Much has been written about the meltdown of Kimbia, the Austin-based online fundraising platform that brought the Big Give SA to a disastrous halt Tuesday morning and led to a $2.3 million dollar shortfall in the fourth annual drive that is part of the nationwide Give Local network.
(Click here to read Kimbia’s explanation for its technical difficulties.)
Too little has been said in the way of thanking the 40,500 donors in San Antonio who did not use those technical difficulties as an excuse to keep their wallets closed and watch from the sidelines. A second-day round of online giving on Wednesday, coupled with some creative scrambling by local charities and nonprofits to engage donors in offline giving, resulted in at least $3.7 million being collected by the Big Give SA, well short of the organizers’ $6 million goal, but still a very substantial figure. A finally tally will be realized this week with offline donations added.
This is my space to say thank you, both to our donors and all other donors, and, in particular, to everyone at the Big Give SA and the San Antonio Area Foundation who worked so hard to bring this annual event to San Antonio and make it a success. I had occasion to visit the Area Foundation offices where the Big Give SA was hosted several times on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the small staff at work there had a pretty tough week. An incredible amount of preparation over many months goes into the event.
The four-year-old Rivard Report turned nonprofit late last year, so this was our first experience as a recipient organization in the Big Give SA, an event we have covered since its inception three years ago. The event rallies and unites the city, spawning a collective energy not unlike the feeling that comes with the Spurs going deep in the playoffs.
Perhaps the Big Give SA will distribute flags for vehicles and banners for office buildings next year as visible expressions of the community excitement at play, as hundreds of nonprofits find additional support for the work they do from tens of thousands of donors in San Antonio.
The Rivard Report received 201 individual donations Tuesday and Wednesday, including the offline gifts we received at our ’90s Trivia Night at Freetail Brewery, that totaled, $10,912. We signed up 60 new members who gave $50 or more, and 43 of our existing members gave additional gifts.
We now have more than 450 members and hope to reach the 500 mark by month’s end or sometime in June. Click here to join.
We and other nonprofits in our category are vying for a $7,500 bonus for the most individual gifts, which makes the many individuals and businesses that supported us even more significant.
That additional funding for a small organization like ours makes a real difference. The money will fund our continuing efforts to deepen our journalistic reach in the city as we continue to grow and our audience continues to grow with us.
So, thank you San Antonio, for supporting the Rivard Report.
Big Give SA Donors to the Rivard Report
$1,000
Overland Partners · Eugene Simor and the Alamo Brewery
$500
Richard “Dick” Schlosberg III* · Aguillon & Associates
$250
Dennis Karbach · Lewis Tarver Mitch Hill
$200
Tracy Hamilton
$150
Veronica Prida · Robert and Kathy MacNaughton
$100
John Newman*· Katy Flato* · Dan Goodgame* · Robert Rivard* Jim Reed Martha Avant · Michael Cepek · Albert Del Rio · Hall Hammond · Gemma Kennedy · Donna Kotzur · Michael Lackey · David Marquez · Palmer Moe · Jeff Mulholland · Janet Oglethorpe · Laura Parker · Victoria Rico · Kenneth Rivard · Michael and Elaine Sebald · Penny Shea · Roe Body Shop · Jan and Bruce Tilley · Sheila Wright
$75
Mary and Clay Flannigan
$50
