The Pittsburgh Foundation’s Day of Giving generated $2.1 million during 16 hours on Wednesday, pushing the total to more than $5.1 million raised across two days – about four months apart.
About $1.2 million was raised on May 3 when technical problems with service provider Kimbia limited what was to be a 16-hour Day of Giving and prompted rescheduling. The Pittsburgh Foundation was among 54 community foundations that contracted with Kimbia for its original Giving Day in May but the only one to reschedule another day of giving. Most others extended their Giving Day into the next day.
For Pittsburgh’s Day of Giving, some $1.5 million was pledged in matching funds, another $200,000 was given to organizations through incentives and $60,000 in matching funds. A total of 15,672 donations were made to 857 local charities in three counties with profiles on PittsburghGives.org
Final results will be announced in early October as final matching fund awards and incentive prize winners are determined. All data are preliminary and subject to final and administrative reconciliation by foundation staff.
Last year, the Day of Giving raised $5.7 million and in 2014 it raised $4.6 million. Since its inception in 2009, the program has raised more than $43 million for organizations in southwestern Pennsylvania.
“The fact that Allegheny County nonprofits pledged matc.3hing funds of nearly $2 million to yesterday’s Day of Giving shows that nonprofits and donors share an appetite for giving online,” said Maxwell King, president and CEO of the foundation. “In the months ahead, we’ll be evaluating how the foundation can help nonprofits grow that capacity.”
Yesterday the eighth annual North Texas Giving Day raised the largest amount in the event’s history for the fifth consecutive year, topping $37 million. More than 2,500 nonprofits will benefit from more than 142,7000 donations that exceeded the 2014 total of $33.1 million from 118,000 donations.
Since 2009, more than $156 million has been raised for area nonprofits through North Texas Giving Day, sponsored by Communities Foundation of Texas.
About 13,000 nonprofits had registered for Kimbia’s Give Local America in May, which ran into hardware problems about 10 hours into the 24-hour event. The Austin, Texas-based firm waived approximately $370,000 in fees as a result, and the CEO at the time, Dan Gillett, pledged to give up three months’ salary. Gillett is no longer with the company. Mark Perkins was appointed CEO last month.
The Pittsburgh Foundation surveyed nonprofits that took part in the May 3 event and found that they wanted to rescheduled for another day, but also researched and reviewed other vendors for its Sept. 22 event. “We immediately began searching for new partners who offer reliable and redundant backup systems,” King said in a release ahead of the fall event. The foundation chose Denver, Colo.-based CiviCore, which handles Colorado’s statewide giving day. “We’ve now got what I’ve been calling a ‘belt and suspenders’ strategy in place,” he said, adding after the fact that the day surpassed expectations and was problem-free.