The Canby Center, a faith-based, service-oriented nonprofit serving local youth and families, has launched a 90-day, $800,000 fundraising campaign that will allow the organization to complete the most significant expansion in its history and enable them to serve the growing needs in Canby — now and for decades to come.
This campaign will make it possible to renovate and more than triple the Center’s existing space on Southwest 2nd Avenue, adding 11,000 square feet for food distribution, classrooms, a job center, offices and more.
It will also open the door to expanding its highly successful Thriving Together program, launching a new youth-mentoring program and deepening partnerships with other organizations that are also serving the Canby community.
“This campaign really is about so much more than raising a building,” Steve Nelson, development director for The Canby Center, explained. “The long-term impact that we are expecting to make has to do with alleviating poverty in Canby, and this new facility is going to allow us to do a much bigger and better job of that in our community.”
To date, The Canby Center has raised more than $7 million for the project — nearly 90% of its total campaign goal of $8 million. Nelson says the Center receives generous support from a diverse network of churches, businesses, organizations and individual donors.
Significant grant support, including a $600,000 award from the M.J. Murdock Charitable trust and a $1.125 million grant from the State of Oregon, has created major momentum towards seeing the campaign goal met.
However, the majority of contributors to The Canby Center’s campaign — more than 60% — are individual donors.
“These are folks who have compassion for our community,” Nelson said. “They love what we are doing, and they want to support it. I think it shows that we are making a difference here, and those who see that want to help.
“And they know that their dollars are well-stewarded here. We make the most of the gifts that are given, and they have an immediate impact in our community.”
This final, public phase of the campaign will involve broadly sharing the Center’s vision for the building expansion and the positive impact it will make on the community in the coming decades, Nelson said.
They also hope to use the campaign as a springboard to bring their model of empowering, dignity-restoring poverty alleviation to other communities.
“We are so excited to be on the home stretch of fundraising for this new building that’s going to expand our reach in the community,” Nelson says.
“In order to do that and do it well, we know that we need all of our community to be involved and participating in any way they can, whether that be through donating, through volunteering or connecting with The Canby Center in other ways.”
To learn more about The Canby Center’s planned expansion and capital campaign, visit thecanbycenter.org/building.