Thousands of Minnesota nonprofits and schools rallied to raise money Thursday during the 12th annual Give to the Max Day.
By 9:30 a.m., more than $14 million had streamed into GiveMN's website, helping bolster organizations statewide during the critical time for year-end budgets, which are especially strained during the pandemic.
"Give to the Max Day ... is the original social distance fundraiser," said Jake Blumberg, executive director of GiveMN. "We've been doing what the world needs now since our founding — the idea of giving digitally and not having to be in person."
For the first time this year, GiveMN is highlighting organizations on the front lines of the pandemic as well as those led by or serving people of color, including Black and Indigenous communities.
The new focus on racial equity "really helps the playing field level out," said Wayne Ducheneaux II, executive director of the Native Governance Center in St. Paul, which serves Indigenous leaders in Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota. While the center relies more on grants from foundations, Give to the Max still boosts awareness for the small organization with nine staff members and a $1.5 million budget. He hopes this year's fundraiser brings in $10,000.
"It really helps us raise our visibility. And one of the largest issues we face is invisibility," he said of the funding disparity for Native American nonprofits. "Indian County is severely underfunded in the philanthropic field. There's a long road to get to parity."
During the pandemic, nonprofits have faced rising costs and depleting revenue, especially arts organizations that lost key admission fees when they closed and small nonprofits unable to hold traditional benefit walks or other fundraisers.
A new report released this week showed that about 40% of nonprofit employees filed unemployment claims from March to September after furloughs, layoffs or their hours were reduced. State data as of June showed the nonprofit workforce shrunk by 10% this year.
Some nonprofit leaders now worry the influx of donations when the pandemic first hit and then after George Floyd's death spurred a boost in giving to racial justice work and businesses damaged in civil unrest will lead to donor fatigue for critical year-end fundraisers.
But GiveMN isn't seeing that trend so far, Blumberg said. The site has hauled in a record $20 million in 2020 so far — more than $5 million of which came in for GiveMN's second event of the year, Give At Home MN, for nonprofits and schools in May. In June, after Floyd's death, more than $9 million was donated.
"Donors are going deeper into their virtual pocketbooks to support causes knowing that those causes are being asked to do even more than they normally would in a typical year," he said. "If there was ever a year to dig deep, it was this year."
In Princeton, Minn., Azure Davis, executive director of Ruff Start Rescue, is seeing donors give smaller amounts in 2020, but more donors are stepping up. She canceled her gala in March and nixed the usual in-person event for Give to the Max, her largest fundraiser of the year. Instead, she's livestreaming puppies and kittens playing on Facebook to draw donations.
"It's so important, more than any other year," she said, adding she hopes to raise $100,000 to back her $1.3 million budget. "These next two months will be vital for our organization."
Last year, about a third of the more than 15,000 nonprofits in the state solicited donations through GiveMN's site, though some nonprofits said some donors preferred to donate afterward to avoid the 6.9% transaction fee (GiveMN says about 85% of donors chose to pay that fee in addition to their donation).
Giving Tuesday, a national fundraiser, is also held Dec. 1, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
Give to the Max Day is pegged as a 24-hour fundraising blitz, but the tally counts donations since Nov. 1. In 2019, $21.6 million poured in for more than 5,000 nonprofits and schools, a record amount since the event launched in 2009.
"One of the things that traditionally brings all of us together across differences," Blumberg said, "is generously supporting those who are making the world a better place in our communities."
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Minnesota nonprofits, schools seek donations during Give to the Max Day - Minneapolis Star Tribune
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