St. Louis Park Donors 'Give to the Max'

Tuesday was a big day for charitable groups in St. Louis Park and across the state.

That's because it was the second Give to the Max Day. Sponsored by GiveMN.org, donors were encouraged to give during a 24-hour period that ended at midnight, and nonprofits stood to receive cash bonuses of $10,000 to $20,000 for bringing in the most donations. Last year, GiveMN.org helped Minnesota nonprofits collect more than $14 million from 38,000-plus donors on Give to the Max Day. This year, nearly 43,000 donors raised a little more than $10 million.

Those dollars went to St. Louis Park groups such as Dollars for Scholars. Last year, they raised almost $2,500 — enough to provide college scholarships to two St. Louis Park High School students. This year, the group raised $6,245.

"Many people respond positively when asked to contribute," said Carol Clay, a Dollars for Scholars board member.  "They just need to be reached, and this was a positive method to reach out and ask for contributions to benefit young people and to give toward a better community."

And organizations like Dollars for Scholars had even more at stake — an anonymous donor pledged to match funds raised on Give to the Max Day by the group, up to $1,000.

The , or STEP, also stood to benefit from matching funds from the McCabe Foundation. STEP's goal was to raise and have matched $20,000 toward their $1.3 million capital campaign to purchase their building on Lake Street — STEP's new home since May. On Tuesday, $16,780 came in toward that goal, but STEP also raised more than $10,000 toward other projects.

heard about GiveMN.org last year "quite by accident," said Michelle Shapiro, the school's director of finance. "I was personally hearing radio coverage and receiving solicitation letters at home, so I looked online to see if my organization could participate and was pleasantly surprised to see we were listed as an organization on the GiveMN website."

The school raised more than $13,700 through GiveMN.org all of last year. This year, they brought in roughly $400 on Give to the Max Day.

Overall, St. Olaf College was the Greater Minnesota winner, with 1,791 donors and $195,605 raised. In the Twin Cities, hunger-relief organization Second Harvest Heartland topped the list, with 2,071 donors and $242,136 raised.