$5.2M+ RAISED
$5,235,540 RAISED BY NONPROFITS*
325 ORGANIZATIONS
8,280 UNIQUE DONORS
12,268 DONATIONS
*Dollars raised through this event went directly to the nonprofit organizations that raised them.
MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN +
This year, Mohawk Valley Gives was powered by the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties and UpMobility Foundation. This partnership exemplifies the power of teamwork, as two local foundations combine their passions and commitment to create an impactful event benefiting the entire community as a whole.
The Community Foundation is a community-based social impact investor whose mission is to engage, invest, and lead—working toward a vision of community vibrancy with opportunity for all. The Community Foundation channels charitable contributions from donors through nonprofit partners that are meeting current community needs and
stewards community resources responsibly to ensure greater capacity for the future. UpMobility Foundation is an organization that forges partnerships and collaborative efforts with nonprofit organizations, offering support beyond just grant funding. Impact areas include community building, advancing education and humanitarian aid and international development. In 2023, UpMobility Foundation joined Mohawk Valley Gives as a match and challenge partner, offering incentives to 35 local organizations, which resulted in $1.1 million being raised. Their dedication to making the community a better place is why Mohawk Valley Gives was so successful this year.
EXPANDING OUR REACH
Nonprofits from all over Oneida and Herkimer counties take part in Mohawk Valley Gives, and thanks to a partnership with the Community Foundation of Otsego County (CFOC), organizations in Otsego County have also joined in the fun! For the second year in a row, CFOC has been a committed partner, seeing the value that Mohawk Valley
Gives provides to our community’s nonprofit ecosystem. Overall, 65 Otsego County nonprofits took part, raising $303,244.
207
MATCHING DONATIONS
Donors from 46 U.S. states, Canada and Puerto Rico made contributions this year. Germany and the United Kingdom chipped in and gave to the cause.
New this year, MV Gives received donations from individuals in Kenya and Uganda!
GEARING UP FOR THE giving day!
To help nonprofits prepare for the giving day, the Community Foundation held Mohawk Valley Gives University, a one-of-akind educational experience offering customized classes for both new and returning organizations, as well as a session geared towards nonprofit board members, to polish off their giving day campaigns. Nonprofits that were new to Mohawk Valley Gives were assigned to the “Year 1 Fundamentals” class, while returning organizations joined the “Data Dive,” “Tell Me A Story,” and “#1 Fans” sessions.
Complementing Mohawk Valley Gives University was the return of “Coffee Break” training sessions, providing nonprofits the opportunity to work one-on-one with the team to prepare for the big day.
BACK TO school
Over 200 nonprofit representatives participated in Mohawk Valley Gives University, which was held at Mohawk Valley Community College on August 8, 2024.
PRIZE patrol
New this year was the addition of the Mohawk Valley Gives Prize Patrol! Five nonprofit organizations were chosen at random and secretly surprised by Community Foundation and UpMobility Foundation staff and board, as well as event sponsors during a series of Publisher’s Clearing House-style prize announcements. The “Prize Patrol” bus was generously provided by Hale Transportation. Each organization received a $1,000 check.
HEARTFUL
MOMENTS
Also new this year were “Heartful Moments” visits. Mohawk Valley Gives representatives visited randomly selected organizations to surprise them with gifts to show appreciation and support for the hard work they
do for the community. The goal of Heartful Moments is to extend the giving spirit even beyond the giving day. The nonprofits that received a “Heartful Moments” gift are YWCA Mohawk Valley, On Point For College, Empowered Pathways CNY, and Central Oneida County Volunteer Ambulance Corps. A special thank you to Berkshire Bank and Lafa Mediterranean by Zeina’s for making these moments possible!
FRANKFORT FREE LIBRARY
CONNECTED COMMUNITY SCHOOLS SLEEP IN HEAVENLY PEACE
HISTORIC OLD ST. JOHN’S FOOD PANTRY
MOHAWK VALLEY CENTER FOR THE ARTS
YWCA MOHAWK VALLEY
Sponsors
Mohawk Valley Gives sponsors are more than just sponsors—they are our giving day partners. Meet a few of the incredible businesses that help this event thrive!
