12 Days of Giving- 2022
In late November and early December, The Horse Fund celebrated the 12 Days of Giving. Each day we featured one of the Wasabi Ventures Stables horses who retired in 2022. As of this writing, Wasabi Ventures has retired nine horses with our assistance, and The Horse Fund has privately purchased five horses in order to retire them. Every day we highlighted one of those horses, sharing information on its career and its path to retirement.
Setting New Goals
As this was a fundraising event, we also asked for donations to help support our aftercare efforts in 2023. We had three WVS club members who offered to be matching donors. The goals were $3,000, $2,000, and $1,500. To reach a total of $13,000 from our club (including the matches) seemed like a huge reach to me, as our total raised on Giving Tuesday 2021 was $4,100.
On the first day, we raised $1,175. That was a fantastic start, but I wondered if the final goal was possible. With the first day most likely having the greatest donations, would there be enough inspiration in the next eleven days to reach $6,500 in matching donations?
On Day 2 I received a pleasant surprise. A club member offered to make a $1,200 donation but wanted to add $100 each day to the total. Beginning every day’s fundraising with $100 definitely made for a good start.
During the campaign, I shared the day’s featured retiree on WVS Slack and social media, and donations would trickle in. On Day 3 we reached our first matching goal of $3,000. We reached our second matching goal of $2,000 on Day 8. Finally, on Day 12, we hit our final goal of $1,500. Once that goal was reached, the donations didn’t stop, as several more were made.
12 Days of Giving Totals
In total, we raised $13,195 from sixty-two different donors. This money should enable us to privately purchase four former WVS horses next year and provide them with safe and secure retirements.
I am truly grateful for every one of the sixty-two donors who helped The Horse Fund reach this incredible fundraising goal. Also, I want to extend an extra thank you to my three matching donors and my $100 daily donor, who made a huge difference in this year’s fundraising.
Words cannot express how fortunate I feel to work with people who believe in thoroughbred aftercare in their words, actions, and donations.