YMCA Florida First Coast: GiveSmart Success Story

"[GiveSmart] makes giving very exciting. We were so thrilled when donations started flooding in, and we reached our goal in three minutes."
Lauren Hopkins
Development Director
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$11,000

amount raised

22

kids sent to camp

3 minutes

fundraising goal achieved in 3 minutes

First Coast Y is a volunteer-driven organization. Each year, they host their annual Y-BASH, an event to reflect on the past year and acknowledge the special people who have continuously given back to the Y and their community. They decided to offer free admission to the previously ticketed event and, in return, hoped their supporters would help them meet their bold fundraising goal of sending 20 kids to camp. 

Challenge & Solution

Without needing to sell tickets, First Coast Y used text-to-RSVP and received an outstanding response of 800 attendees. During the evening’s most compelling moment, when a young camper spoke about his experience, the First Coast Y CEO asked attendees to pledge to help send more kids to camp by texting CAMP to 91999 to help meet the event’s fundraising goal. 

Results

Donations rolled in, the CEO called out donor names, and the live fundraising thermometer shot up. Within 3 minutes, they exceeded their goal, with 125 attendees making text-to-give donations totaling $11,000. This money went towards sending 22 kids to camp. 

About the organization

YMCA Florida First Coast

Records show the YMCA of Florida’s First Coast was started in 1908. Today, they have 13 membership facilities, one resident camp, one charter elementary school, 40 school-based child care sites, two facilities for people with developmental disabilities and three youth development campuses. 

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