Give to the Max Day returns
Last November GiveMN inspired Minnesotans to give more than $14 million to 3,434 Minnesota nonprofits in just 24 hours.
Can they do it again?
GiveMN has announced it plans to try on November 16.
Here's the twist. Last year's event was marked by both a miscommunication and an underestimation of Minnesotans' generosity. GiveMN said it would "match" all donations made on Give to the Max day. Many people took that to mean "dollar for dollar" when in fact it ended up only being a few cents on the dollar. Would people have given so readily if they didn't think their money was going to be doubled?
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This year, GiveMN is no longer promising to "match" donations, but it does list several "incentives" to help encourage giving. Here they are:
- A $20,000 and $10,000 prize grant will be awarded to the top two nonprofits in the Twin Cities and the top two nonprofits in Greater Minnesota that attract the largest number of individual donors on Give to the Max Day.
- Throughout the event, an individual donor will be randomly chosen every hour to have an additional $1,000 given to the charity that received the donor's original donation.
- Donors will have the opportunity to double their dollars for hundreds of featured nonprofits that have secured matching funds for Give to the Max Day.
So in other words, if a non-profit has managed to secure its own matching grant money, than your donation may be doubled.
New this year also is a 2.9% transaction fee.
A quick run of the numbers on my calculator shows that if Minnesotans give as generously as they did last year - $14 million - $406,000 will go towards transaction fees.
It's a hefty price tag when considered in total, but I'm sure most of the non-profits participating will say it's a worthwhile price to pay for the service the website is providing.
So, will you be participating in Give to the Max Day this year?