Americas Giving Challenge Inspires More Than 105,000 Donations

Washington, D.C., November 24, 2009 — The Case Foundation, Causes and Parade Publications announced the winners of the 2009 America's Giving Challenge.

The 30-day national online competition launched October 7, 2009, with an announcement in Parade magazine, and ended on November 6, 2009. It enabled individuals to compete for $245,000 in award money for the causes that they care about, brought together thousands of people, and encouraged more than 105,000 donations, which helped to raise $2.1 million for nonprofit causes.

As part of the Challenge, participants competed for daily and overall cash awards based on the number of donations to their cause, not dollars raised. A total of $170,000 in awards, $150,000 funded by the Case Foundation and $20,000 funded by the Aspen Institute, was announced at Challenge launch, and during the last week of the challenge, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation announced an additional contribution of $75,000 in award money.

In addition to helping nonprofits raise money and attract new supporters, America’s Giving Challenge was designed to encourage individuals and nonprofits to experiment with new social media technologies and think about more strategic ways of leveraging social networking to engage supporters for their causes. By hosting the Challenge on its Facebook application, Causes provided individuals and nonprofits with new tools and methods for organizing at the grassroots level to maximize their impact and reach.

"America’s Giving Challenge proved that thousands of individuals and nonprofits were up to the task of utilizing both online and offline personal networks to encourage people to give to the causes they care about," said Case Foundation CEO Jean Case. "The incredible number of donations and dollars raised demonstrates the potential for individual giving to have a significant impact, no matter how big or small the donation.”

"Socially-driven, online grassroots organizing is transforming the way individuals and nonprofits think about engaging their supporters," said Causes co-founder Joseph Green. "By leveraging the Causes platform, America’s Giving Challenge participants were able to harness their networks and generate an unprecedented amount of support for their causes."

“We were pleased to see a big increase in participation this year, especially in a challenging economy,” says Parade President Randy Siegel.

America's Giving Challenge Winners
The 2009 America’s Giving Challenge, which took place on the Causes application on Facebook, offered both daily and overall awards ranging from $500 - $50,000 based on the number of donations to their cause. Winners of the overall awards for most donations in 30 days include:

• Gan Liang, Houston, Texas: $50,000 prize for Overseas China Education Foundation, Houston, Texas (13,772 donations, $156,637 funds raised plus awards).
• Linda Pascotto, Los Angeles, Calif.: $25,000 prize for The Prem Rawat Foundation, Los Angeles, Calif. (11,981 donations, $187,398 funds raised plus awards).
• Hua Xiao, Toledo, Ohio: $25,000 prize for Overseas Save Chinese Children Foundation, Toledo, Ohio (10,203 donations, $112,922 funds raised plus awards).
• John Wordin, Calabasas, Calif. $10,000 prize for Ride 2 Recovery, Calabasas, Calif. (8,230 donations, $85,225 funds raised plus awards).
• Scott Beale, Newark, Del.: $10,000 prize for Atlas Corps, Washington D.C. (2,556 donations, $29,565 funds raised plus awards).
• Dushyant Sethi, Arlington, Va.: $10,000 prize for Association for India’s Development, College Park, Md. (2,229 donations, $31,439 funds raised plus awards).
• Chand Nirankari, New York, NY: $10,000 prize for Students for a Free Tibet, New York, NY (2,117 donations, $30,126 funds raised plus awards).
• David Lee, Wichita, Kansas: $10,000 prize for Justice for All, Wichita, Kansas (1,783 donations, $22,277 funds raised plus awards).
• $10,000 prize for GlobeMed, Evanston, Ill. (1,710 donations, $21,772 funds raised plus awards).
• Sue Bell, Arlington, Va.: $10,000 prize for Homeward Trails Animal Rescue, Arlington, Va. (1,674 donations, $25,150 funds raised plus awards).
• Justin Maust, Granger, Ind.: $10,000 prize for Five Star, Elkhart, Ind. (1,664 donations, $20,226 funds raised plus awards).
• Darius Weems, Athens, Ga.: $10,000 prize for Darius Goes West, Athens, Ga. (1,633 donations, $24,459 funds raised plus awards).