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Since 1963, your support has helped make our life-affirming services available free of charge 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
With help comes hope. Please give generously today so that we can continue to bring hope to our neighbors in Contra Costa.
Become a beacon of light. Help us bring hope to people facing their darkest hour. Your fully tax-deductible gift can be made securely online through Groundspring.org.
For additional information on how you can support the Crisis Center’s work, please contact our development director, Kristen Gauché, at kristeng@crisis-center.org or 925.939.1916, extension 134.
Friends are individuals who give $100 to $249 in a calendar year. Their names are listed in our quarterly newsletter and annual report.
Supporters are individuals who give $250 to $499 in a calendar year. In addition to the above benefits, our stewards receive priority reservation for a distinguished lecture or other Crisis Center sponsored program as well as a personalized tile on the Crisis Center’s Wall of Caring.
Partners are individuals who give $500 to $999 in a calendar year. In addition to the above benefits, our partners receive a special invitation to the Crisis Center’s quarterly breakfast with the executive director.
Stewards are individuals who give $1,000 to $2,499 in a calendar year. In addition to the above benefits, our benefactors receive two free tickets to the Crisis Center’s annual gala.*
Humanitarians are individuals who give $2,500 to $4,999 in a calendar year. In addition to the above benefits, our humanitarians receive two additional free tickets to the Crisis Center’s annual gala (a total of four)*, and a decorative Crisis Center plaque of appreciation.
Lifesavers are individuals who give $5,000 to $9,999 in a calendar year. In addition to the above benefits, our lifesavers receive a complementary invitation to the Candle Society’s annual luncheon.
Guardian Angels are individuals who give $10,000 or more in a calendar year. In addition to the above benefits, our guardian angels receive six additional free tickets to the Crisis Center’s annual gala (a total of 10)* and a special invitation to the Crisis Center’s Angels Gathering hosted by members of the board of trustees.
Pillars are individuals who give $25,000 or more in a calendar year. In addition to the above benefits, our pillars receive a special invitation to the Crisis Center’s Pillars Party hosted by the Crisis Center.
Luminaries are individuals who give $50,000 or more in a calendar year. In addition to the above benefits, our luminaries receive a special invitation to the Crisis Center’s Luminaries Luncheon hosted by the Crisis Center.
Visionaries are individuals who give $100,000 or more in a calendar year. In addition to the above benefits, our visionaries receive a special invitation to the Crisis Center’s Visionaries Dinner hosted by the Crisis Center.
* For donations received after October 1st, tickets and/or tables for the Crisis Center’s annual gala will be provided on a space-available basis. If we’re unable to accommodate donors and their guests, priority reserved seating will be provided at the following year’s gala.
We remember and honor family and friends through our Wall of Caring. Cream-colored tiles, inscribed with a personal message in memory or honor of a special individual or event, are displayed in our lobby in recognition of donations of $250 or more. To print a Wall of Caring form, which can be completed and mailed to us along with your generous gift of $250 or more, click here. Kindly include your full contact information so that we may notify you when your tile has been placed on our Wall of Caring (typically eight to ten weeks upon receipt of your form).
Now donors can make a gift to the Crisis Center that has lasting benefit. This is because we’ve established a formal endowment to provide long-term support for our life-affirming work.
A gift to our endowment helps preserve critical services like our crisis counseling and grief counseling programs during times of economic uncertainty or social turmoil. It also offers donors the opportunity to build a legacy that will continue long into the future.
Five percent of the endowment’s assets—in effect the interest on the savings—are used to support Crisis Center programs. Our intention is that the principal always will be preserved.
The benefits to donating are numerous. Depending on the type of gift, it may cost donors little or nothing now, reduce a donor’s estate tax, or bypass capital gains tax. Some bequests even provide income to donors and their families while they’re alive.
So that we may include you in our Candle Society in recognition of your planned giving intentions, please contact our development director, Kristen Gauché, via phone at 925-939-1916, extension 134 or via email at kristeng@crisis-center.org. Immediate donations of $1,000 or more directed to the Crisis Center’s endowment also entitle donors to membership in our Candle Society.
We gladly accept donations of common stock. Our general policy is to cash stock donations as soon as they’re received in order to fund critically-needed services. A receipt is issued to the donor based on the value of the stock the day it’s donated.
