This spring was our first in-person event season since 2020—the most successful ever in Coalition history. And while the dollars raised and new supporters are incredible, the real story is the impact your investment will have on kids who have spent time in foster care.
This year our Give STL Day goal was $250,000—our largest one yet! In less than 24 hours, more than 400 donors came together to support the Coalition’s mission and helped us raise $265,595 for our kids. We are simply blown away by your generosity!
We could not be more grateful for the commitment you have to our kids. You joined hundreds of like-minded individuals who believe every child deserves the support of a family. Your gift allows our expert teams to find families for our community’s most at-risk children and support those families as they help kids heal.
Your gift will go on to do amazing things, like find a home for a 17-year-old girl about to age out of foster care without a permanent family. Or quickly place three siblings who have never been separated into the home of their cousin, so they don’t get split up. Your gift will put our highly trained and talented clinicians in the home of new foster parents struggling to support a child with autism and PTSD. Your gift will keep a ten-year-old boy in school and create a therapeutic plan that helps his single foster mom support the child’s education.
In short, your gift will transform the life of a child in foster care. They will never know it was you who made that transformation possible, but we do, and we hope you take a moment to appreciate it too.
Special Thanks to the Berges Family Foundation for doubling the Give STL match this year! We are grateful for your generous support to children impacted by foster care. Thank you for all you do to lift up the St. Louis community!
St. Louis’ most fashionable folks joined us at the Hilton Frontenac on April 21st for a fabulous fundraising night to benefit children impacted by foster care.
Our guests enjoyed the most incredible auction featuring hundreds of designer handbags, as well as an evening full of delicious food, live music, and fun surprises. We are grateful for each one of you who brought your incredible energy and fun spirits, creating a vibrant atmosphere for what was the best Hope in a Handbag event yet.
This was our first in-person event since the beginning of 2020, and with a total of 312 tickets sold, you helped us raise $152,040!! It was a record-breaking year for ticket sales, and we are thrilled!
We hope you’re enjoying your new handbags!
Millennial Madness Trivia Night finally took place after two long years of being canceled because of COVID-19! In the end, the Junior Board of the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition raised $15,333, exceeding their goal of $15,000. The sold-out event was a night of fun, laughs, and generosity. Our sincere thanks go out to Urban Chestnut for providing the best venue space we have ever had! Big shout out to Todd, Porta Party DJs, who kept the energy high and hosted an amazing event!
Last but certainly not least, we would like to thank our generous sponsors for both 2022 and 2020, which were canceled due to the pandemic.
Breaking Trends
In addition to the records broken in attendance, total donors, and total dollars raised, we’re seeing some awesome trends at the Coalition that buck national norms. While nationally, nonprofits are seeing the same total dollars raised come from fewer and wealthier donors, at the Coalition, we are seeing our efforts to engage grassroots and midlevel donors pay enormous dividends. Some data since the start of COVID:
- Grassroots donations to Give STL Day (under $100) grew 52% since 2019, with the number of grassroots donors growing by 72% (184 in 2019 to 317 in 2022).
- Midlevel donations (between $100 and $999) saw the most growth of any category on a percentage basis, increasing by 212% since 2019. And the number of individuals donating at that level increased by 123% (73 in 2019 to 163 in 2022).
What’s more, this has all happened while achieving substantial growth in our Giving Society (donors giving more than $1,000 annually) over the same period.
We call ourselves a Coalition because it takes people from all walks of life, giving in whatever way they can, to change a system as complex and substantial as foster care. Having robust support at every level ensures our agency is sustainable, which means the maximum number of kids and families receive our innovative services.
Stay Tuned
The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 permits States to lift the age at which individuals can be adopted or enter legal guardianship to 19, 20, or 21, creating another pathway to permanence for young adults exiting care. If you’ve ever been curious about adult adoption and the journeys of older youth navigating the foster care system, stay tuned for our August blog discussing the impact of and process for adult adoption and aging out of foster care.