Give Local America, the 24-hour giving campaign by community foundations around the country, raised almost $50 million in donations on Tuesday. The exact tally as of this morning was $49,978,398.66 from 305,775 gifts, according to the leaderboard at www.GiveLocalAmerica.com, outpacing the more than $32 million raised on Giving Tuesday.
With two campaigns running 36 hours, it’s likely the campaign will eclipse $50 million today.
More than 7,000 nonprofits in 120 communities nationwide took part in the 24-hour giving campaign on Tuesday that was meant to celebrate 100 years of local philanthropy by community foundations. Key metrics on the event will be released on Thursday and fundraising firm Kimbia plans to release an infographic next week with more metrics.
Among the highest revenue campaigns on Tuesday were:
- GiveBIG (Seattle Foundation), $12.89 million from 64,000 gifts (average gift of approximately $201.40);
- Pittsburgh Gives, $4,633,910
- Big Day of Giving (Sacramento Region Community Foundation), $3,019,913 from 18,915 gifts ($159.66);
- Lift the Lowcountry (Coastal Community Foundation, Charleston, S.C.), $2,494,023 from 6,677 gifts ($373.52);
- GiveNOLA Day, $2,264,512 from 19,625 gifts ($115.40);
- The Big Give S.A. (San Antonio Community Foundation), $1,956,587 from 21,260 gifts ($92.03);
- Give Local Ann Arbor Area, $1,919,922 from 7,875 gifts ($243.80);
- Great Give (Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties), $1,906,063 from 7,406 gifts, ($257);
- Give Local Louisville, $1,892,211 from 2,563 gifts ($738.28);
- The Big Payback (Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, Nashville), $1,492,492.50 from 11,468 gifts ($130.14);
- St. Louis Gives, $1,081,105 from 13,405 gifts ($80.65);
- Give Day Tampa Bay, $1,052,437 from 5,142 gifts ($204.67);
- The San Diego Foundation, $921,782 from 5,835 gifts ($157.97).
Other areas were not nearly as active, with as many as two dozen regions collectively raising less than $100,000. Some communities extended the campaign into a 36-hour event, which means their totals are not yet finalized, while others shortened it to 18 hours.
While Giving Tuesday was a sector-wide effort, Give Local America was the brainchild of Austin, Texas-based Kimbia as a mid-year complement to December’s Giving Tuesday. For some giving days, new donors can represent up to 60 percent of all contributors. Kimbia’s 2013 North Texas Giving Day raised more than $25 million in 17 hours, inspiring the creation of Give Local America.
Giving Tuesday – held the Tuesday after Thanksgiving – raised at least $33 million, according to a survey of payment processors compiled by The NonProfit Times. Most of the donations were processed via Blackbaud but Give Local America is the first event strictly using one processing firm.
“Give Local America is a major stride forward for the nonprofit sector – it leverages the proven local giving day model to create a high impact, mid-year, national giving event,” George Stevens, president and CEO of the Coastal Community Foundation in Charleston, S.C., said in a press release previewing the event.
Each community got a uniquely branded giving date website plus donation forms that can be embedded in less than two minutes. Kimbia also offered training on social media promotion and capacity building, as well as match day toolkits and website-embeddable, real-time leader boards. Participating community foundations and nonprofits collectively raised $5 million in local community matching funds to encourage more giving.
Kimbia received a fee equal to almost 3 percent of funds processed, which covers “project management, nonprofit training, project implementation and executive, software usage,” according to Chief Marketing Officer Christine Lowery. She estimated that Kimbia invested more than two years and $500,000 in marketing and support expenses for the event.
