As an incentive for members to clown for community service, Just Clowning Around of Northern Virginia, or JCA, requests donations for participating in charity events. These funds not only support the education and functioning of JCA, but also each year, JCA donates 75% of funds it recieves to local non-profit organizations. As a civic-minded group of individuals, dedicated to the Clown Code of Ethics including in part, bringing joy and happiness to others, members of JCA annually designate a favorite charity for the following purposes:
- To provide an opportunity to establish a relationship with another organization contributing, as does JCA, to the improvement of the human condition.
- To open additional opportunities for members to perform/clown.
- To give something back to the greater community that utilizes JCA’s talent throughout the year.
Criteria for Nomination (must meet at least 3 of the following):
- The agency is a non-profit provider of services or products to individuals in need.
- If the charity does not have an identifiable clientele that meets or gathers regularly to receive services, it must provide an avenue for performance/clowning.
- The clientele served must be within a 50-mile radius of Vienna, VA.
- The recipient must not be funded by any government entity such as state or local government, the U.S. Government or any of its branches for over 50% of its revenue.
- Must be willing to submit an operating budget including government contributions.
Members of JCA can nominate their favorite local charity in January of each year. In April, the members vote to select a charity.
Some of the local charities that JCA has supported over the years include:
- Safe Places
- S.O.M.E. “So Others May Eat”
- Rainbow Therapeutic Riding Program
- Kaleidoscope
- Wildlife Bakery
- Hospice
- Special Olympics
- Cystic Fibrosis
- Central Fairfax Services
- Family Friends
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Child Abuse Center at Children’s Hospital, DC
- Muscular Dystrophy