Day of Giving raises over $7.7 million for local nonprofits
Initiative exceeds $28 million since inception
PITTSBURGH, Pa., Oct. 4, 2013 – Public donations of $6.4 million were received in a 24-hour period in The Pittsburgh Foundation's 5th annual Day of Giving yesterday. Support for local nonprofit organizations through the Foundation’s on-line PittsburghGives program exceeded $28 million since its inception in 2009.
Individual contributions that flowed into PittsburghGives from midnight to midnight yesterday totaled $6,400,000, and they will each receive an equal pro-rated share of the $750,000 matching funds, creating a total of $7,150,000 raised for nonprofits. A Day of Giving for Westmoreland which ran simultaneously received public donations of $480,000 which share a match pool of $95,000 (totaling $575,000).
Together, it produced more than $7.7 million in funds for local nonprofits. 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 has become a community event that brings together families and individuals from all walks of life who dig deep to support the critical work of our nonprofit organizations," said Yvonne Maher, the Foundation’s vice president of Development and Donor Services.
A total of 729 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. 719 organizations received contributions and The Pittsburgh Foundation will announce the matching amount for each donation as soon as financial reconciliation of all data is completed.
Due to its unexpectedly high rate of growth since 2009, The Pittsburgh Foundation introduced minor modifications to the program for 2013. To ensure a robust match percentage for participating nonprofits, the Foundation determined that only the first $1,000 per individual per organization would be eligible to receive matching dollars from the match pools. In previous years, the cap was $10,000.
Despite these changes, giving yesterday was only slightly lower than the record setting 2012 Day of Giving when over $7.0 million in public donations was received which combined with matching funds of $750,000 generated over $7.7 million for local charities. Westmoreland’s Day of Giving last year raised over $605,000 which shared a match pool of $80,000.
The 2013 Day of Giving was able to keep pace with last year thanks to an increase in the number of individual donations which topped 19,100, up from the 17,700 last year. Gifts of under $1,000, $4.1 million of last year’s total, increased to approximately $6.8 million this year.
“Our event this year clearly demonstrates that Day of Giving helps nonprofits increase the number of donors to their organizations and helps them grow individual giving and support,” said Ms. Maher. “We congratulate and applaud everyone who gave and the nonprofits that organized themselves so well, again showcasing Pittsburgh's generous spirit.”
The $750,000 match pool for Allegheny nonprofits was the same as the pool for the 2012 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 Fund, The Donald & Sylvia Robinson Family Foundation, and The Robert Waters Fund together with The Colcom Foundation.
Westmoreland’s $95,000 match pool was supported by Westmoreland Now and Forever Fund, Richard King Mellon Foundation, King's Foundation, Glasser Foundation, Ferrier Family Fund, Sean Cassidy & Gina Sciarino Fund, Service Wealth Management, S & T Trust, Hefren-Tilotson, Hamil Manufacturing Inc., Mr. Regis Synan, Ms. Gail Malloy, Mr. Vince Quatrini Esq., Monsignor John Conway, Dr. Martin Dudas, Mr. Brian Lenert, and Ms. Barbara Ferrier.
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.
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