Nonprofit Resources

Calendar

Deadlines, Events, and Tips

Planning for Big Day of Giving is easy with these simple recommendations. This calendar highlights key dates, deadlines, and tips to help you keep your campaign on track.

Worksheets

Sketch Your BDOG Campaign

Assess which Big Day of Giving strategies are right for your organization — and get started!

Campaign Planning 101: Strategize, plan your storytelling, and more.

Matching Funds 101: Everything you need to know about Matching Funds and how to get them.

Fundraising Pages 101: Guidance on Peer-to-Peer Fundraising and how to leverage your network to engage your organization's dedicated supporters.

Get to Know GivingEdge

GivingEdge is the Foundation’s giving website and nonprofit database, on which Big Day of Giving is hosted. During Big Day of Giving, it's your organization's home base for donations, storytelling, and more. GivingEdge profiles are optimized for giving, featuring donation buttons and storytelling tools that make it easy for donors to support your mission. 

In this video, you'll learn how to:

• Update your nonprofit's GivingEdge profile
• Navigate the Nonprofit Dashboard, including finding donation details and donor reports.
• Receiving donations from GivingEdge
• Promoting events and volunteer opportunities on GivingEdge

Watch the whole video or jump to the chapters you need:
1️⃣ The Nonprofit Dashboard
2️⃣ Your Nonprofit's GivingEdge Profile
3️⃣ Disbursements, Donations, and the Donor Experience
4️⃣ Adding Opportunities to Your Profile

Multiply Donor Gifts with Matching Funds

Matching Funds are dollars pledged ahead of Big Day of Giving by a sponsor—such as your board, a business, or a community partner—to match gifts your donors make during BDOG. They help motivate giving, double donors’ impact, and give you a meaningful way to involve major supporters early in your campaign. 

In this training video, learn how to:

• Add matching funds to your GivingEdge profile
• Manage and schedule matching funds

These resources are sponsored by:

Additional Matching Fund Resources:
📖 Nonprofit User Guide: Matching Funds
📝 Matching Funds 101 Worksheet
✨ Matching Fund Graphics

Turn Supporters into Fundraisers with Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Peer-to-peer fundraising — also called P2P or campaign fundraising — empowers your supporters to raise money for your nonprofit by sharing your cause with their own networks during Big Day of Giving. It helps you reach new donors, build excitement, and grow support through people who already believe in your work.

In this video training, you'll learn how to:

• Invite your supporters to set up peer-to-peer pages on GivingEdge
• Manage peer-to-peer pages on GivingEdge
• Create a fundraising page template

Additional Peer-to-Peer Resources:
📖 Nonprofit User Guide: Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
📝 Fundraising Pages 101 Worksheet
🔗 Fundraiser Toolkit
🎥 How to Create a Fundraising Page
🎥 Tips from Experts: GiveMN Talks P2P

Ask a BDOG Mentor

Mentors are Big Day of Giving experts who make themselves available to help other nonprofit representatives! They are available from January to May. We recommend that new organizations and Team Captains connect with a Mentor at least once.

Ask the Community

The Foundation hosts two online communities where you can ask questions, get tips and updates, and share resources relevant to nonprofit work.

Ask Mightycause

Big Day of Giving and GivingEdge are run on the Mightycause technology platform. If you have questions about the functionality of fundraising tools available to you, a good place to refer is their team's Support Library.

Get the Bark E-Newsletter

We send regular updates about Big Day of Giving through the Bark e-newsletter. Sign up for information about upcoming BDOG events hosted by the Foundation, important deadlines, helpful resources, and more. The Bark newsletter is your best resource to stay up to date on all things Big Day of Giving!

Get Nonprofit News + Share Your Own

The Nonprofit Roundup newsletter is the Foundation's GivingEdge email where we share community resources, grant alerts, event announcements, and inspiring nonprofit stories. Anyone interested in nonprofit resources can receive it and organizations with GivingEdge profiles can share news!

Eligibility Criteria

To create a profile on GivingEdge, your nonprofit must meet the following criteria:

• Be a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization in good standing with the IRS, the California Secretary of State, the California Department of Justice, and the Franchise Tax Board. Learn more about our compliance requirements with these entities.
• Be headquartered or have a branch in the four-county capital region of El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, or Yolo counties, and provide services to one or more of these counties. If your organization is physically located outside of this region, but a significant amount of your work takes place in the four-county area, you are eligible to participate; however, you will be asked to provide additional documentation.
• Not currently under any federal, state, or local investigation or regulatory-related inquiry (including violations and citations) related to any aspect of your operation.
• Nonprofit organizations that currently have a fund at Sacramento Region Community Foundation are eligible to participate regardless of location. All other criteria listed above must be met.

Ineligible

We do not accept requests from the following types of organizations (barring exceptions stated):

• Schools, houses of worship, or government organizations, except we will accept organizations or foundations that are fiscally sponsored by a school or church. Further, organizations or foundations created to support churches, schools, or government organizations are eligible if eligibility requirements are met.
• School groups such as PTAs, sport teams, band boosters, or other school affinity groups; Private foundations (filing a 990PF); Supporting organizations (charity status of 509(a)(3)); Public safety organizations (charity status of 509(a)(4)).