Day of Giving returns May 3 to boost Pittsburgh nonprofits
PITTSBURGH, April 25, 2016 – The Pittsburgh Foundation’s phenomenally successful Day of Giving program which has raised more than $40 million for worthy nonprofits through a combination of individual donations and a generous match pool, will resume May 3 under a new model for Allegheny County.
The day-long event also will include Westmoreland and Butler counties.
With the numbers of participating nonprofits and donors continuing to grow, Pittsburgh Foundation officials determined that continuing to attempt to match individual contributions at a meaningful level is not sustainable. For this year’s event in Allegheny County, staff has worked with the 800 participating nonprofits to provide their own separate matching funds rather than the Foundation-supported common match pool.
“When we first launched our local Day of Giving in 2009, none of us envisioned the success it would have, not only here in Pittsburgh but also in serving as a model for other community foundations across the country,” Maxwell King, the Foundation’s president and CEO, said in announcing the new model.
“After careful review of our local event, as well as others, we decided to develop a structure that would be sustainable and ensure a high enough match percentage that donors would continue to have some extra incentive to support participating nonprofits,” said King, “We’re very pleased that there has been such a strong community response to the new plan.”
In Allegheny County, 887 nonprofits will participate, and 164 of them have raised their own match pools for a county-wide total of $2.2 million. The average amount for each match pool is $13,832.
The Foundation also is providing $100,000 in incentives to help encourage public support, including cash awards to organizations that bring in the most donations at specific times of the day; have the most mentions on social media and report the largest increase in donors for an organization.
Incentives will be apportioned to categories of small, medium and large organizations as well as organizations that are new to the event. “Our intention is to make sure that the Day of Giving continues to be one of the main community traditions that celebrate individual donors and the nonprofits that do so many wonderful things in the region,” said Kelly Uranker, director of the Center for Philanthropy at the Foundation. “It always has been a fun day in Pittsburgh with a large outpouring of support for nonprofits, and we are confident that will continue.”
Organizations may only win one prize during this year’s Day of Giving. If an organization wins more than one prize during the event, it will receive the prize of greater cash value. Winners will be informed after the results are internally verified. Final results will be posted on the PittsburghGives site May 4.
Westmoreland and Butler counties’ Day of Giving events will continue this year with each having a central match pool. For Westmoreland, the match pool is $50,000, with 146 organizations participating. For Butler County, $10,000 will be available to 56 organizations.
All three Day of Giving events will begin May 3 at 8 a.m. and end at 11:59 p.m. The minimum donation is $25. MasterCard, Visa or American Express credit cards are accepted and each gift is tax deductible.
“PittsburghGives has proved year after year that there is something special about the Pittsburgh character when it comes to generosity in individual philanthropy,” said King. “We are proud to provide this platform to keep it going and we will be studying the results carefully for ways to make it even more effective.”
PittsburghGives, WestmorelandGives and the Butler County Day of Giving portal may be accessed at: https://givingday.pittsburghgives.org/.