Yesterday was a beautiful day for Minnesota philanthropy.

The third annual Give to the Max Day sponsored by GiveMN.org spurred 47,537 Minnesotans to donate $13,559,530 to 3,978 nonprofits in a 24-hour period.

Dana Nelson, Executive Director of GiveMN.org, said the total donated represented a $3.5 million increase over last year’s Give to the Max Day. There were 4,943 more donors and 342 more nonprofits involved this year.

MinnPost received 407 donations totaling $49,377, more than double the amount received in 2010. We finished at #17 on GiveMN’s Main Leaderboard for total donations received. With our Board match of $20,000, almost $70,000 was raised to support high-quality journalism for people who care about Minnesota.

Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supports MinnPost -- yesterday and all year long. We couldn't do this without you.