Community Members Encouraged to Contribute Directly to Yolo County Nonprofits
Woodland, CA — The Yolo Community Foundation is leading an unprecedented partnership with Yolo County, the City of Woodland, the City of Winters, the City of West Sacramento, and the City of Davis to create the new COVID-19 Nonprofit Relief Initiative. These local jurisdictions are providing staff and funding to support the initiative’s three components: 1) a community-wide campaign to encourage direct contributions to nonprofits; 2) a relief fund to provide grants directly to nonprofits; and 3) technical assistance to help nonprofits through the crisis.
Yolo County’s nonprofits care for the most vulnerable in the community and enrich the fabric of the Yolo community through a wide range of programs that support, teach, and connect. The COVID-19 Relief Initiative combines local government resources to support the essential work of nonprofits during this extraordinary time, hopefully ensuring they can continue to serve this community now and after the crisis.
“While the Initiative provides grant funding to help nonprofits, seeded by generous City and County donations, the most significant part of this effort is encouraging businesses and individuals to give 
directly to nonprofits now because that is where the need is greatest. We hope every person is inspired to give what they can, as soon as possible,” said Jessica Hubbard, Executive Director of the Yolo Community Foundation.
While Yolo County’s nonprofits are struggling with a greater demand resulting from COVID-19, funding opportunities critical to their survival are declining. With the importance of social distancing, for example, it is impossible to hold in-person fundraising events. Yolo County nonprofits are also devastated by revenue loss from facility closures, freezes on paid work that requires interaction in group settings, and other unanticipated impacts.
Despite this, many of these organizations are increasing services in response to the crisis or creating innovative new programs to provide services in this new environment. The COVID-19 Relief Initiative will shine a spotlight on these essential nonprofits, encourage people to contribute, provide sustainability grants, and provide technical assistance to help nonprofits.
Information about the activities and needs of Yolo County nonprofits, as well as links to their donation pages, is available at www.yolocf.org/covid-19. Also available at that link are the Relief Fund Application, as well as information about technical assistance opportunities specifically designed for nonprofits during the crisis.
