Preliminary Day of Giving Totals 2016
2016 Days-of-Giving Events raise about $5.1 million for nonprofits
A total of $2.1 million raised in recovery event
PITTSBURGH, Sept. 22, 2016 – Donors to The Pittsburgh Foundation’s Day of Giving event that ran for 16 hours yesterday to help nonprofits recover from a disrupted event earlier in the year, pumped a remarkable $2.1 million into regional nonprofits through the Foundation’s www.PittsburghGives.org portal.
When added to the $1.2 million raised on the partially completed May 3 giving day, the $1.5 million in pledged matching funds, $200,000 in incentives and $60,000 in matching funds, this year’s giving days generated about $5.1 million for regional nonprofits.
The Days of Giving events covered Allegheny, Westmoreland and Butler counties, and involved the participation of its affiliate, The Community Foundation of Westmoreland County, and a separate philanthropy, the Endowment for Butler County.
A total of 15,672 donations were made to 857 local charities in the three counties with profiles on the PittsburghGives site. Since the program’s inception in 2009, Days of Giving have raised more than $43 million for organizations in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Maxwell King, the Foundation’s president and CEO, characterized yesterday’s giving day as a win for everyone involved. It marked months of planning by the Foundation in response to the upending of the May 3 event due to technical failures in the systems of the online service provider contracted for the southwestern Pennsylvania event and events run by 54 community foundations across the country.
“Yesterday was a terrific day,” said King, “and it surpassed our expectations in terms of enthusiasm from a community that had already been through one event. We had no system problems and only the expected number of calls for assistance from donors not familiar with the process for online giving. The seamless operation was a testament to the efforts of a determined and hard-working staff, and the results are a testament to the generous spirit Pittsburghers are known for.”
“PittsburghGives was created to foster a culture of generosity and to spotlight the outstanding work of nonprofits in our region. The fact that Allegheny County nonprofits pledged matching funds of nearly $2 million to yesterday’s Day of Giving shows that nonprofits and donors share an appetite for giving online,” said King. “In the months ahead, we’ll be evaluating how The Pittsburgh Foundation can help nonprofits grow that capacity.”
All data are preliminary and subject to financial and administrative reconciliation by Foundation staff. The final tally for Day of Giving 2016 is expected to change as final matching fund awards and incentive prize winners are determined. Final numbers will be announced in early October.