A Virginia Town Raised $2.8 Million for Local Nonprofits in a Single Day

For 14 hours on a single Wednesday in April 2026, the people of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, Virginia, turned generosity into a community-wide event. The Great Community Give, now in its ninth year, invites residents to give to local nonprofits during one concentrated day of fundraising — from six in the morning until eight at night. By the time the clock ran out, donors had contributed an astonishing 2,876,148 dollars, comfortably surpassing the day's 2.5 million dollar goal.

The scale of participation was as meaningful as the dollar figure. A total of 7,803 donors opened their wallets, and their gifts were spread across 156 local organizations — food banks, shelters, youth programs, arts groups and countless others that form the connective tissue of the region. As WHSV reported, the single-day haul pushed the event's cumulative total past 11.4 million dollars raised over its nine-year history, according to Lauren Jefferson of the Community Foundation.

“The Great Community Give, now in its ninth year, invites residents to give to local nonprofits during one concentrated day of fundraising — from six in the morning until eight at night.”

For the nonprofits on the receiving end, the day is about far more than the money. "It was a day of generosity, a day of giving back to the nonprofits who are working hard," said Revlan Hill, an executive director involved in the effort. Local businesses joined in too. "This is a great time to put their money where their mouth is and support growth," said Paul Riner, owner of a local rental company, capturing the spirit of civic pride that animates the campaign.

What the Great Community Give models is the power of doing together what is hard to do alone. A single donation can feel small against the needs a nonprofit faces, but thousands of donations, gathered on one shared day and amplified by friendly competition and matching incentives, become a genuine force. Year after year, the people of this Shenandoah Valley community have proven that a town does not need to be large or wealthy to take care of its own — it only needs a day, a shared cause, and a willingness to show up for one another.