GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. -- Minnesotans clicked and nearly 3,500 non-profit organizations across the state cashed in to the tune of $14 million on Tuesday.
"The day was phenomenal," said Dana Nelson with givemn.org. "The response was amazing, amazing."
In its first ever online donation event, givemn.org exceeded all expectations including their own.
The success of the day can be contributed to the state's first-ever internet giving campaign.
The internet can also be blamed for the misinformation about the day's donations.
All along, givemn.org said it would be able to match up to $500,000 of donations.
In other words, if $500,000 was raised, the money would be matched dollar for dollar. When $14 million was raised, it became dollar for pennies.
However, when word got out around the internet, word of a $500,000 maximum did not.
Still, it was a record day for dozens of non-profits in the state.
"They helped us, they really helped us," said Jeff Heegaard of 1,000 Friends of Minnesota.
In the past, no matter how many mailings the non-profit sent out, no matter how many fundraiser meetings, until Tuesday, they never had a one day total of more than $21,000.
Their portion of the match is just more than $800.
"We all had to adjust our sights," said Heegaard. But no one in a million years imagined that we were going to do $14 million in one day, that's unimaginable."
So unimaginable, givemn.org only prepared for a max of $8 million and now it's scrambling to pay off the credit card fees.
Each click of the mouse with a credit card costs $4, per hundred dollars.
Givemn.org has worked a deal with the McKnight Foundation to pick up some of those costs and is working the internet and phones to find other donors but has this assurance.
"They will be covered no doubt they will be covered," said Nelson.
Costs will be covered and all of the donations given to this point will go to the non-profits on what was a record setting day.
(Copyright 2009 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)
