The St. Croix Valley Chamber Chorale sang “Alleluia,” St. Paul Urban Tennis scored, and the The M (Minnesota Museum of American Art) collected.
Several east-metro organizations were among the lucky recipients of Golden Tickets — random-chance drawings that provide prize grants for participating nonprofit organizations and schools — during Thursday’s Give to the Max Day, a day when Minnesotans are asked to take part in an online giving campaign to help raise money for nonprofit organizations and schools. Donations are drawn at random throughout the day, and GiveMN, the organization that organizes the annual event, adds $500, $1,000 and even $10,000 to the total.
St. Paul Urban Tennis, which provides tennis and life skills to more than 2,000 youths every summer in St. Paul at more than 27 park sites, won a $1,000 Golden Ticket just before 1 p.m. Thursday. A man named David Woodward was the ace donor who secured the win, he said.
“We are all extremely excited,” said Bayley Ehlinger, the organization’s marketing director. “We’ve never won before. It’s cool to see a $60 donation become a $1,000 donation.”
St. Paul Urban Tennis plans to use the money for program scholarships “so that any kid who signs up for our program can attend,” Ehlinger said. “It just means more kids that we can help.”
The Minnesota Museum of American Art, also known as the M, won a $500 Golden Ticket at 10:15 a.m. The downtown St. Paul museum opened a new wing last month in the historic Pioneer Endicott Building. The wing took nearly 10 years and $14 million to complete and adds 6,531 square feet, tripling the museum’s gallery space.
“We’re super, super excited,” said Ann Benrud, the museum’s director of marketing and communications. “This is a really exciting time for the museum. With the expanded new wing we’re able to provide additional programming, exhibitions and community collaborations. It’s just a great time for people to step forward and support all that we’ve got going on.”
Museum officials were hoping to raise $15,000 on Thursday; the money will be used to “ensure that the M remains accessible to all visitors,” Benrud said.
The St. Croix Valley Chorale, based in Stillwater, won a $500 Golden Ticket at 3 p.m. The chorale was formed in 1975 as “a creative outlet for adults with previous musical experience who sought an opportunity to perform sophisticated works not normally attempted by church choirs and other singing groups,” according to materials posted on GiveMn.org. Chorale officials were hoping to raise $10,000 for the organization on Thursday.
GiveMN, an online collaborative venture led by the Minnesota Community Foundation (now known as the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation) and many other organizations, launched Give to the Max in 2009. The prizes are possible, in part, due to the support of the Bush Foundation, said Jake Blumberg, GiveMN’s executive director.
Over the last 16 years, nearly $400 million has been donated to more than 14,000 nonprofits and schools, he said.
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Last year, donations given during Give to the Max raised $34.2 million to a record-setting number of organizations and schools — 6,615 nonprofits and schools, he said.
By 4:45 p.m. Thursday, nearly $24 million had been raised for 5,820 different organizations and schools. It was too early to say whether 2024 would be a record-setting year; the previous record — $34.3 million for 6,457 recipients — was set in 2021.
“Our hope is that every year Minnesotans and donors take it into their own hands to set a record, but we start at zero every year,” Blumberg said. “Every dollar makes a difference.”
There is no subscription cost for organizations to use GiveMN and no registration fee to take part in Give to the Max Day each year. “There is no barrier to entry, and there are not upfront costs,” Blumberg said. “This is important to us to allow all Minnesota organizations access to use our platform and take part in the day.”
The fine print: There is a 6.9 percent processing fee that donors are encouraged to cover “on behalf of the causes they support,” he said. “More than 90 percent of donors do so, ensuring that 100 percent of their intended donation goes to the cause they support.”
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