M&T Bank is a community bank committed to making our community better, and one of the ways they do that is through their partnership with Mohawk Valley Gives. With close ties to the Community Foundation through its M&T Bank/Partners Trust Bank (MTPT) Charitable Fund, M&T was another business that had immediate interest in supporting this new day of giving.
Becoming a presenting sponsor in 2022 helped the event get off the ground and proved some incredible outcomes! It showed that this event had so much potential. In 2023, M&T Bank amped up their involvement by offering something new—the Piece of the Pie Prize Pool. This was made
Staffworks is a locally owned staffing service run by Anita Vitullo. For those that know Anita, they know that one of her favorite things to do is give back to this community. When she heard about the Mohawk Valley Gives concept back in 2021, she had an immediate interest in taking part in a big way. Staffworks became one of two presenting sponsors for the event’s inaugural year.
Anita and her Staffworks business are very familiar with conducting local fundraising through the well-known Staffworks Save A Life Campaign, which celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2024. After seeing the success that unfolded in year one of Mohawk Valley Gives,
possible through the company’s MTPT Charitable Fund. Prizes are a concept that have been engrained in Mohawk Valley Gives efforts from the start, but a prize pool was something new and unique. The prize pool is essentially a pool of money that is split proportionally among the participating nonprofit organizations based on the number of unique online donations they receive. In 2023 and 2024 combined, the prize pool awarded a total of $45,000 to 426 awardees.
A big thank you to M&T Bank for their “sky’s the limit” attitude and continuing to believe in our community’s day of giving.
Anita felt it would be fitting to run the Save A Life Campaign right through the giving day and it has been a wonderful partnership. Over the last decade, the campaign has raised more than $11.6 million for select nonprofit organizations providing care and services for at-risk animals in our community.
Staffworks has helped make our community’s day of giving a huge victory. Furthermore, Anita is our biggest Mohawk Valley Gives cheerleader and always pushes the team to want to do more.
Thank you for your continued encouragement and enthusiasm!
Utica National Insurance Group is a nationally recognized insurer of personal and commercial products and services. The company has a long legacy of giving local through its Utica National Insurance Group Foundation, supporting local food insecurity needs, sponsoring the Utica National Kid’s Run held every July, and ultimately making investments that yield positive outcomes. Those positive outcomes were a driving force behind the company’s sponsorship of Mohawk Valley Gives in 2024.
“Mohawk Valley Gives is an incredible campaign that supports hundreds of nonprofits in our community,” said
Lydia Berez, chair of the Screening Committee for the Utica National Foundation. “As an Excelsior sponsor, we had the opportunity to ride along with the Prize Patrol, which allowed us to witness the positive energy and immense impact of the day firsthand. It was inspiring. The Utica National Foundation was proud to be part of this amazing event and looks forward to partnering with the Community Foundation on future initiatives to invest in our community.”
In addition to being a key sponsor, Utica National also matched donations for three organizations, helping them to double the impact of donations raised.
Thank you to Utica National Insurance Group for helping to make Mohawk Valley Gives a great success this year!
INFLUENCER LEVEL LEADER LEVEL
PARTNER LEVEL
Assured Information Security (AIS)
BAIRD - The Earl Savery Group
C&D Advertising
FMN Creative
Mele Family Fund of the Community Foundation
S. Lennon & Company Jewelers
COFFEE BREAK SPONSOR
Griffin Charitable Foundation
FRIENDS OF MOHAWK VALLEY GIVES
Newport Telephone Company Pulver Roofing Company
THE power OF giving!
Our world is filled with individuals eager to support and empower one another, and Mohawk Valley Gives is a remarkable example of this spirit.
This year, Mohawk Valley Gives garnered global support, alongside a significant wave of contributions from local residents. A total of 8,280 unique donors came together to give to local nonprofits—take a look at some of the highlights below!
