The women running four of North Texas’s most critical nonprofits have one message for donors after Giving Day closes
On Sept. 17, North Texans gave more than $76 million to over 3,300 nonprofits across the region with 94,700 donors contributing to the 18th annual event organized by Communities Foundation of Texas. The preliminary total already surpassed last year’s midnight number, and since Giving Day launched in 2009, the cumulative total has now crossed $788 million. By any measure, it is one of the most remarkable displays of community generosity in the country.
And then Sept. 18 arrived and the needs did not change.
The organizations on the receiving end of that generosity will tell you the same thing: Giving Day is a lifeline, not a finish line. For those they serve, the work is year-round, the crises don’t follow a calendar and the gap between what donations fund and what communities actually need is wider than most people realize.
Four North Texas nonprofit leaders sat down with Local Profile around Giving Day to talk about what they’re seeing on the ground, and what they need the community to understand long after the totals stop climbing.
The Violence We’ve Learned To Ignore
Tiffany Tate has spent a decade at The Family Place, first as a social worker and now as CEO. In that time, she has watched something shift in the way people respond to violence — or don’t.
“Something I am seeing in North Texas and beyond that concerns me is the continued desensitization to violence,” Tate said. “We are exposed to violent and aggressive content every day, and over time, behaviors that should alarm us can begin to feel almost normal.”
That normalization, she says, is one of the most dangerous forces working against domestic violence prevention. When abuse starts to look like something other than abuse, the warning signs get harder to see and harder to act on. The Family Place serves approximately 40,000 individuals each year, walking alongside survivors from the moment of crisis through the longer process of rebuilding a life. That process, Tate is quick to point out, is rarely straightforward.
“Escaping an abusive situation is much more complicated than ‘just leaving,'” she said. “Many people may love and cherish their abusive partner, making it incredibly hard to leave. Financial abuse is one of many tactics abusers use to maintain control and make leaving feel impossible.”
A $100 donation to The Family Place provides one day of emergency shelter. A $1,000 donation covers two months of childcare for one child at their Safe Campus. But Tate wants people to understand that the work extends far beyond those walls. “Domestic violence does not affect only the person experiencing abuse,” she said. “Its impact reaches children, families, workplaces, schools, health care systems and ultimately our entire community.”
When The System Wasn’t Built For You
A few miles away, Helena L. Banks is watching a different but related crisis unfold at Our Friends Place, which provides transitional living support for young women ages 18 to 24. The calls coming in, she says, are no longer just from that age group.
“We are seeing a growing demand from much younger girls and older women seeking housing assistance,” Banks said. “The calls we receive every day reflect a broader range of women in desperate need of safe, stable shelter and long-term support.”
Banks grew up in South Dallas and has seen firsthand what happens when a young woman doesn’t have a village behind her — and what’s possible when she does. “Statistically, my life path could have been very different,” she said. “Research shows that just one trusted adult can change the entire trajectory of a young person’s life. I stepped into nonprofit leadership to ensure every young woman who crosses our threshold has an advocate they can depend on.”
The transformation she describes isn’t dramatic or sudden. “Transformation starts as small sparks,” Banks said, “an ‘aha moment’ when a young woman realizes an adult truly cares, or when she acts on a piece of advice and builds a little self-confidence. Over time, those individual sparks catch fire.”
As Our Friends Place approaches its 40th year of service in 2027, Banks explains that donations are something larger than most realize. “Every gift is an investment in connection, commitment and care,” she said.
What Trafficking Actually Looks Like
At New Friends New Life, CEO Bianca Davis spends a lot of time correcting a misconception. Human trafficking, she says, looks nothing like what most people picture.
“If we are only looking for white vans in a parking lot, we are missing how human trafficking really happens, especially in our community,” Davis said. “Social media, romantic relationships,and working in or being around sexually oriented businesses are all fertile grounds for exploitation and trafficking to occur.”
New Friends New Life has been operating for 28 years and now serves more than 300 women and girls annually. The work, Davis explains, is about more than safety; it’s about removing every barrier that keeps a survivor from moving forward.
“A lack of money is one of the strongest tethers that keep trafficking survivors trapped in the cycle,” she said. “Access to trauma-informed counseling, legal support, educational training programs and job readiness are all critical to her ability to find stable housing and employment, in order to become self-sufficient.”
What keeps her going, Davis says, is watching what happens when someone is finally given a real chance. “This can look like applying for college, landing a job, signing a lease, obtaining reliable transportation, reconnecting with estranged family members and so much more,” she said. “Every milestone she achieves reminds us that our mission is necessary, and she is worth it.”
On Giving Day and beyond, her ask to donors is simple. “No gift is too small, and every gift makes a difference.
The Children Who Need More Than A Safe Place To Sleep
Allicia Frye came to nonprofit work through a sociology class and a tour that changed everything. Now, as CEO of Jonathan’s Place — which has served abused and neglected children in North Texas for 34 years — she carries a lesson she had to learn the hard way.
“I used to believe that placing a child in a healthy, beautiful environment would resolve most of their struggles,” Frye said. “I’ve learned that they need so much more. Children need consistency. They need hugs. They need direction and activities. They need to feel like they belong. They need to feel loved on their hardest days just as much as their best ones.”
Jonathan’s Place has expanded steadily over three decades, adding foster care, a Stabilization and Assessment Center, transitional living and programming for high-needs youth. Each is an expansion in direct response to a gap the community couldn’t otherwise fill. The goal, Frye says, is for every child who comes through their doors to know that support doesn’t disappear when the immediate crisis does. Children can stay connected to Jonathan’s Place until age 23.
“No one thrives in uncertainty,” she said, “especially a child who has already endured so much.”
For Frye, any donation to Jonathan’s Place is something she takes seriously. “It’s an investment in a child who believes they have no future and no one who loves them,” she said. “It’s an investment in our next judge, teacher, doctor, lawyer, nonprofit leader or therapist. When given the chance to change the trajectory of their lives, children can accomplish extraordinary things.”
Sept. 18 And Beyond
The $76 million raised on Sept. 17 matters. It funds shelter beds and childcare and counseling sessions and legal advocacy and transitional housing and job training. It keeps lights on and doors open for organizations that don’t have the luxury of closing when the calendar turns.
But the leaders of these four organizations will tell you the same thing when you ask what the community can do after Giving Day ends: don’t stop. Volunteer. Show up to a meeting. Tell someone about the work being done. And if you can give again in October, or January, or March — give again.
The needs in North Texas do not take a day off. Neither do the people working to meet them.
To learn more or get involved: The Family Place, Our Friends Place, New Friends New Life, Jonathan’s Place.
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