SWNE Big Prepares for 11th Annual Event
By RONDA GRAFF
MCFF
While the 2026 Southwest Nebraska Big Give is still four months away, preparations are well underway to make the 11th annual one-day-of-giving event a success. Non-profit organizations registered during the month of June and will spend the next few months preparing for the event.
First up is the informational meeting for all the non-profits on Wednesday, July 15 at McCook Christian Church. Participants will learn about events that coincide with the Big Give such as the soup supper on Nov. 5 and how to build their page on the Big Give website to share all the good things their group does for the community.
The next few months will also be filled with gathering sponsorships for what could be the biggest SWNE Big Give. What started with 16 organizations in 2016 increased to 44 in 2025 and will have at least 50 non-profit organizations in 2026.
This means sponsorships and donations are even more important to a successful and impactful event. The Southwest Nebraska Big Give is made possible because of the individual sponsors throughout the day but also because of sponsors providing matching funds, which are used during the “power hours” throughout the day, as well as overall matching funds for each organization based upon their totals.
The Community Chest volunteer committee which organizes the SWNE Big Give, will be obtaining sponsorships over the next few months. Any group, business or individual which would like to be a sponsor of the 2026 Big Give is asked to contact Lisa Felker or Melissa Stritt at MNB Bank, 308-345-4240.
The 2026 SWNE Big Give is Thursday, Nov. 5 from midnight to midnight with both online and in-person donations accepted. While donations can only be accepted on that one day, information about the organizations will be available between now and then on the Big Give website, swnebiggive.org.
The Southwest Nebraska Big Give is coordinated by Community Chest, which is a sub-account of the McCook Community Foundation Fund, an affiliated fund of the Nebraska Community Foundation.
