SAN ANTONIO – Philanthropitch is a social impact fast-pitch competition for innovative and scalable nonprofits.
In San Antonio, it is kind of like “Shark Tank” for non-profits and Tuesday night’s donations will helping local initiatives make a big difference.
“Overwhelming for sure. So much support, not even just from, you know, the groups that that gave to us yesterday, but just even people in the audience biking the bicycle community here in San Antonio showed up for me. So it was very overwhelming,” Cristina Ramirez said.
Ramirez is the executive director of Earn-A-Bike – a local nonprofit with a mission to promote active and healthy living by increasing access to bicycles.
“Right now, Harlandale ISD, SAISD and Southside ISD is what we’re going to be working on this year,” Ramirez said.
And last night, Cristina and Earn-a-Bike was awarded more than $55,000 thanks to Philanthropitch.
“It is an innovative competition that brings non-profits together to really master their pitch, share that with the audience and panel of judges in order to get funding in a very democratic way.,” Julie Bedingfield, a Philanthropitch board member said.
The following non-profits were awarded the following amounts:
- Earn-A-Bike $55,835
- Aid the Silent - $30,023
- Woodlawn Theatre - $16,500
- CHR Partners - $11,115
- CHEF - $10,500
Since its founding, Philanthropitch has donated over $2 million to 135 nonprofits.
“Philanthropitch exists really to give exposure to these nonprofits first and foremost, and then of course, fund them and engage people in the process of philanthropy,” Bedingfield said.
As for Earn-a-Bike, even though it involves bikes, it is so much more than that.
“It helps them be empowered. You know, they were able to hit those milestones and keep up that positive behavior. And at the end of it, you know, they are given the opportunity to celebrate that with something that they’ve earned. They’ve achieved. They got all on their own. So it’s empowerment, you know, and of course, they’re learning about health and nutrition and wellness aspects,” Ramirez said.
And now with all of the checks and donations – Cristina and Earn-a-Bike can help more students in and around the community.
“Building out this program, you know, right now we are in certain districts, but expanding that, reaching more students, reaching more families. I think that would be really impactful for our city,” Ramirez said.
If you want to help out or learn more, you can do so by clicking here.