36 hours to support 230+ Centre County nonprofits: What to know about Centre Gives

Centre Gives 2026 is rapidly approaching, and there are some things you should know for this year’s event, including its overall mission, how to donate and more.

Hosted by Centre Foundation to support Centre County nonprofits, the donation period for this year’s 36-hour giving event will kick off at 8 a.m. Wednesday and last until 8 p.m. Thursday.

More than 230 nonprofits from the Bald Eagle, Philipsburg, Penns Valley and State College areas will participate in this year’s event, including the YMCA of Centre County, Centre County PAWS, Centre Volunteers in Medicine, ClearWater Conservancy and many, many more.

“Each organization plays a role in strengthening the region and helping it thrive,” a late April press release for the event reads. “These nonprofits represent the full fabric of the community, including arts and culture, animals, education, environment, health, housing, human services and youth services. Together, they reflect what it takes to build a place where everyone has the opportunity to flourish.”

For many nonprofits, “Centre Gives is one of the most important fundraising opportunities of the year,” according to the press release. Nonprofits that collected the most donations last year were Centre Volunteers in Medicine ($108,374), Centre County PAWS ($105,101), Schlow Library Foundation ($96,924), State College Food Bank ($90,425) and Clearwater Conservancy ($77,385).

The essential funding “supports programs, expands services and helps organizations meet growing needs across Centre County,” Centre Foundation wrote.

Since its launch in 2012, Centre Gives has generated more than $22.5 million for local organizations.

Last year, Centre Gives raised a total of $2.84 million, breaking the event’s fundraising record from the year prior. Nine nonprofits broke the $50,000 fundraising mark last year, with two of those hitting the $100,000 mark. Additionally, 19 more raised over $25,000 and 32 raised over $10,000.

Those efforts were increased by a Centre Foundation and Hamer Foundation-supported $500,000 stretch pool, which will return again this year.

The stretch pool works by boosting donations during the event, where every eligible donation receives a prorated share of the $500,000 fund based on the amount of funds raised, meaning the more money an organization raises, the larger share of the pool it receives.

Along with the stretch pool, the nonprofits will also be competing for roughly $40,000 in prizes during various power hours. If a nonprofit has the most unique donors during a respective prize’s power hour, then they’ll win that prize, and further bolster their total donation total.

Additional $500 prizes will be given out to the 10 large and small nonprofits that received the most unique donors.

Many local nonprofits will host online and in-person events to celebrate power hours or the overall event.

How to donate to Centre Gives

Community members can participate in Centre Gives by visiting www.centregives.org, clicking the “organizations” tab, and choosing a nonprofit, or nonprofits, to donate to.

Donations must be a minimum of $10 or more, with no ceiling to the donation amount, and no limit on how many organizations you can choose to support.

“Every gift is a representation of support for the work already happening across our communities and those gifts help to ensure that good work will continue,” David Lieb, president and CEO of Centre Foundation, stated in the press release.

While a live leaderboard of the donation results will be shared on the Centre Gives website, the event’s official final results following the closure of its donation period at 8 p.m. Thursday, and the completion of a verification process.

For more information about Centre Gives 2026, visit its website or the Centre Foundation Facebook page.