Give to the Max day is underway

I logged on to my computer this morning only to find an inbox crammed full of requests asking me to "Give to the Max" to various and sundry non-profits.

That's right, the annual self-proclaimed "Great Minnesota Give Together" is underway, and as of 9:40am it reports 11,670 donors have contributed $3,433,080 to 2,540 Minnesota nonprofits.

For reference, last year 42,596 donors participated in the event, and Minnesota non-profits received a total of $10,041,021 in donations, matching grants and prize money.

I'll be tracking the numbers throughout the day, and I'll give a final report as soon as midnight rolls around. In the meantime I'd love to hear from you about your experience.

Here's what I'm going to be looking for:

Now that it's in its third year, have non-profits figured out the best way to communicate the "give" message to their constituents? And have Minnesotans re-scheduled their giving to take advantage of the various matches and prizes offered on Give to the Max day? An increase in giving this year over last would certainly point in that direction, but I'll want to hear from both non-profits and individual donors to see how they've adjusted.

Are the same big institutions going to benefit the most from this event each year? Or will their be cross-over, with people giving to organizations that they only learned about through GiveMN?

Also, if you're not participating - either as a non-profit or as a donor - why not?

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