Above: The Miami Foundation staff celebrate during Give Miami Day. Photo credit: The Miami Foundation

Donors from South Florida and around the world raised more than $3.26 million for more than 400 nonprofits during the second annual Give Miami Day. Wednesday’s daylong event nearly tripled the $1.2 million raised during last year’s inaugural giving day.   

Organized by The Miami Foundation, the event encourages individuals to build a greater Miami by donating online to nonprofits they feel passionate about. Donors made more than 12,200 individual gifts.

Knight Foundation, a sponsor of Give Miami Day, offered $100,000 in matching funds. The Miami Foundation leveraged Knight’s match to raise an additional $250,000 in matching funds from other sponsors, which included the Miami Marlins, the Hector Family Fund, the Miami Heat Charitable Fund and others.  Individuals could also contribute to a match pool, ensuring that a percentage of every donation between $25 and $10,000 would be matched.  

Bahia Ramos, Knight’s program director of community foundations, said that even though her expectations were high, the showing of support inspired her: “The success of this year’s Give Miami Day illustrates the collective power of what our community is capable of accomplishing. It showcases so many of our city’s strengths, from the leadership of The Miami Foundation to the creativity and passion of Miami’s many nonprofits. I’ve never been more proud to call Miami my home.”

A leaderboard documented donations in real time. The top spot for the day went to the Greater Miami Jewish Federation which received $207,362. The Children’s Movement of Florida came in second, it received $95,585.

Additional prizes were awarded to organizations that brought in the most donations during certain times of day and for other benchmarks. Donors wasted no time as gifts poured in as soon as the clock hit 12:01 a.m. Save Foundation nabbed the “Early Bird Gets the Worm” (bringing in 32 unique gifts between midnight and 1 a.m. Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired won the “Sleepwalker Prize,” bringing in 38 gifts between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. Each received an additional $1,000. Communities in Schools in Miami won $1,500 for the “Friends in Far Away Places” award, after landing a gift from a remote city in Australia.The Children’s Movement of Florida, which received $95,585.

Social media played an important role in the success of the day. A countdown to Give Miami Day started Tuesday evening with a Twitter chat, and throughout the day nonprofits used Twitter, Facebook and other platforms to encourage people to donate.  

#GiveMiamiDay also became a trending topic on Twitter just before noon.

Support for Miami’s online giving day is part of Knight’s overall efforts to help community foundations increase their community profile while raising money for great causes. Knight’s recently released Giving Day Playbook is a free resource to help make online giving campaigns successful. It offers an extensive set of planning recommendations, day-of logistics, templates and more.

Give Miami Day came on the heels of two other Knight-supported online giving days: Last week GiveMn.org raised more than $17.1 million for more than 4,400 nonprofits across Minnesota, and earlier this month Georgia Gives Day raised more than $1.4 million.

By Elizabeth R. Miller, communications associate at Knight Foundation