Minnesotans shattered generosity records during Give to the Max Day, giving more than $20 million to further the critical work of nonprofits and schools across the state.
“We are amazed each year by Minnesotans’ generous support of our nonprofits and schools,” said Jake Blumberg, executive director of GiveMN. “Give to the Max Day shows us what can happen when we come together and collectively support our communities, and we know that generosity shines all year as people donate money and give their volunteer time to their favorite causes.”
In Cook County North House Folk School received $5,236, “Which was a little bit down from last year,” said Kaitlyn Bohlin, development manager for North House Folk School. Greg Wright, North House Folk school executive director, said the money will go a long way towards helping the school pay for its programs and traditional crafts.
“North House was excited to more than meet our Give to the Max challenge match and welcoming the financial support from over 60 donors,” Wright said. “Year end giving plays a central role keeping North House strong and purposeful; last year over 1,000 individuals and businesses supported our efforts, helping us welcome new guests and international artisans, expand our intern program, enhance our annual instructor retreat, and of course much more.”
Cook County Higher Education was gifted with $1,050. These dollars, said Executive Director Paula Sundet Wolf, Ph.D., would be used for student needs.
Organizations from small to large benefitted from the support of donors who were celebrating Minnesota’s giving holiday.
The annual giving day wasn’t without its challenges, as a technical issue caused GiveMN.org to switch to a scaled-back website for part of the day. In order to ensure donations would continue to be processed during this time, this backup site was designed to restrict usage of certain tools and features for donors and nonprofits.
As the reconciliation process moves forward, GiveMN has committed to a transparent discussion of the technical findings and implications as more information becomes available from GiveMN’s technology partner, Kimbia. Additionally, GiveMN will work with all organizations to cover any processing fees associated with donations made on the backup site.
“We operate from a ‘hope for the best, but plan for the worst’ mindset leading up to Give to the Max Day, and are grateful that the contingency plan we had in place ensured we never lost the ability for generous supporters to securely donate and support their favorite causes,” said Blumberg.
After all GiveMN.org features came back online in the afternoon, Minnesota Community Foundation generously added $50,000 in prizes to honor nonprofits’ hard work and the generosity of donors well into the evening. These additional prizes played a crucial role in helping to inspire giving up through the last seconds of the day.
“Despite some bumps along the way, we had an incredible day, and are humbled by the generosity of thousands of donors who supported us and so many other great causes across Minnesota,” said Rob Zeaske, Second Harvest Heartland CEO. “The spirit of friendly competition among so many local nonprofits reaching for the top of the leaderboard is what makes Give to the Max Day so impactful for our community and we always have fun being part of that. We were grateful that our generous donors supported us and our cause in such great numbers.”
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