69% of online donations came from new donors who have never donated through MV Gives before
22% of donors said that they would not have donated if it weren’t for MV Gives
$46K was raised through peer-to-peer fundraising The
PRIZES
This year, over $80,000 in monetary prizes was up for grabs across 50+ categories. Each prize has its own unique criteria based around time slots, cause areas, geographic location, and more. 525 prizes were awarded this year, with 80% of participants receiving one or more prizes throughout the giving day.
MATCHES & challenges
Matches and challenges are a great way for organizations to attract more donors to give by multiplying their impact, but what’s the difference?
MATCH
A match is a pool of funds from a sponsoring donor that doubles or even triples the amount an organization receives from each gift made by a community member.
KEY STATS
CHALLENGE
A challenge is a gift that can be unlocked by meeting a goal. The goal can be measured by total dollars raised or total donors engaged.
FUN FACT
Organizations with a match or challenge set up earned on average 20X MORE than organizations without one.
programs
For the second year in a row, UpMobility Foundation provided an incredibly impactful match/challenge program to select organizations through Mohawk Valley Gives. In 2024, UpMobility matched $874,000 through the program to 38 nonprofits
As an umbrella campaign under Mohawk Valley Gives, the Staffworks Save A Life Campaign provided a match/challenge program to select animal welfare organizations through the giving day. In 2024, $197,000 was matched through the program, benefiting 12 nonprofits
Nonprofits provide an abundance of programs, services and resources to address community needs, and deserve to be uplifted and recognized for the unwavering support and dedication they put in to make the community a better place. Mohawk Valley Gives is our community’s way of giving back to the organizations that do so much everyday.
33% of participating nonprofits were new to Mohawk Valley Gives
58% of returning nonprofits raised more than their 2023 total
100% of participants received at least one donation
HEAR FROM OUR participants
“As food insecurity has grown in our inner city, Historic Old St John’s parishioners appreciate how much the Mohawk Valley Gives donations will help us support our important food ministries. The generous donations and jackpot prize will feed our pantry families and daily lunch guests for several months. Thank you to everyone who donated to our organization and to so many other important community charities. We appreciate every one of you!”
DEBORAH TYKSINSKI TRUSTEE/VOLUNTEER, HISTORIC OLD ST. JOHN’S FOOD PANTRY
“ The donations we received from our community through Mohawk Valley Gives will help move our mission forward—helping more animals in need and helping the human hearts who then interact with them in our sanctuary. In a world where there is often so much division and chaos, Mohawk Valley Gives is a forum that brings our incredibly giving and caring community together. It teaches us that we are indeed more united than we realize. Every organization that participated serves a piece of this community in a big way. Mohawk Valley Gives makes the difference in making our community stronger and more united. We are proud and grateful to be a part of such a compassionate and generous community.”
DAWN
HAYMAN
VICE PRESIDENT, SPRING FARM CARES
“As we reflect on the success of the Mohawk Valley Gives campaign, we are filled with gratitude for the support that has poured in. This platform has been instrumental in spearheading our philanthropic engagement, allowing us to enhance our STEM initiatives, nurture emergent startups, and amplify our storytelling efforts. The impact of our community’s generosity is profound—together, we are fostering a culture of innovation, empowering the next generation of leaders in science and engineering, and sharing stories that inspire.”
HEATHER HAGE PRESIDENT/CEO, GRIFFISS INSTITUTE
“ I would like to thank the Community Foundation, UpMobility Foundation, the sponsors of Mohawk Valley Gives and our generous community who donated to the campaign. We are honored to have been selected as the OC Jackpot Prize recipient, and the Prize Patrol visit was incredible. Our third year participating has been our best to date and will allow us to provide more beds to kids in our community. We are looking forward to the 2025 campaign!”
BILL GAGNON CHAPTER PRESIDENT, SLEEP IN HEAVENLY PEACE UTICA
OVER 500 LAWN SIGNS THROUGHOUT THE AREA
DID YOU SEE US around town?
SANGERTOWN SQUARE MALL BANNER
BILLBOARDS IN ONEIDA & HERKIMER COUNTIES
CENTRO BUS ADS BUS STOP ADS
GENESEE STREET BANNER
Heartfelt thanks
to our incredible supporters for making Mohawk Valley Gives a success!
