Arizona is home to a number of charities and nonprofits that work tirelessly to provide community and support to children across the state. But especially now, in the midst of a pandemic, who is working to help support the charities?
In Scottsdale, it’s the Scottsdale Active 20-30 Club—a philanthropic and social club composed of up to 50 young men under the age of 40, who share a collective goal to support local Arizona nonprofit organizations through internal fundraising efforts.
The club was chartered in 1987 as an organization for young men to give back to their community by raising money to support children’s charities. Today, the team’s mission is still the same, as they’re guided by three central fundraising events: NiteFlite, Brokers for Kids and Agents Benefiting Children.
Kevin Orr, the Scottsdale 20-30 Club president and former Brokers for Kids chairman, joined the organization in 2016. Since then, he’s worked to lead and inspire this group of men to garner some of the largest yearly donations in the program’s history.
“Once I started to visit these charities and meet the children that we support, it was insanely tough to not want to either be a bigger part of it—like be a chairman—or be involved in a committee,” says Orr. “For me personally, I cared about how I could make this organization better and equipped to do more.”
The team’s impact in the Valley has been vast, though it hasn’t always gone without a hitch—especially this year, when club members had to adapt their mission to fit the digital landscape.
“Obviously, with COVID hitting in the spring, it was pretty crazy because we had to very quickly pivot into some type of a virtual event,” says Orr. “The past few months have been challenging, to say the least.”
Despite this, the team still managed to raise nearly $515,000, which will be donated to 26 Arizona children’s charities during its 2019/2020 fiscal year. This is the third time in the club’s history where the organization has managed to donate more than half a million dollars—and in a season that’s stalled many of the team members normal fundraising events, it’s a testament to the dedication of these men and their vision to support Arizona’s children.
“What’s different about our organization is that it focuses on the younger generation in our community. A lot of other charity organizations have no age range, and members will typically join later in their careers because they’re able to donate more money and they’re more established. The club focuses on that 20 to 30 age range. Beyond that, what sets us apart is that we really focus on the impact we can have on our charities. We have tons of guys that are willing to go out and be really hands on–and it drives a lot of engagement for a younger generation of charitable giving. It teaches young men to do that early in not just their life, but also their career.”
The foundation board meets four to six times per year to evaluate past charity partners, as well as new organizations up for consideration, to determine which charities and nonprofits will be the recipients of donations in the upcoming fiscal year. The board judges by a number of different factors before making the final decision.
“We question what sort of impact they have on our community as a whole, as well as the subfactors of that—how much do need they have, do they get a ton of other funding from other places? Would we just be like a drop in the bucket, or would we be making a gigantic impact? And then we also analyze what the partnership looks like with that charity. We are the type of group that wants to be involved and we want to support or volunteer. So, the charities that we work with have long standing relationships with all of us.”
Among the 26 different charities that were supported by the Scottsdale Active 20-30 Club’s fundraising efforts this year, was the Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Boys Hope Girls Hope, Care Fund and Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale, amongst others.
“It’s tough to put into words the amount of hands-on impact I’ve been able to have in our community. Quite honestly, it’s something that I never dreamt of being a part of.”
The Scottsdale Active 20-30 Club is currently accepting applicants for new membership. If you are passionate about giving back to the local community, please contact Evan Dahn at edahn@scottsdale2030.org for more information.
For more information, visit www.scottsdale2030.org.