Photo courtesy of Circle Match.
This is a sponsored post in collaboration with the Hudson County Chamber of Commerce for Hudson Gives 2026.
Nonprofits never get a day off—especially in Hudson County.
Their days can stretch from the traditional workday in a flash; a client could need them at 6 a.m. or 11 p.m.; something or someone might need an approval at 4:59 p.m.; and/or it’s 7:02 p.m., the night before a big fundraiser, and they have to handle a hiccup in logistics. Days like this—filled with nonstop, buzzing phones or extended hours at the office—happen all year round, and still, Hudson County nonprofits continue to show up.
Thursday, May 14 is the one day that nonprofits have been gearing up for all year: Hudson Gives. Hudson Gives is an online giving day that supports Hudson County’s nonprofits of any size. Slice of Culture spoke with Hudson Gives Co-Chair Robinson Holloway and fellow participants from Circle Match, Max Santana Kaplan and Michael Sanchez, who all emphasized the need to support local nonprofits because if the government won’t, then who will?
“The people who do good work year in and year out get to raise money and awareness through Hudson Gives…,” Holloway told Slice of Culture. “This is about people and this is about every member of our boards, people who volunteer, people we’ve helped spread the word that ‘today is Hudson Gives [and to] please support this nonprofit.’ That means so much to me.”
“We really need to support Hudson County nonprofits because we’re seeing kind of all these threats happen and if the nonprofits aren’t there and the government’s not there, what’s next?” Sanchez added. “And so as these nonprofits face these budget cuts, they face the question of ‘Can we still exist?’ ‘Can we still be able to employ people?’ ‘Can we still be able to help our students, help our children, help our families?’ I think that’s why this year, specifically, Hudson Gives feels very emotionally poignant.”
Anyone can help make that difference this Thursday, May 14 starting at 12 a.m., which is the official Hudson Gives Day. But the most important times to give—according to Holloway—are specifically 2:01 p.m. ET and 5:51 p.m. ET, which is when all donations will be matched and doubled, no matter how big or small, and there’s a number of prizes for nonprofits who rank first, second or third in different categories, which all donations will help them get there. You can help here: https://www.hudsongives.org.
The specific time stamps are inspired by Jersey area codes: 201 and 551.
‘We’re Stronger Together’
Hudson Gives started eight years ago by the head of the Hudson County Chamber of Commerce (HCCC) at the time, Maria Nieves, who thought that she and her team could do more for its chamber members and the overall community, so she looked into having a Giving Day, Holloway explained.
A Giving Day is a concentrated 24-hour event, or sometimes longer, where nonprofits, universities and community foundations encourage others to donate to their cause; this is especially common for universities and general community organizations, especially during the holiday season.
And, according to Holloway, the HCCC is the only chamber of commerce in the U.S. to have a Giving Day campaign.
“I think I do understand why we’re the only Chamber because the Chamber does a lot… It is usually a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that spends their year working on [fundraising]. The Chamber is lucky that they have so many nonprofits that are willing to put in the time to make Hudson Gives a success every year. I have always had a co-chair from York Street [and now] this year from Peace Care… And we spearhead not only the setting up of the Giving Day and the getting the prizes and the match minutes…, but we also train nonprofits every week,” Holloway explained.
“Every Monday from mid-February through the end of May, we do weekly Zoom sessions with nonprofit administrators and we strategize not just Hudson Gives and fundraising, but also things like board activation and managing volunteers and all the things that help a nonprofit grow.”
And Holloway understands the struggle as the CEO of her own nonprofit, Arts 14C.
Arts 14C is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has been serving the Jersey City arts community and beyond since 2018. Their mission is to “increase opportunities for artists, expand public access to the arts and strengthen careers in the arts,” which are done through their artist residencies, exhibitions and inclusive art fairs, which includes their well-known event, Art Fair 14C. They are now located in a 125,000 square-foot facility at 157B 1st Street in Downtown Jersey City.
When asked why she took on the co-chair position at Hudson Gives, she said:
“I feel like I’m pretty community minded. I am on the board of my neighborhood association. I’m on the board of the Chamber.
“I believe in collective power and I know that by getting to know these nonprofits and what they do, I want to help them. And I know that if we can help spread the word, that we’re stronger together.”
