Event raises 22 percent more than was raised in 2018
VANCOUVER — Nearly 170 nonprofits that provide services to southwest Washington communities came together yesterday during a 24-hour, online giving marathon called Give More 24! The event, organized by the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington, kicked off at midnight on Thursday (Sept. 19) and inspired thousands of people to give to local causes online at www.givemore24.org.
Part of the draw was the chance for donors to double their contributions through $700,000 in matching funds, as well as the potential to help their favored organizations win one of nineteen $1,000 nonprofit prizes.
The event continued to grow in its sixth year, setting records for the number of organizations participating (169) and the number of donors making contributions (4,391). In fact, this year’s event attracted an additional 694 donors — the third largest increase in the history of Give More 24! Collective donations surpassed the event’s $1.6 million goal minutes before midnight, with a final tally of $1,658,015 — a 22 percent increase from the 2018 result.
“The most notable and inspiring result of this year was the number of people who chose to make a difference,” said Jennifer Rhoads, president of the Community Foundation. “We’ve been seeing smaller donor increases the last couple of years, and this year our community reversed that trend by tapping into their social circles.”
This was the second year that individuals could support their favorite nonprofit by creating a personal campaign page. Called peer-to-peer fundraising, this strategy leverages existing social networks to raise funds and is becoming increasingly popular in the world of philanthropy. During this year’s Give More 24! campaign, 167 peer-to-peer fundraising champions brought 609 donors to the day, raising $73,892 for their respective causes.
Anyone from across the region and around the world could visit the Give More 24! website (givemore24.org) to make charitable gifts. In total, the website saw nearly 9,000 unique visitors over the course of the day, with the most popular hours being noon and 8 p.m. The giving day site allowed donors to filter participating organizations by cause area or location, see active matches and review nonprofit prize awards.
As an online event, most donors give from home or work, and some donations even come in from outside the area. Overall, 6,757 gifts ranging from $5 to $20,000 came in from 44 states and 4 countries, with the furthest coming from Mosman, Australia. The average gift size was $157 and donors gave an average of 1.6 gifts. Giving came primarily from southwest Washington, with nearly half of all online gifts came from Vancouver residents (3,048). Longview (829), Portland (367), Camas and Ridgefield (301 each) were the next most active cities.
Every donation made through the website was added to the fundraising totals in real-time, allowing donors to see their contribution to the larger event and watch the performance of their favorite organizations. Based on the data, many people stayed engaged with Give More 24! throughout the day, returning to see the progress and, in some cases, make additional gifts.
“The friendly competition and urgency of 24 hours creates excitement that you can see and feel,” Rhoads said. “It makes giving fun and approachable, while highlighting serious community needs and the vital nonprofits that are working hard to address them.”
Cause categories covered a full spectrum of interests, such as animal welfare, arts and culture, environment, religion, social justice and veterans. Looking at causes, those that attracted the most funds during Give More 24! were Education ($369,729), Health & Wellness ($296,612), and Poverty & Hunger ($236,246). When the event closed, Lower Columbia School Gardens was the most popular organization with 227 supporters donating. The most successful fundraiser was North County Community Food Bank (NCCFB) with $96,405 in total giving. NCCFB led the small-sized organizations in funds raised, Teach One to Lead One ($38,554) topped the medium-sized category and Our Lady of Lordes Catholic School ($65,659) led all large-sized organizations.
“Little by little, our collective giving creates a huge monetary impact, but the people inspire me most,” Rhoads said. “Nonprofit employees; donors; it’s their actions, stories and connections that make our region so special.”
This event would not be possible without the support of a generous group of business sponsors. Davidson & Associates Insurance representing PEMCO Insurance served as the presenting sponsor of Give More 24! Further financial support is provided by power sponsor Kaiser Permanente and boost sponsor Columbia Bank. For full details on Give More 24! sponsors, as well as the giving totals and leaderboards detailing which nonprofits and causes raised the most funds and donors, visit www.GiveMore24.org.
Information provided by Community Foundation for Southwest Washington.
