Berger and Green: Committed Partner in Match Madness, Doubling Donations for the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley
The 5th Annual Match Madness campaign is back and kicked off on March 1, 2025. Thanks to the partnership and commitment of Berger and Green, every donation made to the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley during March will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to a total of $20,000.00.
A new addition to this year's campaign, will have the first 125 donors entered into the Match Madness bracket for a chance to win four tickets to a Washington Wild Things game of their choice. A winner will be selected on April 1, 2025.
The theme 'Raised Here. Stays Here.' emphasizes investing in local communities. Funds will support over 30 programs across seven counties, providing essential services like food, shelter, education and healthcare.
Berger and Green 's commitment to the region goes beyond this fundraiser. The firm has long been dedicated to serving the legal needs of Ohio Valley residents, particularly those seeking assistance with Social Security Disability (SSD) claims. As a trusted law firm in the area, they help individuals navigate the often complex SSD process to secure the benefits they deserve. Berger and Green is committed to ensuring that those who need help with their SSD claims receive the support that they need.
'We take great pride in serving the Ohio Valley and supporting local families in securing their Social Security Disability benefits,' said Amanda Bonnesen, Managing Partner at Berger and Green.
If you would like to learn more about Berger and Green's community involvement, you can contact Nicole Meta at 412-661-1400.
Media Contact
Company Name: Berger and Green
[email protected].
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
4 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Charitable giving in 2024 was up, according to new Giving USA report
Charities received $592.5 billion in donations in 2024, a 3.3% increase over 2023, after adjusting for inflation, according to the most recent ' Giving USA ″ report, which takes a comprehensive look at U.S. philanthropy. Only one major cause — religion — saw an inflation-adjusted decline in giving. The increase, reported Tuesday, may be small comfort to nonprofits that in 2025 experienced a significant drop in federal funding, more than 20,000 layoffs, increased demand for services, and market uncertainty that has led some donors to pull back. 'There's a lot of uncertainty, a lot of volatility, especially in financial markets,' said Una Osili, an associate dean at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. 'When you're not sure exactly what's happening and the news is changing, that sometimes leads to donors just being uncertain and not acting. Uncertainty can dampen giving.' Yet last year marked a return to typical giving patterns, said Jon Bergdoll, managing director for Giving USA. The pandemic and high inflation of recent years were atypical, he said, which meant giving patterns didn't always align with traditional models. In 2024, things lined up as expected. 'The fundamentals of giving are still working like they historically have in the U.S.,' Bergdoll said. 'We've been through a lot of changes, and there's potentially more on the horizon, but it is important to take comfort in that we are still seeing the same things move and shift giving that 20 years ago moved and shifted giving.' Strong performance by companies, particularly in the tech sector, pushed corporate giving up 6%, after adjusting for inflation. Individual giving was up 5%. Foundation giving was down by half a percent. Bequests (money given through wills) were down 4.4% — but Bergdoll noted bequests are historically volatile because the data can be shifted 'by a single billionaire passing away.' The share of giving by each source remained stable over the past two years. In 2024, individuals accounted for the largest share of giving, 66%, followed by foundations at 19%, bequests at 8%, and corporations at 7%. While inflation-adjusted giving by foundations was down, most organizations would not have felt the drop because in current dollars, foundations gave 2.4% more. Giving to various causes increased almost across the board. The biggest jumps were in giving to public society benefit, 16.1%; international affairs, 14.3%; and education, 9.9%. The public society benefit category includes organizations like the United Way, as well as commercial donor-advised funds, which have increased in popularity as contribution vehicles. Compassion International had its best fundraising year ever in 2024, says Mark Hanlon, chief development officer. He noted that the group received some outlier gifts, but even taking those out, the organization had strong growth, which he attributed to the organization's ongoing engagement with donors. At Brown University, giving was up, due in part to the end of a capital campaign that started in 2014. That helped the university keep annual donors engaged in giving, Sergio Gonzalez, senior vice president for advancement, said. 'It was not only the larger gifts that really were transformative but the cumulative giving from all,' he said. 