Baltimore Campaign Raised Nearly $6-Million on Giving Tuesday

“Bmore Gives More” plans to be even bigger next year.

The City of Baltimore set out to become the “most generous city in America” on Giving Tuesday, a nationwide effort on December 3 to jump-start year-end giving. The city earned some bragging rights by bringing in nearly $6-million of the more than $20-million Giving Tuesday raised in total for charities all over the United States. Baltimore’s campaign surpassed organizers’ $5-million goal, an impressive feat for an inaugural effort.

Next year, organizers say they plan to increase the amount they raise and the number of Baltimore residents who give and volunteer.

Jamie McDonald, chief executive of GiveCorps, the technology start-up that set up the campaign and its online-giving site, says Bmore Gives More officials will meet in early January start planning for Giving Tuesday 2014. In addition, Henry Timms, the founder of Giving Tuesday, will be there to congratulate the organizers in person and find out how the city raised money and how the fundraising campaign unfolded.

Ambitions for 2014

Organizers of the Bmore Gives More campaign are focusing on getting big companies to make donations and encourage employees and customers to give.

The Bmore Gives More website, managed by GiveCorps, took in donations from 176 fundraising campaigns; 84 more organizations in the metropolitan area raised money on their own Web sites.

Feedback from the 220 nonprofits and businesses that were involved in this year’s effort were positive. “The people were really jazzed up about the community involvement,” Ms. McDonald says. “Everyone feels that we should be even more ambitious next year.”

To see how Baltimore raised millions of dollars, watch the video below: