MARQUETTE — Giving Tuesday, a global day for giving that encourages people to contribute to charities and causes they believe in, is less than a week away — and area nonprofits and foundations are working to get the word out about the value of giving locally and the many ways to do so.

“When we invest in our community, the dollars stay here and they’re helping our neighbors,” said Victoria Leonhardt, an associate at Grow & Lead Community and Youth Development, an Upper Peninsula capacity-building organization.

One way to research a local nonprofit is through the Give906 campaign, which was organized by GLCYD as a way to compile a “one-stop place” for potential donors to learn about nonprofits across the Upper Peninsula, Leonhardt said.

Through #give906, a list of over 50 nonprofit organizations spanning seven Upper Peninsula counties has been compiled, along with descriptions of each organization’s mission, goals and fundraising needs, she said.

This approach was developed by the organization after they worked with a committee of local nonprofits that participate in Giving Tuesday, officials said, noting that this approach allows people who wish to donate to easily learn more about local nonprofits and their projects.

“Nonprofits are vital to the Upper Peninsula. They fill the gaps in services that our residents need,” said Amy Quinn, CEO of GLCYD. “I encourage everyone to give their time, talent or treasure to an organization that addresses a cause that you are passionate about. The U.P. has a great culture of giving. I’m excited to see the results of #give906.”

For nonprofit organizations that would like to be added to the list, Leonhardt said there’s still time — interested parties can fill out the form, start using the toolkit available online and they will be added to the list in time for Giving Tuesday, which is always the first Tuesday following Thanksgiving.

A full list and descriptions of participating nonprofits, along with registration information and toolkits for nonprofits that wish to participate can be found at give906.org or www.glcyd.org/givingtuesday.

For more information about GLCYD or the #give906 campaign, visit www.glcyd.org or call 906-228-8919.

Another option for giving to local nonprofits is through the Community Foundation of Marquette County, which allows donors to make a long-term legacy gift to a local nonprofit or fund of their choice, said Gail Anthony, CEO of the Community Foundation of Marquette County.

“If you give money to the community foundation, you’re giving a lifetime — or longer than a lifetime — of funding for your specific cause,” Anthony said.

The community foundation manages over 150 funds, including those for local nonprofit agencies, as well as scholarship funds, ones for local schools, donor-advised funds and more, like unrestricted funds that support annual grant awards, she said.

“You can go onto the community foundation page, you can look up Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Harbor House, Bay Cliff Health Camp, the (Upper Peninsula) Children’s Museum, Marquette Junior Hockey, (Upper Peninsula Animal Welfare Shelter) and you can give through the community foundation to those organizations,” Anthony said. “And that way you know that in the future those organizations will continue to be funded on an annual basis.”

The agencies that have funds set up with the foundation receive annual distributions from their funds, making it something they can count on for years to come, Anthony said.

“As that fund continues to grow, the distribution continues to grow, the benefit of that is that it never goes away,” she said.

For those who are looking to leave a long-term legacy gift and are interested in starting the process, Anthony emphasized that the foundation will first help interested parties identify a cause that they are passionate about and then work with a person to set the process up.

“If you have a legacy gift and you want to talk about how you want to give to Marquette County forever, come see us and we’ll set it up and talk about it,” she said. “We don’t talk about checks until we talk about passions.”

Overall, Anthony emphasized the fundamental importance of nonprofits in the community and her appreciation of local support for nonprofits, in all its forms.

“Those nonprofit organizations that are out there bringing life to the community is what really makes the community worthwhile,” she said, adding that she feels it’s “amazing, it’s really an honor to do the job that I do, to be able to witness the goodness in Marquette County.”

For more information about the Community Foundation of Marquette County and ways to give locally through the foundation, visit http://cfofmc.org, or call 906-226-7666.

For more information on Giving Tuesday, visit www.givingtuesday.org or www.facebook.com/GivingTuesday.

Cecilia Brown can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248.