‘A tremendous success.’ Here’s how much Centre Gives 2025 raised for nonprofits
Centre Gives has broken its own fundraising record every year since its inception, and this year, it happened again.
The 36-hour annual online fundraising event, organized by the Centre Foundation, raised $2.84 million for 230 Centre County nonprofits and from 17,841 donors, prizes and stretch pools, surpassing the $2.49 million raised last year.
Since the event was first held in 2012, more than $22.5 million has been raised.
“This year, you rose to the challenge again, and it was your support that made Centre Gives 2025 a tremendous success,” Centre Foundation wrote on its website.
The nonprofits that collected the most donations this year include 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).
Additionally, four nonprofits surpassed the $50,000 mark in donations, while 19 raised over $25,000 and 32 raised over $10,000.
Donations made during the fundraiser went further with a $500,000 stretch pool provided by the Centre Foundation and the Hamer Foundation. Organizations also competed for around $40,000 in additional prizes during “power hours” and time-sensitive challenges.
“We are beyond grateful for the community’s generosity during Centre Gives,” a Facebook post from CVIM reads. “We couldn’t do what we do without your support, which is crucial to CVIM’s mission of delivering compassionate care, improving health outcomes and ensuring access to essential healthcare services for our community.”
On Thursday, the final hours of the event were celebrated in person at Brass 16823, an event venue in Spring Township’s Titan Energy Park. According to a Facebook post from the Centre Foundation, nearly 40 organizations attended and enjoyed live music, food and a variety of family-friendly activities as the final donations rolled in.
New meaning for some amid federal funding cuts
Centre Gives couldn’t have come at a better time for some of the county’s nonprofits, as federal funding cuts and freezes have already been negatively affecting the services of some organizations.
The Rivet Makerspace at the Discovery Space of Central Pennsylvania is one of those nonprofits, having to cut a crucial, local entrepreneur-supporting program after losing out on $70,000 in funding. The Rivet and Discovery Space raised $62,105 at Centre Gives 2025.
Megan Evans, the executive director of the Centre County United Way — which brought in $10,770 at Centre Gives 2025 — wrote in an email to the Centre Daily Times that while the United Way hasn’t been impacted by the cuts, some of the agencies funded by the United Way have been both directly and indirectly impacted, and will soon start to search for alternative funding avenues.
Ridgelines Language Arts, a nonprofit that works to provide language arts services to marginalized communities in central Pennsylvania’s ridges and valleys, raised $10,300 at Centre Gives 2025 — but that amount is only a fraction of the $70,000 that was lost when two nonprofit-supporting federal grants were canceled.
The funding was meant to be put toward supporting professional development for Ridgelines’ teaching artists, starting new programs, training assistant teachers and more.
“Those cuts hit us hard, and we aren’t sure how we’re going to get that funding back,” Ridgelines’ Director Jenny Hwozdek said. “That’s why events like Centre Gives are so important nowadays. Like almost every nonprofit I can think of, Ridgelines works really hard to stretch the funds we raise as far as we possibly can, and [the funds raised through Centre Gives] will help a lot of people out as cuts continue.”
Moving forward, leaders of nonprofits hope that people will increase their donations and support, regardless of what’s happening on a national scale.
“We need more people to support our non-profits regardless of how uncertain things are in the world,” Evans wrote. “Unfortunately, the trickle-down effects [of the cuts] we are experiencing now will ultimately land on our most vulnerable neighbors, and potentially that group of individuals will grow. I encourage every person in our community who is able to support our neighbors to do so, in good and challenging times.”
For more information on Centre Gives 2025, or to see what each nonprofit received, visit centregives.org.
