Give to the Max Day organizers hope Minnesota bucks national trend of lower donations

Olivia Stevens, Pioneer Press
Updated ·4 min read
Give to the Max Day organizers hope Minnesota bucks national trend of lower donations

While volunteers at Second Harvest Heartland were in the giving spirit during the kickoff of Give to the Max Day Thursday morning, organizers say donations nationally are down compared to last year.

“National trends tell us that giving has been down overall this year, but we’re hoping that Minnesotans will do their best to buck that trend and lead with generosity like they always do,” said GiveMN Director Jake Blumberg.

As of 11 a.m., GiveMN raised about $17 million for 4,800 nonprofits and schools, which Blumberg said is about what he expected, totals similar to 2020 but lower than 2021.

About 50 volunteers gathered at Second Harvest’s food bank in Brooklyn Park early Thursday morning to celebrate Minnesota nonprofits’ holiday by packing potatoes. Similar-sized groups will be working throughout the day to meet the organization’s goal of packing 2.5 million meals.

Brian Frankel, a lead volunteer at the food bank, said after retiring three years ago, he involved himself in the organization as a way to give back to his community. He said he hopes people will consider donating to organizations like Second Harvest to help make Minnesota a better place to live for all people.

“Whatever you can afford to give is just going to help so many people that don’t know where their next meal is gonna come from,” Frankel said. “We’re all Minnesotans; we all suffer the same things, so we all have each other’s back and make sure that nobody goes hungry.”

A hard year for nonprofits

Second Harvest Heartland CEO Allison O’Toole said this year’s Give to the Max Day will be especially important to the nonprofit’s mission of collecting and distributing donated foods to food shelves, schools and other organizations.

“We are buying way more food than we have historically,” said O’Toole. “So that costs us more money, and that’s why today is so important.”

From 2018: Minnesota’s annual ‘Giving Holiday’ started with a question: “What if giving was easier and more fun?“

O’Toole said demand for services was higher this year than in the two years prior, in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rinal Ray, CEO for People Serving People, Minnesota’s largest emergency family homeless shelter, said the same is true for her organization, with more families seeking shelter than there are rooms available.

“We actually saw a decrease in the need for shelter during the pandemic because people were able to stay stably housed because of the eviction moratorium and rental assistance,” said Ray.

Ray said since the end of those programs, People Serving People has been working to meet the “dramatic increase” in need, which she doesn’t see going away any time soon.

“Economic uncertainty is going to continue, inflation doesn’t seem to be going anywhere,” said Ray. “Unless we see the government supporting families in the ways that they did during the pandemic, they’re not going to be able to make those ends meet.”

‘Donors just aren’t quite there’

Despite the greater need, organizers said people want to move past the pandemic and forget about its long-term effects on those struggling most.

“At the height of the pandemic, when everyone was home on their computers and really focused on the community, it was easy to understand the need,” said O’Toole. “We’re in our third year of this now and the attention goes away; the shine goes away.”

Looking forward, Blumberg said to attract more donors, organizations need to double down on fostering “that great feeling that helping others creates.”

“It comes down to the relationship that organizations can build with their donors and the compelling stories that we can tell about their giving making a difference,” said Blumberg. “Giving money, giving a gift, triggers a different part of our brain than purchasing something.”

Last year, People Serving People raised just shy of $50,000, and this year are hoping to top that this year. So far, they’ve made it over halfway, with about $38,000.

As of Thursday morning, Second Harvest Heartland has raised about $305,000. Last year, the organization surpassed their goal of $420,000 and are hoping to raise even more by the end of the day.

“Give to the Max Day is our most generous day of the year as a state,” said O’Toole. “You kind of feel good about it because the state and this community step up. So our message is always thank you. And please stick with us.”

Visit GiveMN.org to search for the organizations that are participating in Give to the Max Day. Donations can then be made through the website.

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