Monterey County Gives! raised a record $3.7 million in 2016.

Pete Neumeier has never thought of himself as a philanthropist, a label he reserves for donors on the order of Bill and Melinda Gates. But he does remember when he was first able to make a donation that felt like it mattered. “I remember feeling a little rush, writing a check that really meant something,” Neumeier says. “It felt good.”

He and his wife, Gillian, had visited a botanical garden on a vacation on the Big Island in Hawaii, and it was poised to close down in the early ’90s. The garden manager made a plea for support, and the Neumeiers responded.

“He pulled it off, and he saved the garden,” Neumeier says.

Today Neumeier enjoys a sense of personal buy-in and connection that he says makes giving meaningful on a level that transcends dollar figures. He’s the founder and president of the Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel, one of six major partners, alongside the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, Packard Foundation, Community Foundation for Monterey County, Cannery Row Company and the Monterey County Weekly, that kicked in a $300,000 matching fund for Monterey County Gives! in 2016.

Packard Vice Chair Julie Packard and her family’s foundation viewed it as a chance to inspire giving in others.

“[We] believe in the power of private giving to American society,” she says. “We want to not only make that commitment real through our own grantmaking, but encourage others to do the same.”

Neumeier’s motivation was similar: “I thought it was a brilliant idea,” he says. “We’re giving 100 times the value of our money. When you give time or money to local organizations, you get immediate and tangible rewards. It’s like you’re investing, not giving away.”

The community invested big for the end-of-2016 campaign. In seven weeks, Monterey County Gives! raised a total of $3.66 million from 4,200 donors who gave gifts in varying sizes. The average donation was $342.10, and smaller donations are leveraged with matching funds from donors like the Packard Foundation. Individual gifts ranged from $5 to $50,190.

Dan Baldwin is president and CEO of the Community Foundation for Monterey County, who coordinated the campaign with the Weekly and the Monterey Peninsula Foundation. He’s enthusiastic about how many donors stepped forward for the first time.

“Getting new people who gave $5, that’s a profound benefit of this program,” he says. “One of the great things about philanthropy is that it accommodates such a wide range of interests.”

Those interests find life in the “big ideas” of the 123 nonprofits that benefitted from MCGives!, and donation totals shed light on community priorities (see chart, below right, for the top 10). The Big Sur Health Center raised $79,042, the Food Bank for Monterey County $186,385, and the leading beneficiary, Gathering for Women, brought in $280,358 – blowing past its goal of $200,000.

“We hoped to make a dent in the down payment for a purchase of our forever home, but this really took us by storm,” says Cindy Storrs, operations director of Gathering for Women. “Incredible thanks to the community.

“This tells us people in the community are aware there’s a problem, and they want to respond to an agency that’s doing something hands-on. People really want to be connected to things that give our lives meaning. Perhaps we can’t solve big problems out in the world, and even open our homes to all of the homeless people, but $100 goes a long way to help feed and clothe a woman who is living in a tent.”

The nonprofit serves homeless women on the Monterey Peninsula, hosting a hot lunch and resource gathering every Tuesday at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Carmel, with about 75 women in attendance each week. The biggest turnout was 97 women at one lunch in November.

They’re prepared to expand their offerings from two hours a week to 12 hours a week beginning around Feb. 1, when the nonprofit plans to open a service center operating weekdays in downtown Monterey, where clients can pick up clothing or connect with social workers, while hot lunches will continue weekly at the church. But the organization’s big idea, and the one Storrs is most excited about, is buying a piece of property as a “forever home,” a 5,000-plus-square-foot place with a kitchen, room for storing personal care items and clothing to distribute, maybe even a laundry facility. “That’s our big dream,” Storrs says.

And thanks to MCGives!, that dream is starting to come into focus – the type of “immediate, tangible” reward Neumeier is looking for in his giving, and something large donors like him aim to elevate with matching funds, incentivizing small donors.

Mary Gunn, director of philanthropy at the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, sees another benefit, especially for newer nonprofits like Gathering for Women.

“The great thing about Gives! is that it raises the visibility of philanthropy across the whole community, and encourages people to give small dollars for really big gains,” Gunn says. “It’s really helping groups get grounded.”

Top Ten

Monterey County Gives! raised nearly $3.66 million for 123 nonprofits in 2016. These are the top recipients:

• Gathering for Women: $280,358
• Food Bank for Monterey County: $186,385
• Peace of Mind Dog Rescue: $182,680
• Rancho Cielo: $173,219
• Youth Orchestra Salinas: $96,218
• SPCA for Monterey County: $96,113
• Planned Parenthood Mar Monte: $94,385
• Monterey Symphony: $80,000
• Big Sur Health Center: $79,167
• Big Sur Land Trust: $73,994

In the days after storms dumped 34.6 inches of rain on Big Sur in 10 days, Ken Wright was checking in with his neighbors in Juan Higuera Canyon about plumbing repairs. Wright almost glows with his achievement for the morning: Delivering parts to his neighbor’s mailbox, despite a road closure. (For more storm coverage, see story, p. 20.)

“I dropped parts off that they needed to fix something. That’s the wonder of giving,” says Wright, a donor to MCGives! and a Community Foundation board member. “It’s how we solve problems: working together to find a solution.”

In other words, all sacrifices, however minor or utilitarian, fit on the spectrum of philanthropy.

“Any time anybody can take money out of their pocket and deny themselves something to help some other organization, that’s being a philanthropist,” Wright says. “It’s living in a community where you help your neighbor.”

In MCGives!, that means community organizations getting help to fund ideas that fill critical roles, from alleviating hunger to bolstering the arts: The food bank’s big idea, for example, is a farmers-market-style produce giveaway to keep healthy, fresh food in people’s diets. The Monterey Symphony’s big idea is to get at least 10,000 local kids into concerts for free, and to pair young musicians with professional mentors.

Those plans aside, Wright talks about philanthropy as if he is the leading beneficiary.

“I give because I am blessed, and I believe it’s important to give back,” he says. “I don’t think there’s any simpler motivation than that for me.”

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the following correction: The list of major partners who contributed matching funds originally omitted the list of project coordinators, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, Community Foundation for Monterey County and the Monterey County Weekly.