DoMore24 final tally: $2.3 million for state nonprofits

DoMore24 Delaware raised $2,371,592 from more than 15,000 donations from across the state and the country.

That’s down slightly from last year’s nearly $2.7 million in donations, but a 25% jump in the number of donors from around 12,000 last year.

Jennifer Saienni, director of nonprofit engagement at Spur Impact, who sponsor the event along with United Way of Delaware, said organizers prefer having more donors even if donations are lower.

Those donors were being generous, she said.

“It’s been a tough year for a lot of people,” she said. “They still want to donate, still want to contribute. They know how important the nonprofit sector here is in Delaware. But they’re just able to contribute at a different amount.”

The top DoMore24 donations this year came to OperaDelaware, which received $98,641, followed by Barbara K. Brooks Transition House’s $67,960 and Shepherd’s Office’s $56,880.

Receiving the most number of donations was the Shepherd’s Office with $638, followed by the Everett Theater’s 607 and Barbara K Brooks Transition House’s 540.

While most of the donations came from Delaware, 15,035, about 20% came from outside the state, with Pennsylvania providing the second most donations at 1,599.

DoMore24 and COVID

Since starting in 2020, Do More 24 Delaware has raised more than $7 million for state  nonprofits.

Saienni believes the COVID-19 pandemic still is having an impact on how much people donate. They have less cash, but appreciate nonprofits more, she said.

“Nonprofits have really stepped up in the past three years,” she said. “And the people are starting to realize that, which has been really nice to see.”

 Next year, Saienni said they’re tentatively planning on having DoMore24 again March 7-8.

The organization also will continue its partnership with the University of Delaware College of Arts and Sciences.

“We had a little over 80 student social media ambassadors,” she said. “We were able to match those ambassadors up with nonprofits that didn’t have the bandwidth or the skill set to work on a social media campaign and the ambassadors were able to take that on and help those nonprofits.”