✨ What Happens When a Few People Say Yes
We didn’t plan to participate this year.
Last year, Shine joined the inaugural North Texas Gives to the Arts campaign with a lot of heart and hope. We prepared a launch, rallied our people—and woke up on Day 1 to find that the matching funds were already gone. It was a painful moment.
We said we’d only try again if we could come back with a smarter strategy and a stronger foundation.
Then, two weeks ago, I said to Nikkie Milner, “I know this sounds crazy, but maybe we should try again this year. We’ll come back smarter—and I bet we can rewrite the narrative.”
She immediately looked at me and said, “Let’s do it.”
And just like that, the seeds of a new campaign were planted.
It didn’t start with a big rollout or a public launch. It started with a text thread, a spreadsheet, and a few Shine supporters quietly asking,
“If someone else gives, I’ll give too.”
“What if we all stayed up and gave together at midnight?”
“Could we unlock matching funds if we go first?”
In just a few days, a grassroots movement began to take shape. A small team of Shine insiders pledged to stay up late and give at midnight on April 16. They reached out to past donors with personalized video messages. They followed up. They invited people to join them.
👉 You can hear more about that moment in this short Instagram video we just shared.
Meanwhile, two Shine donors stepped forward with a bold commitment: a $12,000 internal match, ensuring that every gift made at midnight would be at least doubled, no matter what happens with the public match pool.
This campaign wasn’t built with hashtags or ad budgets.
It was built with trust, resilience, and a shared belief that every child deserves a chance to shine.
Tonight, our small but mighty crew is staying up late to help launch this campaign—and whether or not the public match comes through, we’ve already won.
Because we showed up.
Because we said yes.
Because we believed it was worth trying again.
If you’d like to stay up and give at midnight on Wednesday, April 16, visit https://www.northtexasgivingday.org/donate/Shine-Arts-Foundation.
And if it’s not your night to give, we hope you’ll cheer us on anyway. 💛
With gratitude,
Claire McNeill
Founder & Executive Director