IOCP raises $500,000 on ‘Give to the Max Day’
For much of Give to the Max Day, Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners found itself at the top of the mountain, cruising toward back-to-back victories in the annual day-long campaign to raise funds – most of it online — for nonprofits.
Then, not unlike a Minnesota Vikings championship game, things took a strange turn and someone else strolled into the winner’s circle.
During the final five minutes of the day, Cretin-Derham Hall overtook the top spot to claim a grand prize of $12,500 for the effort.
According to the GiveMN website, Cretin-Derham Hall, a private school in St. Paul, raised $377,246 from 693 donors, while IOCP brought in $370,664 from 598 donors. Second Harvest Heartland finished in third-place with $314,664 from 2,092 donors.
The results are a reversal of last year, when IOCP was No. 1 with $317,249 and Cretin-Derham Hall was second with $268,225.
Despite the last-minute flip-flop atop the leader board, it’s unlikely anyone at IOCP is upset over the “loss.”
IOCP raked in $370,664 in online donations, which included $150,000 in matching funds from two IOCP donors. In addition, the Plymouth-based service organization brought in $135,000 in offline donations and a $5,000 prize for finishing in second place.
The $510,664 Give to the Max Day total is the largest single fundraising day in the Sleep Out’s 17-year history.
“We will gratefully accept the ‘silver’ medal this year, along with the $5,000 in prize money that will help even more families,” IOCP Development Director Jill Kohler said. “Though we did not win the contest, the dollars we raised will provide food on the table and a roof overhead for 1,700 families – our neighbors – in the coming year.”
“Our families are the true winners, thanks to the generosity of our supporters.”
The Give to the Max Day total accounts for a large portion of IOCP’s fundraising total for the Sleep Out. As of Friday, Nov. 23, IOCP is reporting $600,000 in donations with a goal of $1.95 million.
Since moving to Plymouth from Wayzata in 2011, IOCP has seen the number of families it works with increase by 12 percent to approximately 1,700 in the communities of Hamel, Long Lake, Medicine Lake, Medina, Minnetonka Beach, Orono, Plymouth and Wayzata.
In all, 53,339 donors took part in the Give to the Max Day – contributing $16,391,905 to 4,381 nonprofits and schools across the state, according to the GiveMN website.
The Sleep Out originated in 1996, shoe repairman Bob “Shoebob” Fisher set up a tent in his front yard in hopes of raising $7,000 to buy Thanksgiving dinner for 100 families in need. Two weeks later, Fisher was out of his tent and had raised $10,000.
Through the process Fisher learned of the need for affordable housing and housing assistance in the area and made the Sleep Out an annual campaign.
Eventually, the Sleep Out became less about Fisher’s mission and more of a community mission.
To date the Sleep Out has raised more than $15 million for IOCP.
A complete list of Sleep Out activities can be found on IOCP’s website.
Info: iocp.org, 763-489-7512 or jkohler@iocp.org (Jill Kohler).
