The Amazing Raise October 4, 2011

The Community Foundation is proud to announce the The Amazing Raise 2011 — an exciting online giving event that will empower the people of the Greater Richmond area to come together and raise as much money as possible for local nonprofits in just 36 hours. In celebration of the 1st anniversary of GiveRichmond.org, The Community Foundation has committed $100,000 to fund a grant pool of incentives for participating organizations.

The event begins on GiveRichmond.org at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, October 5th and ends at 6 p.m. on Thursday October 6th, 2011. During these hours, every unique donor who gives to a local nonprofit will be counted towards the organization's tally on the event's leaderboard. The more unique donors an organization gets, the more likely that nonprofit is to receive one of the many bonus grants.

"Our goal with the Amazing Raise is to reach new donors and show them how important it is to give to local causes in the Greater Richmond and Central Virginia region," said Darcy Oman, President and CEO of The Community Foundation. "Other metropolitan areas that have held similar events have raised well over $1 million in a single day, and we're challenging the people of Greater Richmond to show a similar commitment to our local nonprofits."

From the $100,000 grant pool, the following incentives have been created to encourage nonprofit and donor participation in The Amazing Raise:

Grand Prizes & 50/50 Challenge –
Sprint Winners…The first 20 organizations to receive at least 50 unique donations of $50 or more will receive incentive grants of $2,500 each.
Marathon Champions…The top three organizations to receive the most overall donations of $50 or more will receive Grand Prizes of $10,000, $7,500 and $5,000 respectively.

Bonus Prizes -
Throughout the event, bonus prizes of $1,000 each will be announced via social media. For example, the Midnight Madness prize will be awarded to the organization that receives the donation made closest to midnight on October 6th.

Double Your Dollars –
Donors will have an opportunity to earn additional support for their favorite charities through this fun incentive. Each hour, a donor will be selected at random and The Community Foundation will double their donation up to $500.


To be eligible for The Amazing Raise 2011, a nonprofit must be currently featured on GiveRichmond.org. Interested organizations should contact Michael Jones, mjones@tcfrichmond.org or (804) 330-7400.


GiveRichmond is a powerful online tool designed to encourage charitable giving within Richmond and Central Virginia. The website provides in-depth information about hundreds of nonprofits, including comprehensive financial, governance, and programmatic details. It provides the transparency donors need to make informed giving decisions. At the same time, nonprofits featured on the site are able to tell their story – giving anyone in the community a better understanding of the need for their services and their results. Powered by Guidestar and administered by The Community Foundation, GiveRichmond is made possible by a collaborative of 14 local funding partners.