The Gift With No Name

The story of the anonymous donor.

Anonymous donors. They come from all walks of life, from varying economic brackets and social settings. They believe in giving, in helping their fellow humanity. Their donations may be thousands of dollars - or a sack of groceries. In addition to a belief in doing charity, they have another thing in common: They wish to remain anonymous. 

There is a rapid growth of both the number and dollar amount of anonymous and private giving to nonprofits, including Lexington Community Foundation. Anonymous donations are given with the condition that the identity of the donor or donors remain unknown and that the recipients make no attempt to discover the source of the gifts. 

In 2019, Lexington Community Foundation, was the recipient of 54 anonymous gifts, from 29 donors totaling $93,587 and benefitting 32 causes. That is a considerable amount with tremendous impact!

Donors who choose to give gifts anonymously do so for their own reasons. The motivation could simply be that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Others may give anonymously because they prefer not to be publicly acknowledged. Whatever their reason, Lexington Community Foundation respects their wishes and is grateful of their decision to give to support our work and our community. In the words of one anonymous donor, "My gifting is given graciously & nothing gives me more joy than seeing things continue to come together in our community." 

We usually profile specific gifts in our "Donor Profile" page of the Foundation Forum to illustrate the many ways of giving. One of the great tools of organized public philanthropy is the example of others, the inspiration to give. Gifts given anonymously are just another example for those who are not motivated by recognition but simply want to make a difference. It's another way to give.