, it's right around the corner. This week, just around the corner. We do have a couple other, Elizabeth Blumlee who owns the Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne is another one of our authors and illustrators who is really fabulous as well. And all of these folks, these books that I have here, Catherine Patterson is one more that folks will recognize and remember a lot of her books of Vermont author. And so she's still one of the authors that we send out to schools, childcare centers, to after-school programs, to libraries, just about anywhere that young children are, including homeless shelters, food kitchens, food pantries, and affordable housing units to try to engage these kids with stories, with storytelling, to actually meet authors and illustrators and see the people who make some of their favorite books. And then we also, all of our programs also involve an element of a book giveaway. So the kids actually getting to choose their own books to take home and keep. And for many of the kids we serve, this is the first time they've had that opportunity to be able to look at a pile of hundreds of books and pick one that is really meaningful to them and to have that as their own. And one thing that we rely a lot on our volunteers to put these beautiful stickers, let's say Cliff in them in each of our books so the children can then write their names and feel that feeling of ownership over something that is theirs to keep. It is really a powerful experience. So for Giving Tuesday, we're asking folks to give a book to a child in need. Just $10, just a $10 donation can give one of these beautiful, high quality books to a child who may not otherwise have access to their books in their home. And of course it is more than books. It is something I want to emphasize that we also are involved in developing literacy experiences, positive experiences. So I mentioned the Sustainability Academy as one of the programs we're working with right now in Burlington. That's through our Year of the Book program which is our biggest, it's a $25,000 grant for literacy programming in elementary schools that have a high percentage of low income children as well as a high percentage of children underperforming in recent reading and writing assessments. So that school we currently are supporting five different schools in Vermont through that year long $25,000 grant. That's the Sustainability Academy here in Burlington. That is Canaan Schools and the Alberg Community Education Center up in the northern part of the state. It's Molly Stark Elementary School in Bennington which is the second year in a row we've been in Bennington with this program and it's a Salisbury Community School as well in Salisbury. And so we are literally all over the state. In those programs we're working in the elementary school throughout the year bringing in a number of different authors and illustrators, having family literacy events and parent discussions to emphasize the importance of reading with young children and to sort of break down that barrier of intimidation that some families may have, especially if they have low literacy skills themselves to be really emphasize how important it is to be telling stories with kids, engaging them with language, with books. And with the authors too. I love that Vermont actually has so many authors like Catherine Patterson and, you know. Absolutely, and... Jan Arnasky, is she? So Jim Arnasky, who is from southern Vermont as well. So he is also one of our very popular authors and illustrators who comes and sings and illustrates with the kids. When Jason Chin has come to events he actually comes up there and does drawings with the kids, so engages with them. And he likes to talk about how he was inspired to become an illustrator by an author who visited his school when he was a child and how he likes to be able to share that that inspiration with kids too. Yeah, so it's not just certainly the inspiration to see and meet authors who can do this as a living, but also there's a feeling of that we're really, someone's really paying attention to these kids, you know, that they get to meet the author of their favorite book, that these people are here to talk to them and to really support them and believe in them and that that's a really valuable thing as well. And just one other partner I wanted to mention too is Choose Your Own Adventures, Choose Co. Many of you may remember these books from when you were a kid. Still very popular. It's actually, they're actually made in Waitsfield, Vermont. And so Choose Co. has been very generous in donating a number of books to us that our kids always love. All right, terrific. Love books and I could stay and talk and look at pictures I think the rest of the program, but I wanna make sure that we give everybody enough time to talk about their organizations and hopefully, you know, we can circle back. So Kelly, tell us about Steps 10 Domestic Violence. Thank you, Barry, for having us today. This is wonderful. So my name is Kelly Docherty. I'm the Executive Director of Steps to End Domestic Violence. We are a domestic violence organization that serves Chittenden County. We're the largest domestic violence organization in the state and we're also the only organization in Chittenden County that focuses exclusively on domestic violence. So we are sort of the go-to organization for anyone who may be finding themselves in an abusive relationship or maybe just has questions about what