'Those dollars are critically important.' The causes that showed the least growth included religion, which was down 1% after adjusting for inflation, gifts to foundations, which rose half a percent, and gifts to health and human services, which rose 2% for both categories. Nonprofits are worried — both about how much money will be coming in and the level of demand for their services. Changes in federal funding are a big deal for human services organizations. The Mid-Ohio Food Collective, a food bank that serves more than 20 counties from rural Appalachia to urban centers like Columbus, is worried about potential funding cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and what they will mean for the people the food bank serves. 'There's been millions and millions of dollars in cuts to the food that was going to be coming to food banks,' said Matt Habash, the group's CEO. 'For every meal we give out in the food-bank world, SNAP is nine meals. So you cut SNAP and there's no food there from the private sector to make that up.' The uncertainty surrounding government support makes it hard to know what to ask for from foundations and major donors, said Roger Schulman, CEO of the Fund for Educational Excellence, a nonprofit that aims to close equity gaps for students in Baltimore City schools. 'The gaps that are being left by the clawback of federal dollars as well as the unpredictability of what federal dollars will or will not come in the coming year has made it really hard to understand where philanthropy can make a difference right now in a meaningful way,' Schulman said. 'The gap is so big that even our largest foundations can only do so much to help sustain what is.' The general feeling is it's going to be a rough year, says Jim Klocke, CEO of the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network. Each year, the network surveys its roughly 700 members. One perennial question on the survey: What do you think your financial condition will be like a year from now? 'Usually, you get more organizations that say my financial picture will be better in a year. Some say worse, but more say better,' Klocke said. 'This time, almost everybody said they expect their financial condition to be worse a year from now. It's a pretty much across-the-board concern.' Some organizations are worried about their donors' shifting priorities. Bergdoll, with Giving USA, said in times of crises, human-services organizations, which feed and house people, often see a bump in donations. The Mid-Ohio Food Collective, for example, is trying to shift its messaging to persuade local donors to step up. 'The cavalry is not coming from the federal government,' Habash said. 'Even our state government has cut back on the amount of money they're giving us. The messaging for us is really about local. We've got to convince people locally to do something.' Rasheeda Childress is a senior editor at the Chronicle of Philanthropy. This article was provided to the Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as part of a partnership.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
United Way Central Shenandoah Valley takes the reins in SAW
STAUNTON – With the closing of United Way of Staunton, Augusta County and Waynesboro, the United Way of Harrisonburg expanded to fill the vacancy. The expanded United Way then changed its name to the United Way Central Shenandoah Valley to reflect its new coverage area. On June 26, United Way of Central Shenandoah Valley President Amanda Leech came before the Staunton City Council to explain what that has meant for her organization. 'I am excited to be here,' said Leech. 'It's been really wonderful to take on an expansion and also very, very challenging. These opportunities are fantastic for us.' 'The next steps for us, as we expand into Staunton, Augusta, Waynesboro, and cover the whole central Shenandoah Valley [is] doing a lot of listening. We want to hear from partner organizations. We absolutely know that while … there are a lot of similarities to Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, we know there are a ton of differences. We want to really be intentional about hearing the community, hearing the needs, and being responsive to what the community really needs for the whole region.' Leech explained the new United Way would be looking into programs provided by the United Way of Staunton, Augusta County and Waynesboro to determine what could be brought back. This includes Stuff the Bus, which will return in another form, though details are not finalized. There are no current plans for a full office in SAW, but a United Way staff member will spend two days a week working out of the Staunton Innovation Hub. These plans may change, however. 'Ultimately our goal is to build a shared vision for the entire central Shenandoah Valley,' said Leech. 'In three to five years, the goal will be that we are united as a community, looking at solutions that cross locality lines.' For the now former United Way of Harrisonburg, the amount of employee giving to the organization has substantially dropped since 2014 from around $640,000 annually to just under $200,000 in 2023. Across the country, workplace campaigns have dropped, with United Way's collective revenue from $3 billion in 2013 to $1.7 billion by 2023. Leech attributed the drop in revenue to the expanded capacity for people looking to give money charitably to any cause they would like to thanks to technology making that kind of giving possible. The drop in revenue means the United Way has shifted its focus. 'United Ways across the entire country have had to rethink our place in the community and what role do we play,' said Leech. 