The journey continues in the final days of Monterey County Gives! for 2025.

Celia Jiménez here, thinking about my interview with Dan Baldwin, the retiring president and CEO of the Community Foundation for Monterey County, published in the latest edition of the Weekly. 

We talked about his work, family and the journey that has taken him to where he is today. 

Baldwin says that being open and striving to make an impact are some of the tools we need during our life’s journey to find where we belong. 

Besides more philosophical topics, we also talked about fundraising. The Community Foundation, the Monterey Peninsula Foundation and the Weekly embody the message about striving to make an impact through Monterey County Gives!, a community-focused fundraising campaign where donors get connected to local organizations. 

During its first year, MCGives! collected less than $1 million. Last year, it generated $14.2 million, a 19-percent increase from 2023, with 7,982 donors. Since its inception, the campaign has aided more than 500 organizations. 

“We couldn’t ever have predicted that it would become what it has become,” Baldwin told me. 

Baldwin connected the inception of MCGives! to the journeying process he described. “That’s what happened with Monterey County Gives! and now look at it. It’s ginormous. It’s the go-to end-of-the-year giving mechanism in Monterey County,” he says.

With less than three days left, and $14.1 million in donations, MCGives! is close to matching last year’s record number. 

If you want to make a difference in your community, donate by 11:59pm on Dec. 31 to the nonprofit of your choice.