a healthy relationship is and what a healthy relationship is all about. We do provide a lot of crisis services and I'll talk a little bit about that, but we also think of ourselves as an education and prevention organization. So our goal, just like in our name, is to end domestic violence. Some folks may remember us by our former name, which was Women Helping Battered Women. We changed our name about a year and a half ago in order to be more inclusive to everyone we serve. So we serve not just women. We're not just an organization comprised of women. And so we wanted to be sure that the message was out there that regardless of your gender or gender identity, if you need help, we're here for you. So our Giving Tuesday campaign, I'm really excited about. We have an active Facebook campaign. We've got email blasts. We've got things going out on Twitter and probably Instagram. And our handle is at stepsvt.org and you can see on your screen one of our images from our Facebook campaign. So our goal today is to raise $10,000. And as of the time we arrived here at the studio, I think we were at about 2,000 so far, which is great. And really, just like Sarah said earlier, the nonprofit sector really relies on individual contributions and relies on donations really to keep our doors open and to continue to be able to provide services. And I think that sometimes people might think, well, you get federal money and you get state money and maybe you're a United Way agency. And all of those things are great and sort of help form maybe like a backbone, but it's really not enough to keep providing services. And all of our services are free. All of our services are confidential. And in this climate of declining government resources, we find ourselves even more reliant on the generosity of all of you to help us continue to provide services. So like I said, our goal today is $10,000 that goes toward, like we were talking about earlier today is really the kickoff for our annual campaign, which is underway. And by the end of the year, we're hoping to raise at least $50,000, including what we get today. So anything that we get today will be counted toward our Giving Tuesday goal. And people can give online through our website. Our website is stepsvt.org. And if you go to stepsvt.org slash donate, it'll take you right to our donations page. In addition to financial contributions, we also rely a lot on in-kind donations. So if people feel that they're not in a position to make a financial gift, although any gift of any amount makes a huge difference. Sometimes people wanna feel like they're giving something other than money or in addition to money. So we're also always looking for certain items for our emergency shelter or for people who come into our office who are looking for basic needs. We're always looking for toiletries, for diapers, for feminine products, for a whole host of just sort of daily living activity or daily living supplies like toothpaste and toothbrushes and those types of things. And I've seen, I think that's something that if people follow you on social media, those lists are often posted there. And another way that people can help is to share your messages with any of these organizations. I think everyone has a very vibrant social media presence and that is a great way. Like the organizations that you care about and you can help spread the word about the work that they're doing and help support them that way as well. It's not just about financial donations although those are certainly very important but there are lots of other ways to get involved. And those current needs or in-kind items are on our website as well. And we also have an Amazon wish list. So as folks are maybe on Amazon doing their holiday shopping, there's a wish list where we continuously post items that people might need. But just to briefly mention sort of what we do, because I don't think I've even said that yet, for those people who may not be familiar with us, we provide a host of different services for people who may be experiencing abuse in their intimate partner relationships. So we operate an emergency shelter here in Burlington for people who are fleeing violence and maybe have nowhere else to go. And we also provide emergency housing outside of our shelter and through motels. Our biggest program is really our 24-7 hotline. So we have a hotline that is 802-658-1996. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So, and that folks who are answering our hotline field a wide variety of calls from the crisis call to the person who just needs some emotional support and wants to talk about what's happening in their relationship or people who may just wanna be connected to other resources in the community. So you don't need to be in crisis to call the hotline. It really is the gateway to accessing our services as well as becoming connected. And sometimes we're just providing education over the phone. We provide legal advocacy services. So people who are seeking legal, a legal process for their domestic violence, maybe getting a relief from abuse order. We have legal advocates who will help walk people through that process. It can be very intimidating. You're facing your abuser in court potentially. Can be a really scary situation. So our legal advocates will accompany people to court and they will help walk them through those intimidating legal processes like divorce and parentage and custody. We also provide some economic stability