Crowdfunding Initiative Provides Housing Essentials to Veterans Experiencing Homelessness
Boston, MA (PRWEB) November 03, 2015 -- #DayForTheBrave, an online crowdfunding campaign, will bring together nonprofits and charities from across the nation to raise money to support local veterans. A portion of the event, taking place on November 11th, is dedicated to raising funds to provide housing essentials to veterans experiencing homelessness through the Welcome Home Kit initiative.
The Welcome Home Kits consist of key items to successfully house veterans, such as landlord engagement assistance, housing navigation, and security and utility deposits, as well as furnishings to transform an empty apartment into a home. A White House convening in July identified these as a critical and missing components that complement the existing funding allocated for rents.
Communities within the 25 Cities Initiative, which provides technical assistance to communities across the country with the highest concentration of veterans experiencing homelessness, have joined the effort by setting up city-specific fundraising pages where individuals can donate to fund Welcome Home Kits for local veterans. Also featured is a general fund to which donors can make contributions that will be disbursed to the areas with the greatest need.
“The City of Atlanta, in partnership with homeless service providers throughout the city, is poised to reach functional zero for veterans experiencing homelessness,” said Cathryn Marchman, Executive Director of Partners for H.O.M.E. “#DayForTheBrave is a phenomenal initiative which will go a long way to support our efforts and commitment to ensuring that there are no veterans without a home in the city of Atlanta.”
There are nearly 50,000 veterans experiencing homelessness in the United States, according to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2014 Point-In-Time count. In addition, about 1.4 million more are at risk of becoming homeless due to lack of support or financial hardships. Government funding is limited and programs are often at capacity, creating a need for additional resources to support veterans.
In an effort to create awareness among corporate and philanthropic funders about the need for veterans, Funders Together to End Homelessness, the Council on Foundations, and Community Solutions partnered to organize the Welcome Home Kits initiative in response to the unique funding gaps in the federal government’s effort to end veteran homelessness in 2015. After hearing about this need, Razoo, an online crowdfunding platform, offered to dedicate a section of the upcoming #DayForTheBrave campaign to the Welcome Home Kit initiative.
For more information on the initiative or to donate, visit the #DayForTheBrave Welcome Home Kits website.
About Funders Together to End Homelessness
Funders Together to End Homelessness is a national network of more than 180 foundations and United Ways dedicated to ending and preventing all forms of homelessness. Funders Together promotes a catalytic approach to philanthropy that goes beyond effective grant-making to active civic engagement in solving homelessness. Funders Together, an approved 501(c)(3), is based in Boston, Massachusetts. For more information, visit http://www.FundersTogether.org.
About Community Solutions
Community Solutions is a national non-profit working toward a future without homelessness, where poverty never follows families beyond a single generation. The organization applies design thinking, quality improvement and a host of other cross-sector disciplines to issues like homelessness, unemployment, and public health. Community Solution’s initiatives include the 100,000 Homes Campaign, the Brownsville Partnership and Zero: 2016, among others.
About Council on Foundations
An active philanthropic network, the Council on Foundations, founded in 1949, is a nonprofit leadership association of grantmaking foundations and corporations. It provides the opportunity, leadership, and tools needed by philanthropic organizations to expand, enhance and sustain their ability to advance the common good. The Council empowers professionals in philanthropy to meet today's toughest challenges and advances a culture of charitable giving in the U.S. and globally.
About Razoo
Razoo is crowdfunding that matters, powering small acts of giving that together change the world. Since 2006, individuals and groups have used Razoo.com to create more than 150,000 fundraising websites and donate over $450 million to the causes that matter to them. Razoo is the industry innovator of online Giving Events – fundraising competitions that build a spirit of generosity in entire communities, from small towns to worldwide networks. Nonprofits use Razoo to acquire new supporters while empowering their networks to build online fundraising capacity. Razoo has offices in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. and is seed funded by the Legatum Group. See how we’re creating a new generation of everyday philanthropists at razoo.com. Follow us on Twitter at @Razoo, and like us on Facebook at Razoo Giving.
Lauren Bennett, Funders Together to End Homelessness, http://www.funderstogether.org, +1 6172450314 Ext: 107, [email protected]
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