power2give.org Bringing Passion, Creativity and Individual Giving Together

2012 NACo Achievement Award Winner

Miami-Dade County, Fla., FL

About the Program

Category: Arts, Culture and Historic Preservation (Best in Category)

Year: 2012

Power2give.org Bringing Passion, Creativity and Individual Giving Together Miami-Dade County, FL Population: 2,376,014 The Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs found that the main challenges facing art and culture organizations were annual giving, membership drives and individual contributions. It was reported that 85%-90% of cultural audiences were not regular or annual donors to the art organizations’ programs that they attend. To combat this problem, an online donation cite titled power2give.org was created. Power2give.org, generated in collaboration with The Arts and Science Council of Charlotte, NC, is an online fundraising website set-up to tend to the donating trends of the county and to connect donors who support local arts-based projects, programs and initiatives to their particular area of interest. Research found that donors are utilizing online fundraising platforms, giving smaller gifts more frequently and directing their contributions to specific needs as oppose to general organization expenses. Therefore, power2give.org allows organizations to post their projects online and donors to sift through the available programs in the county. The website offers information on the Power2Give platform, viewing and donation capabilities for uploaded projects, the ability to upload a project as an organization and purchase a Power2Give gift card. When viewing a project, donors can view active and completed projects. Organizations allowed to upload on power2give.org must be tax-exempt, received a grant from Miami-Dade County in the last five years, have a Charitable Donations Registration number with the State of Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and must be a arts, science, history or heritage based program totaling less than $10,000. Once donors make their contribution, the organization is blind copied and the donor receives a system-generated “thank-you” e-mail but organizations are encouraged to send “thank-you” letters themselves as well. Organizations receive all of the funds at the end of the 90 day website campaign minus a 12% administrative fee. The power2give.org website has 17 of the uploaded projects receive full funding, 727 donations with an average of $174 per credit card and over $200,000 in private sector support. Within four weeks of the website’s beginning, it received a $100,000 matching donation from The Knight Foundation for the program’s launch. Many organizations participating in the Power2Give platform have reported the website benefitting their organization’s projects.

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