The Center of Anna Maria Island’s holiday fundraising campaign is rising for the cause.
Jim McDaniel, the center’s director of development, wrote in a Dec. 21 email to The Islander that the nonprofit increased its “Campaign to Sustain 1.0” matching challenge to $75,000 after donors exceeded the original $50,000 goal.
The annual fundraising campaign began Nov. 21 and, as of Dec. 20, raised $69,457 from 91 donors and a matching amount from eight challenge donors — for a total of $138,914.
Last year, the nonprofit’s annual campaign raised $240,692 in response to a $50,000 matching challenge that was reached early and added to multiple times before ending in January.
This year’s campaign will end Jan. 13 but McDaniel said another fundraiser might follow.
McDaniel said the next fundraiser, a “special center board challenge,” would involve board members finding 30 donors to match donations from 30 new donors who rise to the challenge.
And the money might be needed to reverse the center’s $222,187.32 September deficit, only three months into the 2022-23 fiscal year.
More information about the campaign can be found at the center’s website, centerami.org.