To make a stock donation, contact our broker, Andrew McGurk, SFA, #453 at Union Bank Investment Services, super branch 070, at 800.634.1100. The brokerage account number is 0BP-140430. The DTC number is 0123. Our federal identification number is 94-1747227.
Donate a Vehicle
The tax laws for donating vehicles to charity changed in 2007. The result is that it’s less advantageous for donors to donate a vehicle today because the allowable deduction is smaller. It’s preferable for both parties (donor and charity) if the donor sells the vehicle, then donates the money. That said, individuals are welcome to donate vehicles if they choose. Click here.
In addition to support from individuals, we receive grants and donations from many public and private sources. Those that gave $5,000 or more annually are listed below.
Public Sources
City of Antioch
City of Concord
City of Richmond
City of Walnut Creek
Contra Costa County CDBG Program
Contra Costa County Employment & Human Services Department
Contra Costa Health Services
Private Sources
Mervyn L. Brenner Foundation
Chevron Corporation
Firedoll Foundation
First 5 Contra Costa
Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation
James Irvine Foundation
Kaiser Permanente
Leftovers Thrift Shop (agency auxiliary)
J.M. Long Foundation
Thomas J. Long Foundation
John Muir/Mt. Diablo Community Health Fund
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
San Francisco Foundation
Y & H Soda Foundation
United Way of the Bay Area
Wells Fargo Foundation
In-kind Support
AT&T Yellow Pages
Peet's Coffee
Starbucks Coffee
Individuals can designate gifts to our agency through United Way. All anyone has to do is write our name—Contra Costa Crisis Center—on the United Way pledge form. We also receive donations from the Combined Federal Campaign. In addition, United Way is the biggest funder of 211 in Contra Costa County. The organization made a five-year, $850,000 grant to our agency to support the implementation and development of 211 locally.
"I never imagined I’d need help, but the Crisis Center was there when I did.” Those are the words of just one of the thousands of people we help through personal crises each year. To learn more about Greg’s story, click here.
"In 1990, the man who had been my husband for 25 years ended his life. His death left an incredible sense of helplessness and emptiness for our family and friends. All of us started our respective grieving and the long journey to accept what had happened. For many people this process took place in silence, but I had the opportunity to participate many months in the survivors after suicide support group at the Contra Costa Crisis Center.
"Much disbelief and sadness came over me as I joined the group the first night. There were about 30 people in the room, mostly women. My mind kept repeating silently, 'They're all here because someone they loved committed suicide.' Then I realized that this tragedy touches so many more people than anyone can imagine, and that those in this support group represented only a small portion of the total number who had lost loved ones to suicide.
"As the months passed, I learned with others in my group that it was important to stop searching for all of the answers to the "whys," that I might never understand the tragedy that had struck. People's lives are complicated and rarely is there a single reason why people kill themselves. Hearing others talk about their feelings, and talking about mine, started the healing process, painful as it was.
"Every week when I came for the support group I stopped at the Wall of Caring in the Crisis Center's lobby. The wall is made up of clay tiles with people's names on them, and I thought it was touching to have a place where, as survivors, we could share our memories, our tears, and also our hope.
"When my group ended, I made a donation for a tile in my deceased husband's name. Shortly thereafter I moved to the East Coast. Three years later I returned to California to visit and I saw his tile for the first time. It brought tears to my eyes, but it also felt good to see his name and to remember everyone in my group who had helped me in my grief. I have been back to the Bay Area several times since—I've also married again—and I always make a point of visiting the Wall of Caring.
"I know from experience that having a tile on the Wall of Caring gives me a chance to reaffirm my love for someone I lost and also provides financial support to the Crisis Center. I encourage anyone who wants to memorialize a loved one in a special way to consider it. Many people go to a grave site to remember and pray, but I believe that the Wall of Caring is testimony of our love for lost ones and of our journey to the Crisis Center for help."
Our annual budget is $1.73 million. Of this amount, 84 percent is for direct services and 16 percent is for administration and fundraising. Community support comprises 80 percent of our funding with government support comprising the remaining 20 percent.
For more detailed budget information, click here.
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