Wednesday was Give to the Max Day at www.GiveMN.org and Minnesotans did indeed give to the max! Almost $13.6 million was raised for 3,978 nonprofits through online giving from 47,540 donors.

GiveMN.org is an innovative online resource seeking to change the way Minnesotans give and help create a stronger nonprofit community for Minnesota. It is a program of the Saint Paul Foundation/Minnesota Community Foundation.

For the third year in a row, GiveMN.org used its web platform to help nonprofit organizations of all sizes reach new donors, increase giving through fun and engaging campaigns and significantly reduce overall fundraising costs. The day helps individuals find, learn and contribute to Minnesota, facilitates quick and easy online donations and organizes charitable contributions in one location. 

This year, the event organizers offered incentives to encourage greater donor participation, including grants to nonprofits that earned the most money and awarding a prize to one nonprofit every hour.

The GiveMN.org site was powered by Razoo, an online fundraising website that allows donors to search for and donate to 1 million officially reigstered nonprofit oragnizations.

The Twin Cities Pioneer Press covered the day noting how this year, in addition to the day’s online component, the event’s oragnizers set up headquarters at the Mall of America to showcase many of the nonprofits’ work in the community. For example: 

“The Uptake, a local online video journalism website, filmed a telethon-like stream of performances by local acts and interviews of nonprofit leaders by TV journalists. Appearing with fellow musician, Maria Isa in an evening slot, Tim Mahoney performed a song he wrote for the event called ‘Just Give.’ During the day, holiday shoppers paused with their packages to watch WCCO-TV’s Jason DeRusha pepper one charity’s leader with questions.”

Several of the foundation involved in supporting Give to the Max Day are in the process of rebranding their foundation offices as Minnesota Philanthropy Partners.

– Polly M. Talen, program director/St. Paul at Knight Foundation