Pasadena Nonprofits Gear Up for Giving Tuesday

After businesses sought to woo customers on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, nonprofits are hoping Giving Tuesday will help bolster their charitable endeavors throughout Pasadena and the world.

Started in 2012 to encourage generosity, Giving Tuesday calls for the public to take a break from the shopping and bustle of the holiday season to give something back, whether it be a donation to a charity or simply lending a helping hand to a stranger.

While the event is traditionally held on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, organizers this year added an additional Giving Tuesday event in May as a response to the increased need created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic has brought increased need while also precluding the types of in-person events and fundraisers nonprofit organizations often rely on for support. Many have turned to online endeavors.

But the generosity of those Pasadenans still in a position to help others has remained strong, according to Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater, who serves as CEO of the nonprofit Friends in Deed.

“We are really fortunate to have some wonderful donors and supporters, but yes, our food pantry lines were the highest we’ve ever had last week, with nearly 400 in two days,” he said. Grater estimated food pantry use has risen by 30 percent during the pandemic.

“So we know that every dollar matters so that we can feed folks and we can help people get off the streets,” Grater said. “And so we’re putting a little extra effort into giving Tuesday this year.”

With social distancing mandates still in effect, “This year, we are doing a little something different,” he said.

The first 50 donors to contribute $100 or more will receive overnight bags emblazoned with the Friends in Deed logo, according to Grater.

Throughout the year, Friends in Need collects not only monetary donations, but also food and other necessities to stock its pantry, Grater said.

Looking forward to January, Grater said the organization was preparing to distribute cold and wet weather gear, since the pandemic won’t allow the usual overnight shelter. Donations for that effort were also needed.

The Pasadena Symphony and Pops is also trying a new approach to Giving Tuesday, symphony CEO Laura Unger said.

“We have a special promotion and a special offer that combines Giving Tuesday and Cyber Monday in one,” she said.

Over the course of the pandemic, Pasadena Symphony and Pops Music Director David Lockington has been recording duets with guest artists, Unger said.

“We are releasing an online concert of his duets,” she said. “Every donor who participates between the 48 hours of Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday will receive, as a gift, this online concert of his duets. So it’s a way to really be part of the community and support your local orchestra and receive a gift from us in return.”

With concerts banned for months by health orders, the symphony and the music industry at large has taken a significant hit, Unger said.

“First of all, our hearts go out to the entire musicians’ community of Southern California, and the nation, for that matter,” she said. “There is no real takeout version.”

Despite severely reduced income, the organization is doing what it can for the musicians, she said.

“The symphony has been taking care of our musicians’ health insurance during this crisis because we are unable to hire the full orchestra on stage, but we are committed to doing our part supporting our musicians’ health insurance during this time period where we can’t hire them fully, Unger said.

“And our donors have been sticking with us and we really do have the support from our board and our community to weather this storm,” she added.

While live performances have been off the table, the Pasadena Symphony and Pops has expanded its online educational programs, Unger said.

The lessons learned in recent months won’t vanish once the COVID-19 virus is vanquished, she said. “We will be a stronger and a more artistically robust organization on the other side of this.”

Azita Milanian of Altadena runs Children of One Planet, dedicated to fighting child hunger and raising awareness about child trafficking.

The pandemic has brought her day dancewear store business, TOSCA Fashion, to a grinding halt, she said. But that has meant much more time to devote to her charity.

“Children of One Planet is getting bigger because we have new board members,” she said.

“Hopefully one day, I’m going to open my own Children of One Planet homes. That’s what my idea is. But in the meantime, I have to do whatever I can to bring awareness to the children,” Milanian said.

American Cancer Society Executive Director for the Los Angeles-Central Coast Area Dan Witzling said his organization has seen a large impact from the pandemic, which it hoped Giving Tuesday might help correct.

“It’s been really difficult, quite honestly, for the American Cancer Society this year,” he said. “It’s really varied. Here in Pasadena and across the country, in terms of giving, our business model has been based largely on localized community events.

“We found a really effective way to engage local populations around our cause by doing activities like Relay for Life, the Breast Cancer Walks, the galas. And obviously you can’t do any of those in person through the majority of this year,” Witzling said. “Our event season, in fact, started with the pandemic…. but we pivoted to digital strategies.

“We are going to be doing some storytelling about cancer survivors and the hardships that they’re going through right now and different ways that we’re trying to support them,” he said.

Witzling also urged people not to forego regular cancer screening due to the pandemic.

At the Fire Family Foundation in Los Angeles, Executive Director Elizabeth Dever said the pandemic has changed a great deal about daily life, and nonprofits are no exception.

“Obviously, so many more people who maybe in the past were able to donate are now the ones on the receiving end of some of those donations because they’ve lost jobs or their situation at their work has changed,” she said. “…for those who can give, we’re really hoping that they’ll decide to step up and maybe do a little bit more knowing that there are many more people who are needing the different services from all of our local nonprofits.”

Like many other charities, “many of our traditional in-person fundraising events had to be canceled [or moved online],” Dever said.

“Giving Tuesday has always been that sort of online viral movement,” she said. “So we’re really hoping that people will decide this year to maybe give a little bit more this year, or if they’ve never participated in the past, then hopefully they will decide to participate this year.”

More information on Giving Tuesday is available online at hq.givingtuesday.org.

More information on Friends in Deed’s Giving Tuesday campaign is available at facebook.com/FriendsInDeedPasadena/posts/4007853262560933.

More information on the Pasadena Symphony and Pops is available at https://pasadenasymphony-pops.org.

More information on Children of One Planet can be found at childrenofoneplanet.org.

Details on the American Cancer Society’s campaign are posted at acsgiving.org.

More information on the Fire Family Foundation can be found at firefamilyfoundation.org.