#GivingTuesdayNow raises over $500 million for COVID‐19 relief

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30792
• Published date: 01 July 2020
• Date: 01 July 2020

JULY 2020 NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

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© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

benets that it provides, including the ability to host

ongoing events instead of seasonal events, as well as

options that connect diverse geographies. In addition,

nonprots nd that with virtual fundraising, event

costs and planning time are greatly reduced. Larger

fundraising events can take months to plan and can

be quite costly. With virtual events, nonprots can

be up and running within hours at a fraction of the

cost of in-person events. Additionally, supporters

who may not have been able to travel to an in-person

fundraising event can now fundraise from their loca-

tion on their time, leading to an increase in supporter

engagement as well as donations.

Q: Who came up with the idea to integrate wireless

tness trackers/smartphones for this purpose? Was it

in the works prior to the COVID-19 pandemic? Or was

it a reaction to it?

A: Recognizing the many benefits that virtual

fundraising delivers, FrontStream started working on

a solution almost a year ago. COVID-19 accelerated

our efforts to bring this particular solution to market

extremely quickly as we recognized that nonprots

were in dire need of solutions to help them navigate

this challenging time and continue their missions.

Q: Are there any other ways you expect that these

apps/capabilities can be leveraged for fundraising?

A: FrontStream’s digital fundraising platform

supports virtual fundraising for nonprots as well

as enables their corporate partners to empower their

employees to be socially responsible and drive more

funds for missions they care about. Also, we antic-

ipate delivering other packaged virtual fundraising

solutions for nonprots to help them drive more

donations. At FrontStream, we are committed to

continually innovating to help nonprots raise more

to do more good. You’ll have to stay tuned for future

developments! ■

For more information

Terry LoPresti is the chief technology ofcer at Front-

Stream, a leading provider of a complete suite of prod-

ucts that empower registered nonprot organizations

and socially responsible corporations to raise more

funds securely and easily for causes that effect positive

change. For more information, visit https://www.front-

stream.com or contact the company at info@fs.com.

#GivingTuesdayNow raises over $500 million for COVID-19 relief

#GivingTuesdayNow, a one-day-only, special

fundraising event held on May 5 to raise funds for

relief efforts related to the coronavirus, raised more

than $503 million in online donations, according

to a preliminary tally put out by the event’s organ-

izers. The event, which was launched by the same

groups that coordinate the annual GivingTuesday

fundraising event held in late November or early

December each year, was crafted as an emergency

response to what the charitable sector has described

as an unprecedented need for services and support

caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Initial results from GivingTuesday’s platform part-

ners, which process the donations for the annual event

and did so for the May 5 campaign, show that #Giv-

ingTuesdayNow represented a peak in giving for the

weeks before and after, which saw a broad increase in

online giving compared to the same period the year

before. In fact, online donation levels for the day

looked similar to the online totals from GivingTues-

day 2019, which took place on December 3, 2019.

Estimates for ofine giving during #GivingTues-

dayNow will require more analysis, organizers said.

A more comprehensive report on the day’s totals,

including an analysis of donor motivations, behav-

iors and response channels, is expected this summer.

For more information, visit https://www.

givingtuesday.org. ■

required to pay out any funds at all. According to

the letter, the vast majority of American founda-

tions treat the 5% oor as a ceiling on their giving,

in part as a measure to ensure that the institutions

will live in perpetuity. But in this time of unprec-

edented crisis, the group argues, the money is not

reaching charities fast enough to meet the needs

of their constituents.

Further, as foundations’ assets decrease in

value as the stock market falters, foundations are

expected to cut their grantmaking accordingly, as

they have done in previous economic recessions

and depressions—forcing many nonprot organ-

izations they fund to reduce budgets, lay off staff

and cut back on their work.

For more information, including a full list of

signatories and to read the letter in full, visit http://

charitystimulus.org. ■

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