Alfonso Chiscano · Maria Ferrier · Monika Maeckle · Mike Monroe* · Mike Novak · Don Philbin · Christian Sandoval · Peggy Winkler Shana Avery · Sofia Bahena · Paul Baillon · Charles Bartlett · Hunter Bates · Kelly Beevers · Jerrie Bethel · Aaron Buchanan · Elizabeth Cauthorn · Guillermo Dekat · Carla Dodge · Matt Dodge · Patricia Ezell · Marilyn Faye · Juan Fernandez · Bill Gregory · Paul Gustafson · Ronda and Mitch Hageman · Nancy Hard · Janis Hetrick · Charles John · Harriet Kelley · Roberta McGregor · Jody Bailey Newman · Dennis Noll · Marcella Palaferri · Jason Pittman · Janis Ploetz · Judith Rice · Erick Schlather · Kate Sheerin · Peter Slover · Jessica Vidal
$30
Nora Peterson · Meredith McGuire
$25
Nancy Cook-Monroe · Claudia and David Ladensohn · Bekah McNeel *· Nic Reisen · William Sands · Cliff Zintgraff Janet Alyn · Angelica Arriola · Brooke Bailey · Richard Butler · Robert Cavillo · Cynthia De Hoyos · Eusebio Diaz · Sarah Dodge · Daniel Elias · Bill and Ann FitzGibbons · Yvonna Garcia · Robert Hammond · Susan Hennelly Nicholas · Don Hoening · Melvin Kanninen · Ralph and Kathleen Laborde · Susan Lambe · Christina Liserio · Scott Meltzer · Lauren Mongeon · Matthew Morris · Art Ordoqui · Dawn Pomento · Francille Radmann · Eddie Sefko · Natalie Seybold · Carryn Sheehan · Ryan Weber
$20
Susan Beavin · Hilde Maeckle Robert Amerman · Scott Erickson · Jenee Margo Gonzales · Rosemarie Kanusky · Laura Nivin · Zachary and Priscilla Robledo · Emily and Brian Willeford
$15
Cathleen Crabb · Alyson Garth · Helen Groos · Kyle Rames · Shad Schmid
$10
Richard Archer · Lisa Brunsvold · John Burnam · David Garza · Steve Graham · Carrie Gray · Scott Gustafson* · Rachel Holland · Mary Grace Ketner · Jean Luc Mette · Robert Rochelle · Nicolas Rivard · Nicole Sanchez · Eugene Simor · Jamie Solis Lisa Ayers · Anais Biera Miracle · Cathy Brillson Leonard · Sip Brewbar · Liz Burt · Carlos Campos · Stephen Cross · Victoria Diggs · Iris Dimmick* · Victoria Echeverri · Mary Elizabeth Fernandez · Rocio Guenther · Mitch Hagney · Rebeca Harrell · Mitchell Kilby · Steffanie Mortis · Barbara Mueller · David Mullenax · Belinda Nixon · Allen Petit · Steve Richards · Joe Robledo · Mark Sanchez · Renata Serafin · Patrick Shea · Katrina Simmons · Judith Slaughter · Susan Steves Thompson · Miranda Stone · Leslie Triana · Tarin Tellez · Steven White
Anonymous
20 anonymous gifts totaling $389 were received.
* Denotes Rivard Board director or staff member.
RELATED STORIES:
Kimbia CEO Makes Big Promises to Big Give SA
Technical Difficulties Hit ‘Big Give’ Sites Nationwide
The Big Give SA: Igniting San Antonio’s Nonprofit Community
UPDATE: The Big Give SA Surpasses $4 million Goal
I would like to know more. First, it would be interesting to read details about the size of your audience and its growth. I would also like to know about the long-term plans for The Rivard Report, especially in terms of whether a foundation is being built so that it will survive the eventual departure of Mr. Rivard (hopefully many years away). And, finally, I am curious about whether The Rivard Report would ever consider a cooperative agreement with another local non-profit agency (such as Texas Public Radio, but not limited to it) where their work might complement each other.
To respond briefly to your comment, We will conduct out fifth annual Reader Survey in the next month, and afterwards share the results of the survey and talk about our plans for the rest of the year and beyond. We are committed to building a lasting, locally-controlled community media platform that continues to offer good journalism as well as articles and commentary submitted by individuals from throughout the community. Our audience growth has roughly doubled every year since our launch in early 2012. We set new daily, weekly and monthly site traffic records in March, so we see that growth continuing apace. We are interested in exploring strategic partnerships with Texas Public Radio and others, but to date, those entreaties have not yielded results. While I have no plans to slow down, our team here is growing stronger, bigger and more experienced. We are planning for a future when I am not at the helm. –RR