Today is the 5th annual Give Miami Day. A 24-hour online fundraiser which aims to get residents to donate to local nonprofits. Today sponsors of the event will match a percentage of all contributions supporting everything from job creation to children services. This year for the first time, during “Match Minutes,” at 3:05 p.m., Miami FC soccer club will match all donations 100 percent. Visit Caribbean National Weekly dot com for more details.
More than 600 organizations stand to benefit, everything from job creation to animal welfare to services for children and people with disabilities. Communications director Matthew Beatty says the goal is to create a philanthropic buzz.
“Generating all this energy on one day helps us capitalize on everyone across the community talking about one thing,” he said. “That helps this message be carried much further and deeper” and encourage giving throughout the year.
In addition to online giving, there are bonus prizes for the nonprofits throughout the day. The organization that receives the 16,000th donation wins a bonus in honor of Miami Marlins pitcher José Fernández; the organization that gets donations from the most U.S. states wins the “Patriotic Prize” and a bonus.
And new this year is something organizers call “Match Minutes,” where for one minute, at 7:10 a.m. and 3:05 p.m., Miami FC soccer club will match gifts 100 percent.
Beatty says organizers think they can break the $7.1 million benchmark set last year.
“If it’s one thing that we do in Miami, it’s that we do anything big. And we love a good competition, even when the competition’s against ourselves,” he said.
WLRN.com