programming. Often domestic violence comes with financial implications whether over economic abuse where a partner will control all of the finances in the relationship or jeopardize employment or schooling for their partner. It's a way to maintain power and control. So we kinda help people disentangle that and get some good economic footing. And then we also provide services to children and youth and we offer a support group. And we do a lot of education in the community. We're in every public high school in Chittenden County every year doing workshops on healthy relationships and dating violence and bystander intervention and so that we can help educate youth as they're starting to form their first relationships about what's healthy and what's not so that hopefully we can break the cycle. And all of those services like I said are free and we really rely on you to help keep those services going. Great, well thank you. I mean it's, I love having the opportunity to have these conversations because it's a really great way for people to understand the breadth and the depth of the services that are being offered by so many of the nonprofit organizations throughout Vermont. I think there are almost 4,000 nonprofit organizations that are doing amazing work throughout the state. It's like 20% of the workforce is a nonprofit. So I'm glad that you are all here again. Thank you again for being here and we're gonna move on to Dan LaClaire from 1% for the planet to talk about what you guys are doing today on Giving Tuesday. Thrilled to be here. Thanks for having us, Barry. Great to be with all of you and here about the great work being done by each of your organizations as well. So like Barry said, I'm Dan LaClaire with the 1% for the planet. I'm the director of development there and 1% for the planet is a global organization that our mission is to bring together dollars and doers to accelerate smart environmental giving. And so we definitely have a global footprint but we're actually headquartered right here in Vermont and do all of that work from the basement of a building on Maple Street here in Burlington. So it sounds like a lofty name and there's a mighty team of about 12 of us that are doing that work. So we do the work that we do by assembling a network of businesses and individuals around the world really who are committing to give back 1% in either in their business or in their lives as individuals to a network of environmental nonprofit partners that we've assembled. And that's a couple of thousand in about 60 countries at this point. So it's really quite a big organization in some ways and the impact that we have touches down in really local ways at the same time. So here in the Burlington area, for example, on the business side, we have Skinny Pancake as a member. They give back 1% of their sales to the environment and on the nonprofit side, we have great nonprofits like the Interveil Center that's receiving some of the funds from the businesses and individuals that are participating in our network model. So because of the way that we work, we're able to sort of leverage dollars that come in to grow the network and get even more dollars out to the pressing environmental issues that are confronting us. And I think this year in particular, we've seen so many of those environmental extremes, whether hurricanes or wildfires, et cetera. So it's really important that we get those kinds of dollars out to this environmental work. Since 2002, which is when we were founded, we've got about $175 million out through our network, which is fantastic, and we hope to do even more. Right now in the United States, only about 3% of all philanthropy is going to environmental issues, environmental nonprofits. And we think that, you know, that number is not where it needs to be to tackle the significant issues we confront nationally and globally. So Giving Tuesday is a day to be here and talk about the work that we're doing. And also, as with several others, we do utilize Giving Tuesday and promote it as a way to kick off the giving season. It is a really important day in the nonprofit sector for all of us. So we do have a goal of raising $5,000 today. And that money that is given will help us to grow the network, to strengthen those nonprofit relationships that we have and ultimately accelerate the dollars that are getting into the hands of these environmental nonprofits. So we definitely hope that people will consider a gift today, but also throughout the giving season, every day is an important day for our environment. And so I would encourage folks at home and listening and everyone here to check out our website at 1%fortheplanet.org. You can donate there. We're also running a Facebook campaign. And there's lots of different ways to learn about what we're doing. Our handle is at 1%FCP. So yeah, we hope to see everyone there. And consider getting involved in our movement. It's open to everyone and we can't do it alone. Great, thank you so much. I just, we've thrown a lot of web addresses, phone numbers out, but I wanted to do one more plug and I think this will be a helpful one. If you go to commongoodvt.org, that will, you'll be able to find all of the organizations and also there are I think almost 70 organizations that contacted us at Common Good Vermont. So organizations throughout Vermont that contacted us to let us know that they were participating in Giving Tuesday. So they have some kind of Giving Tuesday campaign and you'll be able to find all of their names and their email, not email, but their website information there. So there you go, go to commongoodvt.org to learn more. And you mentioned the Facebook. Does anybody else have a Facebook campaign that's happening right now because, and do you wanna talk a little bit more about what's happening with that before we're gonna wrap up soon but let's just put a plug in I guess for Facebook and the support that they're providing to nonprofits. