By Shelby Clark Petkus
May 15th is the second annual national Give OUT Day! The national initiative engages hundreds of organizations and people to give in support of the LGBTQ community. LGBTQ groups across the United States are given a chance to "work across the wide range of issues and activities that matter to the LGBTQ community from sports to policy change, families to the arts."
For the 24 hour period of May 15, LGBTQ and allies can not only come together to support their local and national LGBTQ organizations, but also help their groups get a chance to win additional prizes. Groups receiving donations from the greatest number of unique donors will be in the running.
The event is hosted by Bolder Giving, which makes no profit from the fundraising event. Since 2007, the non-profit has supported all members and groups in the LGBTQ community and has publicly celebrated would-be givers and those who give to charities. Funds are collected through Razoo, an online crowdfunding platform that has partnered with Bolder Giving. Razoo is a tax-exempt organization, and over 95% of contributions through Razoo are regranted to nonprofits.
Last year's Give Out Day (May 9) resulted in a total of $602,920 in contributions from over 5,000 different donors. Of these donors, over 700 donated for the first time to an LGBTQ organization, 25% gave more than they planned to and 35% gave to a new organization. The average Give Out Day gift for 2013 was $102. Further demographics are available in infographic form on at www.giveoutday.org.
Some local nonprofits eligible for Give OUT Day contributions and the possibility to achieve more are: the Ruth Ellis Center, the Kalamazoo Gay-Lesbian Resource Center (KGLRC), Elsie Publishing Institute, KICK, AFF and more (some may not appear on Give Out Day's website).
Minimum donations are $10. For more information, visit http://www.giveoutday.org.
