Nonprofit Resources

Partnering for good

Looking for information and resources related to creating a GivingEdge profile and participating in the next Big Day of Giving from the Sacramento Region Community Foundation? You've found the right place. For GivingEdge eligibility, please scroll to the bottom of the page.

Nonprofit Resources for
Big Day of Giving

Here's everything you need (and more!) for a successful Big Day of Giving! If you have questions, please contact the Big Day of Giving team at the Sacramento Region Community Foundation at bdog@sacregcf.org.

Nonprofit User Guide

A comprehensive guide to Big Day of Giving, including information about eligibility and registration; planning your marketing; preparing your GivingEdge profile; donations; details on matching funds and fundraising pages; contingency planning; receiving your donations via eCheck, and more.

Campaign Workplan

A helpful tool to use in March and April to strategize for your Big Day of Giving campaign. This resource includes key activities starting eight weeks prior to BDOG, as well as the Marketing Plan; Board Member Individual Development Plan; Circle of Influence Worksheet

BDOG Mentors

Mentors are Big Day of Giving experts, who make themselves available to help other nonprofit representatives! They are available from January to May. We recommend new organizations and Team Captains connect with a Mentor at least once.

Calendar & Event Registration

We host a variety of events leading up to Big Day of Giving including trainings, networking events, and other helpful webinars and calls.

Facebook Learning Community

The Facebook Learning Community is a space for you to ask questions, and get tips and updates, about BDOG from others who are participating!

The Bark E-Newsletter

Subscribe to our Bark! E-newsletter to get regular updates on upcoming Big Day of Giving deadlines, events, trainings, resources, and more.

Mightycause Support

Big Day of Giving and GivingEdge are run on the Mightycause technology platform. If you have questions about the functionality of fundraising tools available to you, a good place to refer is their team's Support Library.

Marketing Toolkit for
Big Day of Giving

Use these graphics, templates, and more to plan and execute your Big Day of Giving campaign. If you have questions, please contact the Big Day of Giving team at the Sacramento Region Community Foundation at bdog@sacregcf.org.

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Logos, Social Media, & Email Graphics

Access Big Day of Giving logos, social media and email graphics in multiple languages, customizable frames, and more!

Brand Usage Guide

Big Day of Giving is a trademark of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation. Get the details on our brand standards, color palette, and more.

Sample Messages

Browse this library of sample messaging templates — consisting of emails, social media posts, press releases, short blurbs, and more.

Nonprofit Story Form

There are tons of stories to share about your organization's impact in the community. Send us one and we'll post it on our Big Day of Giving social media channels.

Animated GIFs

Spice up your messages with animated GIFs. Review our collection or access them directly from your favorite social media and text messaging apps by searching "Big Day of Giving" in the GIF search bar.

Printable Materials

Download and print Big Day of Giving materials, including flyers and posters, items that are handy to pass out to your audiences or use in Big Day of Giving photo opportunities!

Canva Templates

It's easy to customize BDOG-branded Canva templates with your nonprofit's images. A free account with Canva is required to access, edit, and download the templates. Learn more about creating an account (and, when you have one, accessing Canva Pro features for free through your nonprofit).

The Foundation provides updated Canva templates for your nonprofit to use in your marketing for BDOG! Find templates for graphics below:

Square Graphics: BDOG Frames, Logo Templates
Instagram Story Graphics
Email Graphics

Want to learn how to customize our templates? Watch our tutorial!

These resources are created or curated by the Sacramento Region Community Foundation for the benefit of nonprofits participating in Big Day of Giving.

BDOG & GivingEdge Questions

What are the benefits of having a GivingEdge profile for my nonprofit?

A profile on GivingEdge gives your organization an "edge" in educating our community on the impact you make, offers donors the option to support your work by making gifts, and provides you access to top-of-the-line donor engagement tools and functionality.

What are the benefits of participating in Big Day of Giving?

There are many! Participating in Big Day of Giving offers opportunities for your organization to connect with current donors and, through your profile on this website, engage new ones at a time when nonprofits are front-and-center in our region; build your organization’s ability to serve our community by participating in trainings to strengthen your team's capacity and skills; and collaborate with staff and volunteers from other local organizations to grow an inclusive, collaborative nonprofit sector.

What is Big Day of Giving? When is the next Big Day of Giving and how can I register my nonprofit?

Coordinated by the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, Big Day of Giving is a day-long celebration of supporting the nonprofits that serve El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo counties—and that are listed right on this website! Since the first giving day in 2013, more than 90,000 donors have helped hundreds of local nonprofits raise over $104 million through the effort. The organizations that participate also benefit from year-round capacity-building opportunities.

The next Big Day of Giving is Thursday, May 1, 2025. Register your nonprofit for Big Day of Giving 2025 by February 1, 2025!

Can my organization participate in Big Day of Giving if it doesn't register?

No. Only nonprofits with profiles on bigdayofgiving.org during the giving window are participants of Big Day of Giving. Big Day of Giving is a program of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, which owns the trademark and protects the investment that participating nonprofits and their supporters have made in the program's success by asking organizations that are not participants to refrain from implying otherwise. While such use may not be ill-intended, it causes confusion and dilutes the event's impact. Thank you for your understanding.

If I create a profile for Big Day of Giving, what happens to the profile after the event?

