Spring Event 2025 Raised Record Contributions for GT Emergency Fund

Giving Together's annual Spring Event, held May 1, 2025, was a lively celebration of GT's community grantmaking and the generosity of GT's members and friends. Record attendance resulted in one of our most successful fundraising events ever, with proceeds going to GT's Emergency Fund for Individuals and Families in Crisis. 

     During the course of the evening, special awards from the Emergency Fund were announced, including gifts to the Community Foundation of Greater Washington's Neighbors in Need Montgomery, and two non-profits fighting food insecurity in the DC area -- Food for Others and We are Family. In addition, the first Spivak Leadership Development Awards were presented to the Executive Directors of two non-profits -- Josephine Mazyck of FAN and Yurani Sandoval of Women Palante. 

      While guests dined on delicious food and drink at Chevy Chase Village Hall, GT Co-presidents Susan Alberts and Marea Hatziolos Grant conducted a program highlighting the activity GT members enjoy most: giving away money to deserving local non-profits. The Emergency Fund is separate from GT's regular grantmaking fund. It allows GT to help our community in crisis situations as well as individuals and families facing personal crises, such as possible eviction or inability to pay a utility bill. With food insecurity a growing concern in the DMV, the time was right to help two former GT grantees that provide food assistance in their communities. Food for Others in Northern Virginia and We Are Family in Washington, DC, each received $5,000 plus a $5,000 match from two generous GT donors. A third award, $10,000 to Neighbors in Need Montgomery, will be distributed to frontline non-profits who identify clients in need of emergency help. The GT gift will be matched 100% by generous Community Foundation donors, doubling our impact in Montgomery County.

    In addition, a new GT pilot initiative, the Spivak Leadership Development Awards, was inaugurated at the event. Following considerable research on DC-area certification programs and the universe of possible awardees from GT grantee organizations,  executive directors of recent grantees FAN and Women Palante were selected for scholarships to Georgetown University's  Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program. GT congratulates these outstanding trailblazers!  The GT award is named for the late Jeanne Spivak, a longtime Giving Together board member and Community Service chair. A gift in her honor from husband Marvin Spivak and family is underwriting the awards.