Houston Education Foundation is participating in the Give Ozarks 24-hour day of giving on Tuesday, May 3. The organization will raise online donations from midnight to midnight that day as part of Give Ozarks Day.
HEF plans to purchase 30 Chromebook computers and a charging station for the Houston Elementary School.
In 2015, HEF raised funds for 90 Chromebooks for the new media/library center in the high school and 30 Chromebooks for the upper elementary. HEF wants to extend the opportunity for access to the Chromebook computers to more elementary students and will use funds donated on Give Ozarks 2016 to purchase them.
A rally will take place 3 to 5 p.m. May 3 at the Lone Star Plaza pavilion. Persons can come by and make an online donation there or go to giveozarks.org at home. Cash donations can also be dropped off.
How it works: Making a secure donation is simple. For 24 hours on May 3, donors can log onto giveozarks.org and enter Houston Education Foundation to complete a basic credit card donation. All donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by the IRS.
This is the second year for Give Ozarks. In 2015, the first region-wide online giving day raised more than $1 million for about 150 non-profit agencies. HEF raised $10,000 for its endowment fund by participating in a dollar-for-dollar matching grant by Community Foundation of the Ozarks. Four local banks — The Bank of Houston, Progressive Ozark Bank, Landmark Bank, Community Bank — and the Durham Co. all donated $1,000 to help meet the match in 2015. Online and cash donations purchased the Chromebook computers.
For more information about Houston Education Foundation, visit here.
May 3 is Give Local America Day, where community foundations across the country will hold similar online fundraising events to boost resources for their local non-profits, encourage new donors and raise awareness of philanthropy in general. Online giving days, a growing movement in the philanthropy field, has raised millions of dollars for non-profit organizations in recent years.
The Houston Education Foundation is a non-profit partner of Community Foundation of the Ozarks, which is hosting Give Ozarks. CFO is a regional public charitable foundation founded in 1973, which includes 49 affiliate foundations and about 600 non-profit partners and schools.
Local sponsors for HEF for the 2016 Give Ozarks campaign are: Bob Burch, a Houston alumnus; Corner Express, Brad Rees; VIP Properties, Jan Watson; The Durham Co. and Susan and Dick Steckler, Edward Jones Investments.