Wow! What a Day! Great Give Day Raises $205,630 for Northeast Iowa Nonprofits

The Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque’s Great Give Day, Northeast Iowa’s first online giving day, wrapped up at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6 with 1,855 gifts totaling $205,630 raised for local nonprofits! This total includes $27,500 in local corporate sponsorships as well as an additional $10,000 power hour match grant from Give Local America, the national giving day partnership, for having the most donations per hour nationwide during the 6 p.m. hour. This unexpected $10,000 grant was particularly exciting as it allowed the Foundation to host an additional double donation hour at 9 p.m. that brought in another $5,000 in donations and to award an additional ten $500 endowment grant prizes to participating nonprofits.

The dollars are just part of the story, however. The response from participating nonprofits as well as community members and donors has been overwhelmingly positive. Many nonprofits learned how to use social media, created their first e-mail campaigns and raised dollars online for the first time. Many donors also gave online for the first time--and more than 500 donors indicated they were new donors to an organization. Great Give Day also received 423 donations from 37 states outside of Iowa.

We are still awaiting national data to give our day some context but it is clear that we live in a very generous region. The Miami Foundation's first give day in 2012, for example, raised $1.2 million, or about $.46 per capita; by comparison, Great Give Day raised about $1.14 per capita.

The Community Foundation thanks participating nonprofits and donors for making Great Give Day a success. Special thanks also go to our media sponsors, THMedia and Radio Dubuque, who helped us spread the word, and our corporate sponsors who contributed $27,500 in prize dollars for nonprofits: Theisen’s Home•Farm•Auto; Dupaco Community Credit Union; Honkamp Krueger & Co., P.C.; Premier Bank; Dubuque Bank & Trust; and Klauer Manufacturing. 

Prize Results

Most Dollars Raised - $2,500 Prize
Sisters of Charity BVM

Most Donors - 1st Place - $3,000 Prize
Sisters of Charity BVM

Most Donors - 2nd Place - $2,000 Prize
Camp Courageous of Iowa

Most Donors - 3rd Place - $1,000 Prize
The Power of Prayer

$1,000 Theisen's Home*Farm*Auto Golden Tickets
Dubuque Regional Humane Society
Four Mounds Foundation
Maquoketa Art Experience, Ltd.
The Power of Prayer

Surprise $500 Endowment Grants from $10K Give Local America Power Hour Prize
(Awarded through a random drawing to nonprofits that did not receive any other prizes.)
 
Crescent Community Health Center
Dubuque Chorale
Eastern Iowa Lutheran Bible Camp Association, Inc.
Hillcrest Family Services
Holy Family Catholic Schools
New Vienna Area Historical Society
Project Concern
The Ohnward Fine Arts Center
Thomas Determan Global Perspectives Endowment
Wartburg Theological Seminary