– Robinson Holloway
Since the beginning of Hudson Gives—which is run by the Hudson Chamber Foundation, HCCC’s nonprofit arm—the annual fundraiser has raised millions of dollars in total.
And this year? The foundation wants to blow past $1 million.
‘Every Penny Matters’
Once 12 a.m. on May 14 rolls around, here’s what you can do:
- Go to hudsongives.org
- Hit the blue button that says “DONATE”
- Start your search! You can filter by a “cause,” the name of a Hudson County city or if you know the nonprofit you want to give to, just type their name
- Read through their biography, special goals they’re trying to reach and what your donation goes towards
- Once you’re ready, you can choose a pre-set amount or set your own custom amount
And this motion becomes even more crucial to participating nonprofits at 2:01 p.m. ET and 5:51 p.m. ET that day because anything you donate will be matched and doubled. Some organizations have their own matches, so whatever you give could be tripled.
And for lesser known nonprofits or nonprofits that are just starting off, that could be life changing.
Take Circle Match.
Circle Match is a nonprofit that offers college advising to students from Title I school districts—a school that receives federal funding due to students’ low income families—to help them get into highly selective universities, and ultimately teaching them to give back to the communities they came from, which is typically Hudson County. Executive Director Michael Sanchez and Director of Development Max Santana Kaplan, who are both West New York natives, stressed to Slice of Culture that participating in Hudson Gives has helped them see the bigger picture.
“In the world that we’re living in right now, especially with [federal] funding, it’s so important to know that we’re not alone and we all feel like we’re part of the same community,” Kaplan said.
“Recently we made a connection with one of our collaborators through Hudson Gives to potentially expand our work to Jersey City. And that wouldn’t have happened without the connections that we made through Hudson Gives.”
Sanchez added, “I think that makes it especially important for people who are based in those [underrepresented] communities to be the people who are really making change happen. And so, like for me, I’m from West York, I’m from Hudson County, I speak Spanish and I speak Spanish fluently. And so being able to then connect with our students [and] connect with our families is really important.”
Circle Match participated in their first Hudson Gives last year and landed No. 6 in the nonprofit leaderboard, which is posted on the homepage of hudsongives.org during Hudson Gives Day and lists which organizations have the highest fundraising.
“[We] felt a lot more confident about the work that we’re doing and the community support we have goes beyond the donations, but the fact that, the people we’re serving, a big part of the motivation to them is that they have a community behind them,” Kaplan smiled.
Circle Match now serves 12 schools in West New York, North Bergen, Union City plus other parts in New Jersey and New York. Through Hudson Gives donations, they’re looking to expand to 20 schools, which would translate to more time and resources invested into these students. Through Circle Match, students have a 96% acceptance rate into highly selected universities like Yale and MIT.
“There’s a larger investment that we’re doing in Circle Match that you’d also be doing by donating… our students want to be the next community-based physician [or] doctor, [or] lawyer who has had the experiences of people from whom they’re actually serving.
– Michael Sanchez
“[Our students are] getting to a highly selective university and they’re going to be able to go, most of ’em debt free, but also them being able to then come back and offer those services [back home]. Being able to be the person to think about ‘How do I offer pro bono legal help?’ ‘How do I offer pro bono medical care?’ This is really what we’re trying to invest in and think about as a community within Circle Match, but also as a larger [scale for the] Hudson County community.”
Both Circle Match and Arts 14C are among the number of participating nonprofits who will also be matching donations for Hudson Gives.
And if you can’t give on Thursday, May 14, you still have a chance until Thursday, May 21 at 6 p.m. ET to pay forward to a local nonprofit. Any nonprofits who missed the deadline to register can email [email protected].
“Every penny goes back into the mission and goes to do that forward, which is why we are deserving of support because we work very hard for it and we do things that otherwise wouldn’t be done. Whether it’s [a] cat rescue or helping refugees when they come here, feeding seniors, the arts [or] mentoring kids. There’s [organizations] preserving trees and planting trees and there are so many different amazing nonprofits that work with people, work with animals, work with nature, work with the environment work [and] honestly tirelessly,” Holloway said.
“If there is a nonprofit, you actually support and you can see that they’re close to their goal, help them get there. If you can see that they’re close to the top 10 in [the leaderboard], help them get there.”
