The Pittsburgh Foundation

Day of Giving raises over $8.4 million for local nonprofits

PITTSBURGH, Pa., Oct. 4, 2012 – Public donations of more than $7.6 million set a new fundraising record for The Pittsburgh Foundation's 24-hour Day of Giving yesterday. And it took the total funding support for local nonprofit organizations through the Foundation’s online PittsburghGives program to over $21 million in three years.

Individual contributions that flowed into PittsburghGives from midnight to midnight yesterday totaled $7,046,383, and they will each receive an equal pro-rated share of the $750,000 matching funds, creating a total of $7,796,383 raised for nonprofits. A Day of Giving for Westmoreland which ran simultaneously received public donations of $605,547 which share a match pool of $80,000 (totaling $685,547).

Together, it produced an $8.4 million boost for local nonprofits, an increase of more than 31 percent on the $6.4 million raised by the event last year.

All data is preliminary and is subject to financial and administrative reconciliation by Foundation staff, which is expected to be completed by early next week.

“Our Day of Giving brings together families and individuals from all walks of life who dig deep to support the critical work of our nonprofit organizations," said Grant Oliphant, the Foundation’s President and CEO. “Once again they have demonstrated overwhelming generosity and once again they have set new records for charitable giving in our community. We are amazed and delighted by the result.”

The number of individual donations yesterday topped 17,700, up from the 13,600 last year, which itself doubled the number of contributions received in 2010. Gifts ranged from the $25 minimum to the largest donation of the day of $25,000. During the 24 hour event, 105 gifts were received of over $10,000.

A total of 665 local charities in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties with profiles on the PittsburghGives site were eligible to receive contributions from donors that qualified for an equal, pro-rated share of the matching funds. Every one of them received contributions.

The Pittsburgh Foundation will announce the matching amount for each donation as soon as financial reconciliation of all data is completed.

Giving yesterday was significantly higher than for the 2011 Day of Giving when over $5.1 million in public donations was received which combined with matching funds of $750,000 generated nearly $5.9 million for local charities. Westmoreland’s Day of Giving last year raised nearly $440,000 which shared a match pool of $100,000.

“Our event this year shows clearly the progress our nonprofits are making in reaching out to their supporters using social media and on-line technology,” said Grant Oliphant. “We congratulate and applaud everyone who gave and the nonprofits that organized themselves so well. Day of Giving was an inspiring endorsement of Pittsburgh's generous, big-hearted spirit, a magnificent achievement which far exceeded our hopes and expectations. "

Since the launch of PittsburghGives in 2009, the online site’s giving events have so far raised more than $21 million for the region’s nonprofit organizations.

The $750,000 match pool for Allegheny nonprofits was the same as the pool for the 2011 Day of Giving. In addition to funds provided by The Pittsburgh Foundation, the match pool was supported by the Foundation’s Jack G. Buncher Charitable Trust together with The Albert H. Burki Fund, The Colcom Foundation, the Leonard C. Grasso Foundation, the Kelly Family Fund, the Raphael Family Fund in memory of Margaret Raphael, and the Donald and Sylvia Robinson Family Foundation.

Westmoreland’s $80,000 match pool was supported by Westmoreland Now and Forever Fund, Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation, The Hill Group, Ferrier Family Fund, Covington Investment Advisors, Hefren Tillotson, Mr. and Mrs. Jim Bendel, Reese Family Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Regis Synan, Mr. and Mrs. Vince Quatrini, Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Malloy, McFeely-Rogers Foundation, Mr. Lou Steiner, S & T Wealth Management, Mr. and Mrs. Kirk Utzinger, Mr. Marc Robertshaw, Mr. David Millstein, Sean Cassidy and Gina Sciarrino Fund and Mr. and Mrs. Tony Pauly.

The PittsburghGives platform serves as a unique vehicle for nonprofits to showcase their work in the community, detailing information about their charitable programs, missions, management and finances. PittsburghGives can be accessed at www.pittsburghgives.org. The site received more than 82,000 “hits” during yesterday’s Day of Giving.