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Inside MinnPost

158 donors to MinnPost in 24 hours

By Joel Kramer | Published Wed, Nov 18 2009 8:08 am

Wow!

Give to the Max Day generated 158 online donations to MinnPost in the past 24 hours, totaling more than $18,000.

We didn’t make the top 10 list for most donors, which you can see here.

But for the size of our enterprise, the results were impressive.

The donations have been coming in faster than we can enter them in our database, so we’re not sure yet how many are first-time donors. We’ll update on that. And we'll let you know how close we are to our goal of 1,600 members by year-end.

Update: We have 76 first-time donors, bringing us to 1,611 members.

Give to the Max Day is a project of the new giving portal GiveMN.org, and we are an outreach partner of GiveMN.

Overall, the day generated more than $13 million in online donations to more than 3,000 Minnesota nonprofits. Since the number was so high, the $500,000 in matching funds GiveMN assembled will generate less than 5 cents of match per dollar. But I’ll bet a lot of nonprofits will be happy anyway to see so much online donation activity. I know we are.

Give to the Max Day is over. But you can still donate online to MinnPost here.

Thanks to everyone for your support.

MinnPost | Wed, Nov 18 2009 8:08 am | 6 Comments

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6 Comments: Hide/Show Comments

(#1) On November 18, 2009, Thomas Swift says:

$18k for glossy left-wing journalism.

$10k to feed and shelter the homeless.

http://givemn.razoo.com/story/End-Poverty-Help-The-Dorothy-Day-Center-Give-Food-Shelter-And-Hope

There's a lesson in there somewhere.

(#2) On November 18, 2009, David Brauer says:

The lesson is, the tendentious cherry-pick.

Top 10, according to Give.mn:

1. Second Harvest Heartland
2. College of Saint Benedict
3. Twin Cities Public Television Inc
4. Animal Humane Society
5. Desiring God Ministries
6. St. Olaf College
7. Planned Parenthood
8. Minnesota Public Radio
9. Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank
10. YMCA of Greater Saint Paul

Conservatives are always praising private charity and touting it over government spending, but when one gets a taste of vox populi that doesn't comport, spits it out. Perhaps proves the limitations of the philosophy.

(#3) On November 18, 2009, Thomas Swift says:

No Dave.

Conservatives are quite comfortable with people having the ability to choose where their money goes...scratching our heads at some people's priorities doesn't signify inconsistency, just amazement.

Food banks eating Un-Planned De-Parenthood's dust? We are a purple state after all.

(#4) On November 18, 2009, Martha Bolinger says:

This was a great day for MN nonprofits and a big boost to online giving (which is very cheap per donor compared to conventional means).

BUT, perhaps the biggest winner of the day is Razoo.com, which I believe will collect 4.75% of $13 million (or around $617,000) in transaction fees from MN foundations. And they are not nonprofit.

(#5) On November 18, 2009, Dana Nelson says:

http://www.givemn.org

I am writing to correct the comment above regarding transaction fees on GiveMN. Actually Razoo gets no percent of transactions through GiveMN. The 4.75% goes to Network for Good which is a nonprofit and is the industry standard transaction provider. GiveMN funding partners cover these costs in hopes of inspiring even more donors to give on GiveMN.

(#6) On November 19, 2009, Martha Bolinger says:

Thanks, Dana, for the correction about Razoo. As Director of GIVEMN.ORG, if you can help unpack the bag of partners and monies to determine the total cost of this campaign, that would certainly be helpful.

But whatever the intermediary, I’m sad to see foundation funds transferred from direct nonprofit services to the banking industry – Visa, MasterCard, etc. The foundation partners are acting in good faith to promote online giving – which has lagged online buying and political contributions.

But when their support ends, nonprofits, especially small nonprofits, will be left holding the tab for these transaction fees, which are the bane of small businesses everywhere. And a new, long term revenue stream will be opened for financial services.

Fundraising to support these fees only takes more funds away from direct services and adds another layer of administrative cost. Let's hope online giving really generates the long term savings and new and increased gifts its proponents claim.

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Inside MinnPost will be the place for MinnPost staff to talk about what's going on in our enterprise. We hope to engage in a conversation with our readers, with current and prospective members and advertisers, and others interested in our grand experiment in high-quality, not-for-profit local journalism. The blog will be coordinated by Joel Kramer, MinnPost's CEO and Editor, with frequent contributions from other staff members.

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