Warren Gives 2021 is still over a month away and already the pledges are up.

The Community Foundation of Warren County has announced that there will be a pool of $60,000 in matching funds for this year’s event. That is up $5,000 over last year’s match which was boosted from an initial $40,000 as donations exceeded expectation.

The one-day charitable event provides the chance for donors to pick from many local non-profits and grow their contributions. If an organization receives 1 percent of the donations, it receives 1 percent of the matching fund – or $600 this year.

“We were very pleased with the response to this year’s request for matching funds,” Community Foundation Executive Director John Lasher said. “In the early years our pool of matching funds was $25,000. As the event has grown, we have been able to keep pace with the growth of the matching funds pool.”

Contributing to the pool this year are the Betts Foundation, Community Foundation, Crossett, Inc., DeFrees Family Memorial Fund, McComas Charitable Fund, Northwest Charitable Foundation, Sara Sokolski Memorial Fund, Superior Tire and Rubber, and United Refining.

Last year the Community Foundation distributed $648,232.17 that was collected through Warren Gives to participating organizations. “We are amazed at the generosity of the people of Warren County,” Lasher commented, “but last year’s results were truly astounding. We are hoping for another banner event this year.”

Preparations for the May 19 event are under way.

“This year Warren Gives will enable over 100 local non-profit organizations to raise funds between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Wednesday, May 19,” Lasher said.

Checks received between May 10 and May 17 and accompanied by a check acceptance for available at warrengives.org or by contacting the Community Foundation office at (814) 726-9553 will also count toward the event.

More information and reminders to participate on event day are available by visiting warrengives.org.

Information about the Community Foundation and its programs is available by visiting CFOWC.org.