5 Pleasanton Nonprofits To Support This Holiday Season

PLEASANTON, CA - If you’re like many of your Pleasanton neighbors, you may spend a good part of the holiday season with your credit card in hand buying gifts for family and friends. Coming up soon is a chance to give back to the local community.

Giving Tuesday, which in 2024 falls on Dec. 3, is a day dedicated to supporting nonprofit and community groups. Since 2012, nonprofits worldwide have used the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to galvanize fundraising, rally volunteers and add momentum to their causes.

Maintaining funding is a constant challenge for many nonprofits that fill gaps and meet other needs. Below are five great Pleasanton nonprofits to consider getting behind on Giving Tuesday.

However, they are only a few of the many nonprofits in and around Pleasanton doing incredible work. The Tri-Valley Nonprofit Alliance provides an extensive list of local nonprofits. We also published two lists last year that highlight impressive local organizations.

1. The ALS Cure Project is a memorial foundation dedicated to finding a cure for ALS, a fatal neurodegenerative disorder also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. The ALS Cure Project hosts a conference for the top ALS researchers from around the world to discuss how to best spend the money they raise. Since its founding, the organization has directly funded over $3.2 million in research.
2. Museum on Main is dedicated to preserving and promoting the history and cultural heritage of the Tri-Valley. It offers a number of permanent and temporary exhibitions, lectures, presentations, and panel discussions, and tours. These include initiatives like the Ed Kinney Series, which bring in historical character portrayers, educational walking tours around Pleasanton, and several more programs for schools, families, and scouts.
3. The Three Valleys Community Foundation aims to improve life and increase philanthropy in the region by supporting its more than 300 nonprofit organizations. 3VCF supports a number of different funds and administer grants, like the Give, Grant & Grow Green Fund to support local environmental nonprofits, the Sunol Relief and Recovery Fund to help Sunol recover from the flooding of early 2023, the Youth Mental Health Outreach Association to address mental health and wellness, and more. 3VCF administers Community Grant Funds to help address a variety of local needs, and Opioid Innovative Mini-Grants to support organizations working to address the local opioid crisis.
4. Tri-Valley REACH provides resources, education, activities, community and housing to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They administer affordable housing in Pleasanton and Livermore for people with disabilities, and help residents and neurodivergent community members thrive through courses, communities, and outings.
5. Tri-Valley Animal Rescue is an entirely volunteer-run organization that aims to put an end to the unnecessary euthanasia of homeless animals. Volunteers coordinate with area shelters and rescue groups to help foster adoptable animals, provide foster animals with medical care, provide education about spaying/neutering, and responsible pet ownership, and hosting adoption events for the animals.

We know this is just the tip of the iceberg for all the good work being done in the area. If you’d like us to spotlight a particular organization, email michael.wittner@patch.com.