On the evening of Friday, August 28, 2026, Lexingtonians will gather at Gatton Park on the Town Branch for a celebration that is equal parts festival and fundraiser. Give 8/28 Lex Community Day runs from five to nine at the park's CommonSpirit Health Stage, offering food trucks, live entertainment, and the chance to connect with the participating nonprofits. When the sun dips low, Lexington blues artist Tee Dee Young takes the stage at eight to headline the night. But beneath the festival atmosphere lies a larger purpose: for the fourth year running, this is the day Lexington collectively proves that its generosity runs deep.
The date itself carries weight. August 28 is no accident of scheduling. Give 8/28 Lex is part of the national Give 8/28 movement, a coordinated day of giving that honors historic milestones in Black history — including the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865 and the March on Washington in 1963 — and aligns with Black Philanthropy Month, the annual August celebration of Black giving. Lexington's campaign plugs directly into that national circuit, channeling dollars to the grassroots organizations that strengthen Fayette County.
Give 8/28 Lex is the signature initiative of the Lexington Black Prosperity Initiative, a community-advised committee of the Blue Grass Community Foundation. The initiative is guided by an advisory committee of Black Lexington leaders, including founding co-chairs Lisa Higgins-Hord and Dr. Tiffany Daniels.
The campaign also confronts a striking statistic about generosity itself. According to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Black households donate a higher percentage of their discretionary income to charity than any other racial group in the United States, contributing an estimated $11 billion a year. Yet less than four percent of all U.S. philanthropic dollars reach BIPOC-serving organizations. Give 8/28 Lex exists to close the gap between how much Black communities give and how little mainstream funding flows back to the organizations that serve them.
The numbers show the strategy is working. Launched in 2023, the giving day has now raised more than $350,000 for local organizations working in youth development, education, food justice, housing, public health, and community safety. In 2024, the effort brought in more than $120,000 for 26 organizations through more than 600 individual gifts. Last year, with more than $100,000 in matching funds and prizes amplifying every donation, the 2025 campaign doubled 2024's results, raising $234,956 for 40 Black-serving nonprofits across Fayette County. For this year's edition, the list of participating organizations has grown to 43, a cross-section of Lexington's community infrastructure — from the African American Ballet Troupe and the Lyric Theatre to Seedleaf, the Urban League of Lexington-Fayette County, and Northside Common Market.
This year's celebration gets a fitting backdrop: Gatton Park on the Town Branch, home of the CommonSpirit Health Stage. The park offers an open-air space for the evening's food trucks, nonprofit tables, and live music — a natural place for a community-wide act of giving.
And what better act of celebration than a homegrown headliner? Tee Dee Young, a Lexington blues artist, takes the stage at eight, a fitting capstone to a day built on the long tradition of Black generosity.
For those who come early, the evening is about connection as much as cash: mingling with leaders of the participating organizations, tasting local food, and listening to live music. Behind the celebration sits the behind-the-scenes work of nonprofit registration and matching-fund strategy, all coordinated so that a donation can do more. The event is open to the community, part of the effort to make giving as much a community affair as a financial one.
Give 8/28 Lex is, in the end, a statement about what prosperity looks like. The name gathers in the national movement, the date's historical resonance, and the local organizations that carry the work forward. For one evening in late summer, under the lights of the CommonSpirit Health Stage in Gatton Park on the Town Branch, Lexington will celebrate the fact that Black Lexington has always given, and will give again.