GiveBig charity push: 1 day, $3.5 million

A flash mob, a happy hour and countless tweets were all part of a day of charitable giving Thursday that raised more than $3.5 million for King County charities.

At Westlake Park on Thursday afternoon, the environmental organization Sustainable Seattle organized a flash mob, with about 45 people bursting into a choreographed dance. At the end, a giant piece of butcher paper was unfurled with a Web address for making donations.

Seattle-based Shunpike, which helps arts groups raise money, staged a happy hour at a Capitol Hill bar and collected donations. Every time someone contributed, a volunteer rang a bell.

The day of charitable giving, dubbed GiveBig, was sponsored by the Seattle Foundation to help raise money for some 900 charities.

Jared Watson, senior vice president of the Seattle Foundation, said he was pleased at the outpouring of donations.

The original goal was $1 million, "but I'm an optimist and have a lot of faith in the local community," Watson said. "Given the way the economy is so tough, people are aware of a lot of need. I was pleasantly surprised, but not shocked, that people stepped up as much as they did."

Many people were first-time donors, he said. The foundation also chose late June for the GiveBig effort so it wouldn't conflict with other big fundraising campaigns.

The GiveBig was largely driven by social media, with online-only contributions, e-newsletters, Facebook, Twitter and other efforts such as those used by Sustainable Seattle and Shunpike.

"Nonprofits embraced it and were really creative," Watson said.

The Seattle Foundation began in 1946 and has assets of nearly $600 million. The organizations represented in the GiveBig event encompass a range of philanthropic causes, including arts and culture, health, environment, education and neighborhoods.

Nearly 19,000 donations from 13,000 donors poured in during the one-day campaign. The average per gift was $189.99.

"Oh, score," said Jonna Ward, executive director of the Seattle Public Library Foundation. The foundation brought in $75,000.

The library foundation spread the word through its e-newsletter, which reaches 100,000 subscribers, as well as the library's Facebook page and Twitter accounts.

"This is a way to get new people supporting the library," Ward said, particularly at a time of budget cuts. The library lost $3.7 million from its 2011 budget and just took another $150,000 midyear cut. Money raised Thursday will go to books and materials, Ward said.

"For us, it was a great way to energize the library and engage new donors, as well as our loyal book-lovers," Ward said.

Farestart, an organization that works with the homeless by offering a culinary training program, raised $67,000.

"We shared the message through our e-newsletter, and we have a wonderful following on Facebook and Twitter," said Christina Starr, marketing communications manager. She said the training program finds work for 80 percent of its graduates. The money raised will help provide housing for the students, and even pay for chef knives each student is given at graduation.

A matching pool of $500,000 was provided by other Seattle Foundation supporters, bringing the total raised to more than $4 million. The matching pool will be distributed among all of the nonprofits that received donations during the event, based on the percentage each nonprofit received of the total amount.

Additional money was collected at CenturyLink Field during Thursday's Seattle Sounders soccer match.

"It was amazing. We used every channel we could think of," said Liz Reilly, director of development for Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest. The organization sent postcards to past supporters, made phone calls and used Facebook to get the message out.

"It was the perfect time to take everyone's built-up motivation and why they care about our mission and use that opportunity to make a gift," Reilly said.

When Planned Parenthood employees learned the organization had brought in the most donations of all the charities — $76,000 — "there was shrieking, jumping up and down, and racing down the halls," Reilly said.

Former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, who is president and CEO of the Seattle Foundation, in a news release lauded area residents for their level of giving.

"This event represents the democratization of philanthropy, in which everyone can make a difference in the world around them," Rice said.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com