Give Local Bay 2026 celebrates raising more than $200,000 with record-breaking community participation

Give Local Bay 2026 set new records for participation and funds raised, all while building awareness of how local nonprofits help our community.

Give Local Bay is the Bay Area Community Foundation’s annual 24-hour fundraiser. Read more about the history of the event in this April 22 Confluence Great Lakes Bay article. 

The 2026 event, held on May 5, was a success. 

“We broke another record,” says Shawna Walraven, President and CEO of the Bay Area Community Foundation. “It was just an all-around amazing day. It was so fun.”

In 2026 alone, 669 donors raised $219,351 for Bay and Arenac county nonprofits through Give Local Bay. That money came from individual donations as well as incentives and prizes. The nonprofits earned the incentives and prizes by participating in contests throughout the day. 

Since launching in 2015, Give Local Bay has generated more than $1.77 million in total community impact through donations, matching funds, and incentive prizes. 

This year’s $41,350 match pool was made possible through the support from the Bay Area Community Foundation, the Gougeon Family Fund, the Nickless Family Charitable Foundation, and proceeds generated through the first inaugural Give Local Bay Boost Bash presented by Tri-Star Trust.

Additional incentive prizes totaling $3,000 were awarded throughout the campaign thanks to support from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the Jerome and Annette Crete Family Fund, MCI Insurance, Consumers Energy, HighRoad Wealth Management of Raymond James, Standish Family Dental Center, and the Bay Area Community Foundation’s Youth Advisory Committee (YAC).

As important as the funds are to local organizations, the one-day event is about much more than money. 

During the 2025 and 2026 events, the Community Foundation ramped up participation from its Youth Advisory Committee. 

The teens contributed to support student engagement initiatives and a video contest. The video contest called for participating schools to adopt nonprofits through a student-led selection process. Next, National Honor Society groups produced promotional videos highlighting the selected organizations. Public voting determined the winners. 

Student-led video contest and engagement prize awards benefited organizations including New Dimensions, Bay County Library System, Friends of Bay City State Park, Studio 23/The Arts Center, Bay Area Women’s Center, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Great Lakes Bay Region, Dow Bay Area Family YMCA, Humane Society of Bay County, and The Salvation Army of Bay City, with awards ranging from $250 to $4,000.

Western High School’s video featuring The Salvation Army of Bay City earned the top spot and a $4,000 prize. 

Leah Gary, a Western High School sophomore, says she enjoyed participating in the fundraiser. Her involvement began at a YAC meeting where she first learned about the video contest. She took the idea back to her school’s National Honor Society, who ran with it. 

Gary says the process was personally meaningful. She met new people and saw the impact of the event on the community. She also learned more about her community and the Salvation Army.

“I knew some stuff because I volunteer a lot in the community. I helped out with their winter coats this winter, but there’s always more to learn,” Gary says.

Teaching the community about the organization was one goal of Ye Olde Court House/Arenac County Historical Society. 

The Arenac County-based organization rose to the top of the fundraising leader board. The Historical Society saw 71 individual donors and earned $14,145. The campaign’s other two top fundraising organizations were Camp Fish Tales, which raised $10,250, and the Humane Society of Bay County, which raised $9,050.

Sandy Proulx, President of the Arenac County Historical Society, says the fundraiser gives a welcome boost to the organization’s endowment. “It’s set aside for future use,” Proulx says.

The fundraiser also helped raise awareness about the museum and the society.

“We’re trying to expand, we’re trying to get people interested in history,” Proulx says. 

While Arenac County may seem quiet to an outsider, Proulx points out that it is home to many people and important in the history of local families. 

Early settlers were primarily farmers growing sugar beets, onions, and potatoes. “As time goes by, small manufacturing moved in,” she adds.

Today, the museum is packed with artifacts. People researching their family histories can browse photographs and old obituaries to learn about their past. The museum itself is open for limited hours in the summer, but Proulx says it also opens by appointment for people who want access to the records. 

The Historical Society was just one of the agencies putting in the work to make the fundraiser so successful, Walraven says.

Walraven says all the agencies and volunteers worked hard to make the fundraiser successful. Several different agencies set new personal records for how much they raised during the event. That’s especially important now. 

“We’re seeing need rise,” Walraven says. “We’re going to be seeing more need in these times.”