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is matching dollar for dollar today. So today is a great way to leverage your donations. We have a Facebook campaign going on and there's no charge right now on Facebook. There's no, they're not taking any sort of fee today. So all day today your dollars are being matched and there's no fee to process the gift online. So it's a very secure way to give back and have your dollars matched. And we're doing that as well. So if you, if folks went to at Steps VT or just searched for Steps to End Domestic Violence on Facebook, we also are doing that same campaign so where people can create their own fundraiser or give through Facebook without the fees and with the match from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which is amazing. And I'd also like to plug local support, local businesses that are supporting us as well if I may. There's a number of organizations or bookstores around Vermont and New Hampshire that are running book drives for the Children's Literacy Foundation during the holiday season. Places that you can purchase a children's book in some cases at a discount and give that to a child need. And then we will distribute that through our literacy programs to low income at risk and rural kids throughout the state. And so one tonight, Bridgeside Books in Waterbury and we're based in Waterbury Center so they're a partner of ours is kicking off Books for a Cause for Giving Tuesday. So Bridgeside Books and Stowe Street Cafe are coming together. Those businesses are adjacent right by the bridge in Waterbury. There will be jazz music performed by Terran Noel, drinks, snacks and books donated for children. So I understand that they're trying to donate at least 400 this year to raise. We also locally have Phoenix Books here in Burlington as well as Essex, Rutland and Chester that are also hosting book drives for us and offering I believe 20% off children's books throughout the holiday season donated to the Children's Literacy Foundation. So you can also support local businesses and get back. And I would say one of the other interesting things about Facebook and even otherwise that we've got going on this year is we actually have some volunteers that are, you know, they may not themselves be able to give but they're encouraging others to give today. And what's great about Facebook in particular is that, you know, folks can get online and they can be a part of this effort because they can set up a little, they can say, you know, I want to raise $200 to help get 1% to their $5,000 goal that I, and they can activate that campaign and get it out to their social media folks and things like that. So it's a great way to sort of get involved whether or not you yourself can participate, you know, financially. You can still have a really big impact. It's like they tell two friends and then they tell two friends. Yeah. All right. And the only other thing, sorry, unless you have something to share. I just wanted to also say that I think you had mentioned that there are other ways to give besides just monetary. So I think that's absolutely spreading the word and sharing, you know, about organizations that use support, giving in-kind donations and volunteering. I don't know if you guys all, we rely heavily on our volunteers as well. So that's certainly another way that we have, you know, a dedicated group that comes in every week and helps us sort and distribute thousands of children's books. So that's certainly another way that you can get back as well if you're not able to make a donation. Yeah, same. We rely on volunteers as well and we're actually currently recruiting volunteers in particular who are interested in working on our hotline. So if anyone out there might be interested in learning more about that, you can also go to our website, stepsbt.org and go to our volunteer page and learn a little bit more about that. If we're plugging volunteers, we'll get one last, one last in. Wheels on Wheels does not happen without our volunteers nor does our senior companion. We have a thousand plus volunteers throughout Northwestern Vermont and none of our programs would exist if it weren't for that group of thousand plus people. So we are always looking for Meals on Wheels deliveries and for senior companions. So agewellbt.org, monetary, volunteer. We are always open to people joining our force, so. Okay. It's important to remember giving can be giving time as much as giving. Exactly, there's lots of ways to give and there are many days to give. Today just happens to be Giving Tuesday. Today's a great day to give. You've heard about some organizations, great organizations that you can give to either financially or with a gift of time. But I think speaking of time, our time for this, it's pretty much up we could have spent. I think I'd love to have you all back to talk more and learn more about your organizations. But for today, thank you so much for being here. And thank you all for watching. Happy Giving Tuesday.