'For us, in 2017, we started bringing the ALICE project to the community. When we really wanted to revision our purpose, we started with that. Our mission now is improving lives by connecting and mobilizing community resources.' The ALICE project should sound familiar to those who remember the findings of Staunton's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission before it was made a permanent city commission. An alternative to looking at federal poverty guidelines, the 'asset limited, income constrained, employed' (ALICE) poverty guidelines allow localities to assess who in the community is financially struggling despite being employed. While the federal poverty guidelines are the same for all 48 continental states, the ALICE guidelines change depending on 'on the ground' conditions. This includes housing, childcare, food, transportation, healthcare, technology, taxes, and other miscellaneous costs, rather than only looking at income. As of 2023, in Staunton, 13% of households fall under the federal poverty guidelines, while an additional 33% fall under the ALICE threshold. In Waynesboro, according to the report, 12.5% of households fall under federal poverty guidelines and an additional 36.8% fall under ALICE guidelines. In Augusta County, approximately 9% of households fall under federal guidelines while an additional 35% fall under ALICE guidelines. More information on ALICE can be found online at Another resource aided by United Way is 211. '211 has become a very necessary and vital resource in Harrisonburg and Rockingham Conty and we'd like to see it grow in Staunton, Augusta, and Waynesboro,' Leech said. 'That is a call line anyone can call 24/7. There are dozens of languages available. They can get referred to human service organizations to meet their needs.' United Way coordinates the 211 data of community resources and connects the organizations, making sure they are aware of what each of the other ones are doing. Leech offered the food coalition as an example. 'In 2020, when the pandemic hit, a lot of organizations stepped up to address food insecurity in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County,' Leech said. 'What happened was, they weren't communicating, and families were getting bags of food dropped off at their door on the same day. Food was going to waste. There wasn't any communication. One of the food entities came to us and said, 'Can you help organize this effort?' We said sure, this is exactly in our wheelhouse.' The food coalition is now running in Harrisonburg with a grant funded staff member, keeping the food banks in communication. Leech also highlighted an ALICE home weatherization program, a new program aiming to support single parent households, a small-dollar loan program, financial education and an employee financial wellness at work program pilot. To provide the new United Way with feedback or advice, use the SAW expansion survey on its website. More: The stage is set for the annual Happy Birthday America celebration in Staunton More: Augusta Health asks community to protect hospital Medicaid funding and access to care Lyra Bordelon (she/her) is the public transparency and justice reporter at The News Leader. Do you have a story tip or feedback? It's welcome through email to lbordelon@ Subscribe to us at This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: United Way Central Shenandoah Valley takes the reins in SAW
Gizmodo
a day ago
- Gizmodo
Samsung 990 EVO Plus SSD 4TB Is Cheaper Than Black Friday Thanks to 4th of July and Early Prime Day
Are you sick of having to delete games and videos to make space for more games and videos? We know it's not a big deal in the scheme of things, but perspective doesn't make it any less irritating when you're forced to figure out what has to be uninstalled this time. The easiest answer to this is just to get more storage, and we've got a truly impeccable deal on that front today. See at Amazon While a lot of storage can normally be very expensive, this amazing deal from Amazon means you can add a whopping 4TB of storage to your PC or laptop for just $235 right now. It'd normally cost you $328, and you're not getting a no-name brand here either, this is the Samsung 990 EVO Plus SSD, so you're getting a very high-quality device. The Samsung 990 EVO Plus SSD is quite simply one of the best options money can buy at any price. You're getting a massive 4TB of storage here, which is going to make it easy to just keep downloading your games and videos with no issues for an awfully long time. The speeds it offers go up to 7,250MB/s, which is blisteringly fast, and means that no matter what you're doing with the data on the SSD, you're not going to be waiting around. While this will be amazing when you're loading up work projects, it'll also mean that any games you play will be smooth as smooth peanut butter, and twice as tasty. There aren't many SSDs that'll match this size and speed for this price. It also boasts impressive thermal control, and it's really easy to update, even for people who might not be as tech-savvy as they'd like. It just means it's easier to use, although installing it may still be nerve-wracking for some users, so do feel free to hassle whichever relative of yours is the best with computers when doing so. Buy them pizza though, because they do deserve a little payment, and everyone loves pizza. There's no denying that this device is well-priced at $328, given how much extra storage you're getting and the quality of it as well. So, this chance to save an extra 28% on that and get it while it's down to $235 is one that shouldn't be missed. Just keep in mind that this is an Amazon limited-time deal, which means that it might not last very long. See at Amazon
