What’s better than donating to a great cause? Donating to a great cause and having your donation go even farther. That’s why Russ Carson, a supporter of The Child Center and a founder and partner at private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe, established a match challenge, whereby he will match every $3 you contribute with an extra $1. That means your $3 becomes $4; your $30 becomes $40; your $300 becomes $400. He pledged to match any gift up to $1.5 million.
“The Child Center does amazing things, and I wanted to find a way to make as big an impact on its work as possible,” Carson said. “Creating a match challenge was a way to get a whole community of supporters involved, and help twice as many kids.”
Fundraising studies show that people are very responsive to matching gift campaigns. Carson’s has been extremely successful and is nearly complete.
In recognition of this gift and Carson’s tremendous impact on the agency, The Child Center created a new award in his name: The Russell L. Carson Visionary Award. The inaugural award was given to Kay Howard, tutoring coordinator for the M.S. 72 Basie Beacon afterschool program, at our 2015 annual gala by Carson himself. This year’s Carson Award went to Tanya Krien, director of Early Head Start.
“We are so grateful to Russ for coming up with this innovative way to double his already generous gift. It has been truly transformational in generating support and helping us serve the children and families in our programs,” said Traci Donnelly, CEO of The Child Center.
We encourage other donors—on their own or with a group—to create their own matching gift pledge. To learn how, or to donate to the Carson Campaign, please contact our Development Office at 718-651-7770.
