Alexandria Nonprofits Cash In On Giving Day

Online giving days have been very popular recently, with cities such as Erie, N.Y. participating in a 24-hour marathon of fundraising. Alexandria, Va., which has hosted this kind of event in the past, has once again cashed in on its popularity.

The Washington Post reported that organizations in the northern Virginia city hoped to raise $200,000 in the 24-hour "Spring2ACTion Alexandria" online giving day which ended yesterday. The event encouraged donors of all income levels to give $10 or more to local charities via spring2action.org or by phone.

Nonprofits not only reached their goal, they exceeded it.

According to the numbers from spring2action.org, nonprofits raised a combined $319,333 from 3,698 donors. Last year's Spring2Action campaign raised $104,000 from more than 1,200 donors.

Casa Chirilagua, a Christian faith-based nonprofit, led all organizations with $33,774 from 186 unique donors. The Art League Inc. came in a close second, with $32,416 from 610 unique donors, which was the most donors to any organization during the event.

Spring2ACTion Alexandria was the first of three days of fundraising events in the city. A business philanthropy summit, a community service day, and a kids lemonade stand day are upcoming. You can read more about Spring2ACTion and these other events in The Washington Post.

Online Giving Challenge Raises $2.2 Million

An online giving challenge sponsored by Battle Creek, Mich.-based W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) raised more than $2.2 million over 10 days.

Twenty-two nonprofits participated in the foundation's national "Cultures of Giving Challenge," according to a press release posted in The Sacramento Bee. The challenge ran from April 17 to April 26 and provided a dollar-for-dollar match up to the first $20,000 per nonprofit. A total of $1.3 million was raised from 3,421 donations, with WKKF matching that number with a total of $915,000.

WKKF decided to hold The Challenge after the release of its report entitled "Cultures of Giving: Energizing and Expanding Philanthropy by and for Communities of Color." The report showcased the power of identity-based philanthropy, which is a growing movement to get people from that community to engage in philanthropic giving.  A recent report by Blackbaud also indicated that online giving is continuing to grow, increasing for the 12th month in a row.

"The Challenge was a success because it really engaged grassroots participation," said Dr. Alandra Washington, the foundation's deputy director of programs for the education and learning, and family economic security teams. "This will serve as a model for what communities can do to help themselves and their causes in the social media realm."

Read the full press release in The Sacramento Bee.