Thousands of Minnesota schools and nonprofits rallied Thursday for donations on the 15th annual Give to the Max Day, which have already surpassed pre-pandemic levels of giving.
By midnight Friday, the statewide “giving holiday,” put on by GiveMN, aims to top last year’s $34.1 million raised for organizations across the state — from theaters and food shelves to schools and arts organizations. Last year’s event fell just shy of 2021’s record $34.4 million.
As of 4 p.m., more than $24 million had flowed through givemn.org, already exceeding the total amount given in 2019 — and reinforcing leaders’ hopes that Minnesotans will sustain a new level of generosity higher than that seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There is a new floor for the event,” said Jake Blumberg, executive director of GiveMN. “We see more and more organizations continue to benefit from it … there is still very much a collective interest in celebrating generosity across the state of Minnesota for Give to the Max.”
While Give to the Max Day is pegged as a 24-hour fundraiser, it includes all donations made since Nov. 1. About 5,000 nonprofits and schools are participating in the online fundraiser, comprising about a third of the 15,000-plus nonprofits registered in Minnesota.
“It’s a great day for Minnesotans as a whole to support causes,” said Nate Reed, fundraising manager at Hammer & Northeast Residence (NER), one of the largest disability services providers in Minnesota. “To have a day of giving specific to Minnesota helps elevate philanthropy.”
Nonprofits across the U.S. fundraise during Giving Tuesday, held each year on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 28 this year). But in Minnesota, nonprofits also drum up donations on Give to the Max Day, which has emerged as one of the largest grassroots online fundraisers of its kind in the country.
The statewide fundraiser started in 2009 as a one-time event, and collected $14.5 million. But it’s grown over time, bringing in $21.6 million in 2019 and exceeding $30 million each year during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That’s a pretty significant amount of growth over the course of a decade and a half,” Blumberg said.
The boost in giving comes as more nonprofits are struggling financially. Across the state and nation, charitable giving is declining as donors struggle financially and fatigue sets in after the unprecedented generosity of the past few years.
In a survey released this fall by the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, a third of respondents reported that donations and foundation grants have declined this year — the highest number since the statewide association started tracking the data in 2020. As a result, 70% of nearly 200 nonprofits say they’ve increased fundraising efforts in the last year.
Individual giving dropped by 6.4% in 2022 across the country and in Minnesota, with Minnesotans donating $5.3 billion last year, close to pre-pandemic levels, according to the Minnesota Council on Foundations. And yet, last year, Minnesotans bucked those broader trends on Give to the Max Day.
Donors to GiveMN’s site are charged a 6.9% fee, 2% of which goes to GiveMN, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit.
Hammer & NER, two Twin Cities organizations that merged earlier this year, have seen their costs go up for home improvement projects and employee wages. The organization, which serves nearly 380 adults with intellectual and other disabilities in group homes and apartment programs, aims to raise $750,000 on Give to the Max Day.
“It’s a day that people are philanthropic,” Reed said. “It’s a good kickoff to the year-end fundraising push.”
In north Minneapolis, Give to the Max Day is the largest one-day fundraiser for Juxtaposition Arts, which works with 500 youth and young adults each year. The nonprofit set its highest goal ever to raise $50,000 this year and, as with a lot of nonprofits, it secured a matching grant as an incentive to push donors to reach the milestone.
“Give to the Max Day is so important and so much different than other ways we fundraise,” said Nesra Cummings, Juxtaposition Arts’ development coordinator. “The community has really showed up.”
On Thursday, Juxtaposition Arts held a live graffiti art presentation, adding donors’ name to the wall to recognize their contributions and drive excitement about the online fundraiser.
Like other nonprofits, Juxtaposition Arts is tapping social media more and planning a cocktail party in the new year to draw new donors, especially younger donors; millennial giving is surpassing Gen X for the first time nationally.
“Give to the Max provides us that opportunity to think creatively about how we engage with the very people that make the work possible,” Cummings said. “This year’s event is bigger than we’ve ever done, but it’s because we know it’s needed, especially after COVID.”