When you participate in Big Day of Giving, you are required to create a GivingEdge profile. Your "Big Day of Giving profile" and your GivingEdge profile are one and the same! After Big Day of Giving, your profile remains live on the website and can be accessed by visitors.

What should I know about donations made on GivingEdge?

Donors are offered two main payment methods on GivingEdge:

Credit card: The most common method! The minimum donation is $10 and all major credit cards (Mastercard, Visa, Discover, American Express) are accepted. A technology and processing fee is assessed on all credit card donations, which your donors have the option to offset. Learn more about fees.
External account: Donors can commit gifts through their external Donor Advised Fund or other managed account to your organization on GivingEdge. While this is available year-round, it's most commonly used during Big Day of Giving. Learn more here.

Your donors can use GivingEdge to make a one-time gift to your organization or set up monthly recurring donations with a credit card, which can be managed via their GivingEdge accounts. For additional information on recurring gifts, please see this support article from the GivingEdge platform's technology team.

Donations are disbursed from the Sacramento Region Community Foundation using eChecks, which you can learn more about here.

Do donors receive receipts for their donations?

Yes. An official tax receipt from the Sacramento Region Community Foundation is emailed to the donor within minutes. You do not need to provide additional tax information to the donor, though we urge you to send a "thank you" acknowledgment. If a donor does not receive the email or is in need of a duplicate receipt, please have them contact us.

If a donor gives through my organization's GivingEdge profile, when and how will I receive the funds?

GivingEdge donations are reconciled by the Sacramento Region Community Foundation and are sent via Deluxe eCheck to your organization no later than 30 days after the end of the month in which the donations were made. For additional information, please click here.

Can I have a profile on GivingEdge if I don't want to participate in Big Day of Giving?

Yes, you can have a GivingEdge profile and not participate in Big Day of Giving. Please note that, as long as it's updated annually, your GivingEdge profile will remain publicly visible on the site for most of the year, but it will be hidden from the site just before, during, and just after Big Day of Giving, to prevent confusion for donors.

Can donors make gifts any time of the year on GivingEdge?

Yes, once your organization's GivingEdge profile is live on the site, it is equipped with donation capabilities and will accept gifts throughout the year.

How do I access a list of donors to my organization? How do I update my GivingEdge profile?

You can access a list of donors to your organization and update the information on your GivingEdge profile by logging in to your GivingEdge account.

What are other ways my organization can partner with the Sacramento Region Community Foundation?

Though most of the grants the Foundation awards each year are directed by individuals, families, and organizations with charitable funds at the Foundation, we do manage a number of competitive grants. To learn more about these opportunities and to be alerted when they open, please visit the Foundation's website.

In addition, we offer charitable funds customized to meet the needs of nonprofits. By opening a charitable fund with the Foundation, nonprofits like yours can set aside funds to create long-term stability, plan for future growth, and add to the organization’s credibility with key donors. The Foundation works closely with the leadership of your organization to help establish a fund that supports your current and future goals. As an additional benefit, the Foundation handles the administration of the fund, leaving your staff and board free to focus on what matters — your mission. Learn more about establishing a charitable fund for your nonprofit on the Foundation's website.

GivingEdge

Building a profile on the Sacramento region's nonprofit knowledgebase, GivingEdge, gives your organization an "edge" in educating our community on the impact you make, offers donors the option to support your work by making gifts, and provides you access to top-of-the-line donor engagement tools and functionality year-round.

Create a GivingEdge Profile

GivingEdge is the backbone of the Sacramento region's annual giving day, Big Day of Giving, and all nonprofits that participate in Big Day of Giving must have updated GivingEdge profiles. In fact, building a GivingEdge profile is part of the Big Day of Giving registration process from mid-October through December of each year. Note that creating a profile does not register your organization for Big Day of Giving. Registration for Big Day of Giving is currently closed.

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Eligibility Criteria

To create a profile on GivingEdge, your nonprofit must meet the following criteria:

Be a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization in good standing with the IRS, the California Secretary of State, the California Department of Justice, and the Franchise Tax Board. Learn more about our compliance requirements with these entities.
Be headquartered or have a branch in the four-county capital region of El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, or Yolo counties, and provide services to one or more of these counties. If your organization is physically located outside of this region, but a significant amount of your work takes place in the four-county area, you are eligible to participate; however, you will be asked to provide additional documentation.
Not currently under any federal, state, or local investigation or regulatory-related inquiry (including violations and citations) related to any aspect of your operation.
Nonprofit organizations that currently have a fund at Sacramento Region Community Foundation are eligible to participate regardless of location. All other criteria listed above must be met.

Ineligible

We do not accept requests from the following types of organizations (barring exceptions stated):

Schools, houses of worship, or government organizations, except we will accept organizations or foundations that are fiscally sponsored by a school or church. Further, organizations or foundations created to support churches, schools, or government organizations are eligible if eligibility requirements are met.
School groups such as PTAs, sport teams, band boosters, or other school affinity groups; Private foundations (filing a 990PF); Supporting organizations (charity status of 509(a)(3)); Public safety organizations (charity status of 509(a)(4)).

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Contact Us

Connect with our team.

Have questions about GivingEdge, Big Day of Giving, the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, opening a charitable fund to support your philanthropic giving, or another piece of our work? Please connect with our team, who are always happy to assist.

Learn more

Nonprofit Resources

Partnering for good

Nonprofit Resources

Partnering for good