Get more bang for your charitable buck

Twenty-two mid-Michigan nonprofits are hoping to start their 2016 fundraising with a "bang" by winning the fifth annual Big Bang-quet Community Charity Challenge.

Beginning Feb. 22, the competing organizations will be asking the public for their votes to help them win the grand prize: a $10,000 credit toward a fundraising event at the University Club of MSU.

A “vote” is a $5, tax-deductible donation to the Capital Region Community Foundation. Votes can be cast online through 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, and the leader board will be updated instantly. Then, at 5:30 p.m. March 23, the charities and the public are invited to the University Club for the Reveal Reception, where in-person voting takes place for one hour. Admission is $10, which includes two votes. At 6:30 p.m., votes will be counted and the winners will be revealed.

In addition to the grand prize, the charity with the second-most votes and the charity with the most individual online voters will each receive a $5,000 credit toward a fundraising event at the University Club.

But no one loses in the Big Bang-quet! Each participating organization receives the funds it raises during the competition, less a 10 percent processing fee to the Community Foundation. Since 2012, the Big Bang-quet has raised more than $224,000 for dozens of mid-Michigan nonprofits.

The Big Bang-quet is conducted by the University Club of MSU and sponsored by the MSU Federal Credit Union and the Capital Region Community Foundation.

2016's participants:

• Allen Neighborhood Center
• Boys & Girls Club of Lansing
• Building Child & Family Initiatives
  
• Child & Family Charities
• Children's Ballet Theatre of Michigan
• East Lansing Rotary Foundation in support of the Weekend Survival Kits program
• The Firecracker Foundation
• Forster Woods Adult Day Center
• Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan
• Greater Lansing Food Bank
• Habitat for Humanity Capital Region
• Haven House
• Hospice of Lansing
• ITEC Lansing
• Lansing Promise
  
• Lansing RIF
• Lansing Symphony  Orchestra
• Michigan Women's Historical Center and Hall of Fame
• MSU Community Music School
• Origami Brain Injury Rehabilitation Center
• REACH Studio Art Center
• Riverwalk Theatre