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Nonprofits around Minnesota raised more than $37.8 million on Thursday, breaking records for the annual Give to the Max Day campaign.
Donors from every Minnesota county and every U.S. state helped break last year’s record of $37.1 million, according to GiveMN, the nonprofit that organizes the event.
“That leaves me feeling overwhelmingly and abundantly grateful,” GiveMN Executive Director and CEO Jenna Ray said on Friday morning.
GiveMN said about 6,000 organizations received donations, with the number of donors estimated in the tens of thousands.
Many of those nonprofits reported tight budgets this year, Ray said. In research from the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits earlier this year, organization leaders noted higher costs, increased demand for services and disruptions to federal funding.
“We knew that this was a really crucial time and really crucial campaign for organizations all around the state,” Ray said.
Ray said many donors are also feeling economic uncertainty, but that didn’t seem to translate to a decrease in giving.
“When we asked folks how they were planning on showing up, the majority of folks told us that they either planned on keeping their individual giving budgets the same or increasing them this year, which is really heartening,” Ray said.
Donors were especially interested in giving to hunger relief organizations this year, Ray said, as SNAP benefit delays made headlines and families face tighter budgets. Also bringing in high donation levels, she said, were animal welfare and environmental nonprofits.
GiveMN doesn’t track the exact number of individual donors, so Ray said she’s not sure if more people gave this year than last year. But the average donation amount was higher than last year.
The annual giving day, started in 2009, is a key fundraiser for many nonprofits around the state, and kicks off the end-of-year giving season. Ray said nonprofits typically bring in most of their fundraising money between November and the New Year.
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