3 p.m. The Big Day Of Giving website vendor was unable to provide a suitable solution to slowdowns and crashes Tuesday. The Sacramento Regional Community Foundation is encouraging all participating nonprofits to take donations through their own websites or phone banks. They're also setting up a phone bank of their own to take donations for participating nonprofits.
Additionally the event is being extended to 3 p.m. on May 4.
Nonprofits are expected to keep track of all the donations and incentives and matching funds will be tallied and rewarded after the fact.
Original Story: Attempts by people in the Sacramento region to participate in the Big Day of Giving have been stymied by website failures. The site began experiencing intermittent crashes and slowdowns around 7:15 a.m. as giving across the region and the nation ramped up for the big day of philanthropy.
Big Day Of Giving is part of a national push to encourage support of nonprofits and each regional website is run by the same contractor. Shirlee Tully is with the Sacramento Regional Community Foundation - the organization behind the Sacramento region’s Big Day Of Giving.
“The massive volume of gifts nationwide has caused a slowdown with all the Give Local America sites,” says Tully. “We’re really just asking for people’s patience, the entire country is dealing with the same thing.”
Tully says a vendor is working to fix the problems. Until then, nonprofits are missing out on donations during prime giving hours.
Jim Brown is the executive director of Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates. His organization has participated in the Big Day of Giving for three years and has seen an increase in donations every year. This year he’s received messages from donors saying they can’t give.
“We don’t know how many people have donated or how much money we’ve raised so far,” says Brown. “The technical problems are one time and temporary. So, I’m not discouraged about the program.”
Tully says despite the technical difficulties nonprofits still get a lot of value from being a part of the event.
“Big Day of Giving has become a really important day for nonprofits, but it is just one day and it involves eight months of hard work and training,” says Tully, “We really hope the skills learned as a participant in Big Day will carry these nonprofits through the entire year.”
The technology vendor behind Big Day Of Giving's website, Kimbia, published an apology on its website, "We have seen some progress on resolving our technical issues, but we are still experiencing some delays. As a result, we are recommending that we extend the hours of Give Local America, but are currently working through the best possible times to maximize the impact of those extended hours."
Tully says the Sacramento Regional Community Foundation is currently looking at all of its options moving forward, including alternative technologies and extension of the event for an additional 12 hours.
*Editor's Note: Capital Public Radio is a Big Day Of Giving participant.
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