$450,000 in matching funds announced for nonprofits

Clark County Community Foundation and the Hodgkin Family Foundation, both char­i­ta­ble funds of Blue Grass Community Foundation, have announced a com­bined $450,000 in match­ing funds to sup­port Clark County non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions dur­ing this year’s Bluegrass Gives online giv­ing event on Giving Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, from 6 am to mid­night at www.BGgives.org.

Formerly known as the GoodGiving Challenge, Bluegrass Gives is host­ed by Blue Grass Community Foundation in part­ner­ship with Smiley Pete Publishing. This annu­al fundrais­er, now in its 15^th year, makes it easy and fun for donors to sup­port local non­prof­its across Central and Appalachia Kentucky. Since 2011, the col­lec­tive giv­ing cam­paign has helped tens of thou­sands of donors invest more than $26 mil­lion in hun­dreds of char­i­ties across the region.

This year, 33 Clark County non­prof­its have reg­is­tered to par­tic­i­pate in Bluegrass Gives. Of these, 15 orga­ni­za­tions were select­ed through an appli­ca­tion process to receive up to $10,000 each in dol­lar-for-dol­lar match­ing funds from Clark County Community Foundation. Thanks to a $300,000 con­tri­bu­tion from the Hodgkin Family Foundation, those same 15 orga­ni­za­tions will also receive an addi­tion­al two-dol­lar match on the first $10,000 donat­ed, rais­ing the total Clark County match pool to $450,000.

“These funds will help sup­port our non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions in the need­ed work they do for Clark County, while also increas­ing the impact of donors’ con­tri­bu­tions,” said Halee Cunningham, admin­is­tra­tor of the Clark County Community Foundation. “Between the Hodgkin Family Foundation match and the Clark County Community Foundation match, a $10 gift to an eli­gi­ble non­prof­it can result in $40 of impact.”

“While our resources aren’t infi­nite, our com­mit­ment to Clark County remains strong,” added Cunningham. “This year, we intro­duced an appli­ca­tion process to ensure we could tar­get our match dol­lars where they would have the most impact, while also using grant funds to sup­port oth­er non­prof­it grant requests through­out the year, includ­ing a future high-impact project that will ben­e­fit thou­sands of local chil­dren and families.”

“Clark County’s non­prof­its play a vital role in improv­ing qual­i­ty of life for our com­mu­ni­ty,” said Will Glasscock, chair of the Clark County Community Foundation. “We encour­age all donors to vis­it BGgives.org to learn more about these orga­ni­za­tions and give gen­er­ous­ly on Giving Tuesday.”

Across the region, more than 230 non­prof­its will par­tic­i­pate in Bluegrass Gives, with over $800,000 avail­able in match­es and prizes to ampli­fy char­i­ta­ble giv­ing. To sup­port Clark County non­prof­its and learn more about Bluegrass Gives, vis­it www.BGgives.org.

Clark County non­prof­its eli­gi­ble for match­ing funds include:

BedHeads
Bluegrass Heritage Museum
Clark County Community Services
Clark County Equity Coalition
Clark County Homeless Coalition
Friends of Parks and Recreation
Friends of the Clark County Animal Shelter
Habitat for Humanity of Madison & Clark Counties
Leeds
Legacy Greenscapes
Lower Howards Creek
Rapha Ministries
Rowland Arts Center
STRIDE
Winchester Community Work Group

Additional Clark County par­tic­i­pants include:

BCTC
Charlie’s Heart Charity
Clark County Youth Sports Association
FC Kentucky
Holly Rood
Hospice East
Kingdom Mission Outreach Inc.
Marco Shemwell Foundation
New Beginnings of Winchester
Partners in Education
Rose Mary C. Brooks Place
Society of St. Vincent de Paul St. Joseph Conference
St. Agatha Academy
Swimchester Sailfish, Inc.
The Beacon of Hope Emergency Shelter
Winchester Black History & Heritage Committee
Winchester Christian Ballet
WinCity Media, Inc.