MINNEAPOLIS/SAINT PAUL, MINN. – June 6, 2013 – GiveMN announced today that the transaction rate for donations made on GiveMN.org  will increase from 2.9 to 4.9 percent due to the increased cost for Razoo, GiveMN’s technology platform partner. The rate change will take effect on July 1, 2013.

“We understand that this increase will impact nonprofits and schools throughout Minnesota, and we have always strived to negotiate for the best possible transaction rates with our technology provider. We believe this new rate reflects one of the best values for an innovative, secure and reliable online giving platform,” GiveMN Executive Director Dana Nelson said.

The technology required for the secure fundraising platform comes with significant costs, particularly the cost of reliable and adequate server space and bandwidth for the thousands of organizations and donors who use the website every day and on high traffic days like Give to the Max Day, the world’s largest online day of giving. Credit card processing fees alone are 3% on average. On high-tech platforms comparable to Razoo, transaction fees range from 4.75 to 15 percent and many include ongoing and start-up fees.

“We’re proud to partner with Minnesota nonprofits and schools to shape and grow giving now and into the future in our state. For many nonprofits and schools, we provide much more than a ‘donate’ button for their websites. As a nonprofit, we help organizations and individuals leverage new technology and fundraise smarter,” Nelson said.

Since GiveMN’s inception in 2009, it has connected 200,000 donors with thousands of Minnesota nonprofits and schools, many for the first-time. More than $73 million has been raised through GiveMN, benefiting more than 4,600 nonprofits and schools in the state. GiveMN provides Minnesota nonprofits and schools year-round fundraising support, as well Give to the Max Day.

Razoo has created a resource for evaluating online fundraising platforms. Check out "Ten things to look for in a fundraising platform."

Download the slides as a PDF

Note from the Executive Director: This contest was created in the spirit of asking the community to create a logo to represent a community event, not a brand or specific organization. Whether you are a professional designer, a student, or just like to doodle, we invite you to contribute your talent to what has become the world's biggest single day of online giving. We look forward to reviewing all entries and are excited to find this year's new logo that captures the spirit of generosity, solidarity and community that Give to the Max Day represents.

GiveMN is a 501c3 nonprofit website whose mission is to increase overall charitable giving and move more of it online. Each November, GiveMN organizes a statewide day of online charitable giving – Give to the Max Day.  Last year more than 53,000 people gave $16.4M to 4,300 Minnesota nonprofits and schools in just 24 hours. Give to the Max Day is the largest online giving event in the world and we want YOU to design our 2013 event logo!

This logo will be used to promote and market the event. This event garners more than 215 million media impressions, including television, magazines, billboards and online media. It is promoted widely through social media, partner and nonprofit websites and printed materials. Needless to say, the event logo is widely publicized and is critical to the success of the event. It needs to be easily recognizable, convey important information and capture GiveMN’s unique brand identity. Think you’re up to the task? If so, we invite you to enter our logo design contest today.

Contest rules:

Design a logo for Give to the Max Day which will be held on Thursday, November 14, 2013. All contest entries will become the property of GiveMN. Entrants will be credited when their logo is initially published by GiveMN. GiveMN will select a winner from among the entries. GiveMN reserves the right to not select a winner if the entries do not meet our requirements.

Prize:

The winning entry will become the official Give to the Max Day 2013 logo. The entrant will receive a $250 GiveMN Giving Card which can be used to make a charitable donation to the nonprofit or school of choice through GiveMN.org.

Creative Challenge:

The Give to the Max Day logo remained virtually unchanged from 2009 until 2012. The date was changed each year, but all other elements of the design remained the same. This year, we are looking to distinguish the logo with a complete redesign. We hope this will eliminate any confusion (which happened when partners and nonprofits used an old version of the logo with the incorrect date).

Submission Guidelines:

Create a square version of the logo and submit it as an Adobe Illustrator file (save for version CS4) or .EPS file. (NOTE: High resolution .JPEG, Photoshop or other types of image files will NOT be accepted.) You are also encouraged to create a horizontal version of the logo, but this is optional. The logo must include:

1)      the date of the event

2)      the GiveMN colors (listed below)

3)      the words “Give to the Max Day”

4)      the words “GiveMN.org”

Our colors:

Light green: #8cc640

R: 140 G: 198 B: 65

Dark green: #6cb545

R: 108 G: 181 B: 69

Dark blue: #1a1246

R: 26 G: 18 B: 75

A Tip:
At GiveMN, we appreciate simplicity in design and messaging, so minimalist designs are encouraged, though we are excited to see how creative you can get.

Contest deadline:

Entries will be accepted between now and 5 p.m. on Friday, June 28, 2013. Entries can be sent to jeff@givemn.org as attachments. Please remember to submit your entry in Adobe Illustrator format (save for version CS4) or as an .EPS file. (NOTE: High resolution .JPEG, Photoshop or other types of image files will NOT be accepted.)

Nina says...

"The opportunities afforded to me through this VISTA position have been life changing. After pre-service orientation I was slightly anxious to work with an organization that provides support to all Minnesota nonprofits and k-12 schools, as opposed to serving community members directly through hands-on service. However, since starting work in December, I truly understand the enormous impact GiveMN has on the community. As the Nonprofit Outreach and Partnership Coordinator I am able to engage not just with nonprofits, but with nearly every group in the nonprofit sphere. There is no such thing as an average day here at GiveMN. Every question I answer via email or phone call from a nonprofit or donor using the GiveMN platform results in a meaningful and lasting personal relationship. Speaking to donors and nonprofits from across Minnesota reminds me that I am indeed directly serving the community. From personal phone calls and emails to 100+ person trainings at Mall of America, my year of service with GiveMN is teaching me how to interact with people from widely divergent backgrounds.

I may not be building houses or providing meals for my fellow Minnesotans, but I am building capacity and providing an invaluable service that empowers my community to increase the amount of good they are able to do every day. I am effecting change in a very real way."

Alsa says...

"I’ve never been a fundraiser or money-oriented. However, through working with schools to creatively help them achieve their goals, I’ve learned that GiveMN is so much more than fundraising. It’s so much more than Give To the Max Day. Both GiveMN and the Saint Paul Public Schools Foundation provided me with the support to learn as much as I could about the needs of schools in Minnesota, which empowered me to think creatively about what is the most efficient means of grassroots fundraising for SPPS through GiveMN.

And they actually cared enough to teach me how to be as good at this job as I could be. Through the Foundation, I’ve attended trainings and events that have made me a more conscious community member and advocate for students in Minnesota. Through GiveMN, I’ve attended trainings and events that have made me more aware of the struggles facing nonprofits and schools in Minnesota. Because of the knowledge I’ve gleaned from these two organizations, I can better work to serve the community and create sustainable practices that work for those in the community. 

The work we’re doing here is geared directly at giving Minnesota an opportunity to show its love for itself, to enable the Minnesota community to support itself. GiveMN is about connecting Minnesota to Minnesota. The Saint Paul Public Schools Foundation is about making the Foundation a beacon of creatively sustaining an education system in Minnesota. Now, I can’t hear about a Minnesota-based organization without thinking about how they could best work with GiveMN to support Minnesota schools. And what’s best about it is that we’re allowed, we the people of the "GiveMNican republic," are encouraged to be creative, to have fun, to organize unique events so that Minnesota is activated in multiple ways from multiple angles to use GiveMN to sustain itself.” 

GiveMN is currently accepting applications for two AmeriCorps* VISTA positions which will join our team July 30, 2013 – August 2, 2014.

To apply for one of our two AmeriCorps*VISTA Positions before June 3, click here.