In true Park City style, the founders of the community’s first official Day of Giving spent the last minutes of the 24-hour marathon campaign on Main Street — at Downstairs and the No Name Saloon, to be precise – watching the tally of donations soar beyond their expectations.
According to Worthington, “We were at Downstairs when we saw the tally getting close to $300,000 so we were all on our cell phones asking everyone we could think of to keep donating.
At midnight the LivePCGivePC website’s streaming total showed that $337,144, had been contributed by 1,561 donors. When the final reports are in, including contributions that were made off-line, Park City Foundation Director Trisha Worthington and Program Manager Katie Wright expect the grand total of contributions to Park City and Summit County nonprofits to surpass $400,000.
The campaign was the first of its kind in Park City and, without a precedent, it was hard to gauge how residents would respond to a collective effort to support each of the area’s locally based nonprofits. But Worthington and Wright believed that the effort was a perfect fit for the foundation’s mission of connecting private donors with worthy causes and helping local nonprofits make the most of those funds. They were also confident that the community would rally behind the concept.
“In April, I said if we raised less than $100,000 I would be disappointed, but if we raised more than $250,000 I’d be thrilled,” Worthington said with a wide smile on Monday.
The spirit of celebration was still percolating at the Park City Foundation office on Monday where grateful representatives from some of the 56 nonprofit organizations who benefited from the day were stopping by to say thanks.
One of those was Mountain Trails Director Charlie Stugis, who said he was stunned by the campaign’s success.
“I was completely taken aback,” he said of the group’s $22,096 windfall share of donations logged on Nov. 11. The new event ranked among Mountain Trail’s top five annual fundraising events, he added, saying that it also brought in new supporters.
The head of the day’s most popular nonprofit was also delighted with the results. Friends of Animals Utah Executive Director Claudia McMullin said her organization jumped on the opportunity early on. She and board members began promoting LivePCGivePC during the Halloween Dog Parade by handing out cards describing the event along with dog treats. They also left the cards at local veterinary offices and Petco.
“We blanketed the town,” she said.
Friends of Animals ended the day with the most unique donors, 345, which qualified the group for Park City Foundation’s top prize of $5,000. Along with a matching grant from FOA board member Barbara Steinmetz, the group netted $23,342.
Worthington and Wright said the foundation is definitely planning to bring the event back next year. In the meantime, they are combing through the post-Day of Giving survey results to see whether there are ways to fine-tune the effort. In particular, they are asking nonprofits and donors to evaluate whether LivePCGive PC affected their other fundraising efforts. So far, though, they said the surveys’ indications were all positive with a majority of donors (69 percent) saying they gave to organizations they had not previously contributed to and that their donations on 11/11/11 were “in addition to” their normal contributions.
As for the nonprofits, both McMullin and Sturgis said they saw many new names among the contributors.
the way, the LivePCGivePC website will remain active throughout the year and provides one-stop access to all 56 of the participating nonprofits.
LivePCGivePC Top 20
| 1. | FRIENDS OF ANIMALS UTAH | 345 | $23,342 |
| 2. | MOUNTAIN TRAILS FOUNDATION INC | 318 | $22,096 |
| 3. | PARK CITY DAY SCOOL | 206 | $38,084 |
| 4. | SUMMIT LAND CONSERVANCY | 173 | $16,859 |
| 5. | PEOPLE’S HEALTH CLINIC | 147 | $20,824 |
| 6. | NATIONAL ABILITY CENTER | 127 | $7,278 |
| 7. | KPCW | 118 | $6,789 |
| 8. | RECYCLE UTAH | 104 | $7,439 |
| 9. | PEACE HOUSE INC | 101 | $10,175 |
| 10. | KIMBALL ART CENTER | 97 | $5,338 |
| 11. | EGYPTIAN THEATRE | 89 | $5,225 |
| 12. | PARK CITY PERFORMING ARTS FOUNDATION | 85 | $10,513 |
| 13. | MOUNTASIN TOWN MUSIC | 74 | $4,167 |
| 14. | PARK CITY EDUCATION FOUNDATION | 63 | $5,453 |
| 15. | PARK CITY MUSEUM | 59 | $2,939 |
| 16. | CHRISTIAN CENTER OF PARK CITY | 51 | $5,760 |
| 17. | BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF UTAH | 47 | $2,055 |
| 18. | UTAH AVALANCHE FORECAST CENTER | 46 | $2,721 |
| 19. | SWANER ECO CENTER | 39 | $2,878 |
| 20. | PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF UTAH | 38 | $2,232 |