Long Beach Gives Kicks Off 2026 Drive With $2.5 Million Goal

Long Beach Gives moved into its 2026 fundraising season Thursday night as nonprofit leaders, business owners, sponsors and community supporters gathered at the San Pedro Fish Market in Long Beach for the business community’s kickoff of the annual giving drive.

Now entering its eighth year, Long Beach Gives brings hundreds of local nonprofits together under one citywide campaign, giving residents and businesses an opportunity to discover organizations working throughout Long Beach and support the causes that matter to them.

This year’s goal is ambitious: $2.5 million.

Carrie Eldridge, director of Long Beach Gives, told the gathering that approximately 284 nonprofits had signed up for this year’s campaign and that participating organizations have collectively raised more than $13 million during the previous seven years.

“We are going to bring in $2.5 million,” Eldridge told the crowd.

The main Long Beach Gives Day takes place , Thursday, Sept. 24, with early giving beginning Sept. 17. The campaign is designed as a citywide online fundraising effort that allows donors to search participating nonprofits and give directly to organizations they want to support.

(Long Beach Gives)

Bringing Business and Nonprofits Together

The kickoff also highlighted a part of Long Beach Gives that can sometimes be overlooked: the connection between the city’s business and nonprofit communities.

Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jeremy Harris said the Chamber has approximately 1,100 members, with more than 100 nonprofit organizations among them. About 75 Chamber members have participated in Long Beach Gives.

Harris said the Chamber hosts the event because the business community recognizes how much work local nonprofits do throughout Long Beach and wants to help bring attention to that work.

That relationship can mean more than simply writing a check. Businesses can introduce nonprofits to new supporters, become sponsors, share campaigns with customers and employees, or create connections that continue long after the September fundraising drive is over.

Speakers throughout the evening repeatedly returned to that idea of connection.

A Platform for Smaller Nonprofits In Long Beach

For smaller organizations, Long Beach Gives can provide something that is often just as difficult to obtain as funding: visibility.

Anna Kate Moller and Andy Zacharias, founders of The Jewel Box Children’s Theater Company, shared how their organization initially stayed out of Long Beach Gives because they had no experience running an online fundraising campaign.

After learning that participating nonprofits receive training and support, they joined the campaign.

“This is our platform. This is how we can raise funds,” Moller recalled realizing after their first year.

The organization provides most of its programming at no cost, including arts programs reaching children through Head Start programs, schools, libraries, parks and its Westside studio. Moller said Long Beach Gives has helped the organization not only raise money, but also build relationships with other organizations.

Zacharias said Jewel Box has raised nearly $80,000 over seven years through its participation.

But he emphasized that some of the most important results happen outside the campaign itself. Training teaches nonprofits how to explain their missions and tell their stories, while Long Beach Gives events introduce organizations to potential partners.

“It's not something, though, that just exists in September,” Zacharias said of those partnerships.

More Than One Day of Giving

Representatives from Assistance League of Long Beach offered a similar message.

Over the years, the organization has learned to use Long Beach Gives not simply to collect donations, but to introduce itself to people who may never have encountered its programs.

Its campaign includes social media, email, videos, events, matching gifts and storytelling, creating multiple ways for people to learn about the organization. A person who first discovers Assistance League through a $25 donation may ultimately become a long-term supporter.

That, speakers said, is part of what Long Beach Gives has grown into: not simply a fundraising day, but a community platform where nonprofits can tell their stories, meet one another and build relationships with residents and businesses.

For nearly 300 participating nonprofits, the next few weeks will be about getting those stories in front of Long Beach.

And on Sept. 24, organizers hope the city will turn those connections into another record year of giving.

Residents who want to participate can visit LongBeachGives.org, where they can browse participating nonprofits, learn more about their work and choose the organizations they want to support. Early giving begins Sept. 17, leading up to Long Beach Gives Day on Thursday, Sept. 24.

Long Beach Gives

Website: https://www.longbeachgives.org/
Email: info@longbeachgives.org
Phone: (562) 888-6530