By Scott Provancher, The Arts & Science Council

The Arts & Science Council launched power2give.org four months ago to great excitement in Charlotte. The site’s projects, with a generous match from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, received more than $40,000 in donations during the first week it was live on the internet. Within 14 days, and about a week after the official launch, that number had jumped to more than $76,000!

Since that time, more than $230,000 has been raised. The site has supported scholarships for deserving music students at Community School of the Arts, saved trees at Historic Rosedale Plantation and helped young choristers at Charlotte Children’s Choir perform at the White House.

In an effort to bring that success to other communities around the country, earlier this month we launched power2give in Kentucky and Southern Indiana, and Miami.

In Miami, we’ve been thrilled to watch the most successful launch to date. In its first week, again with a generous match from Knight Foundation, the site raised more than $86,000 with an additional $19,000 raised in just the last three days. That’s double what the site raised in Charlotte in the first week!

So far, seven projects have been fully funded including equipment for young dancers with Thomas Armour Youth Ballet, instruments for the Greater Miami Youth Symphony and a free classical music experience for families with young children, retirees and the community-at large from the Alhambra Orchestra.

In just four months, with generosity from hundreds of donors and several matching grant partners, power2give.org has helped raise just shy of $400,000 for the cultural sector. We look forward to the great success and potential of power2give as we expand its geographic footprint.