The MYEVENTISTHEBOMB Austin Team is so excited to partner with I Live Here I Give Here for this year’s Amplify Austin Day (6pm February 28 – 6pm March 1). This month, we sat down with Catherine from ILHIGH to get a little more information about this year’s day of giving and how Austinites (and those from out of town, too!) can get involved. Be sure to keep a lookout for our HALO booth at Amplify Austin’s Kickoff Party as well as other give-back events throughout the city!
What is Amplify Austin?
Amplify Austin is the single biggest day of giving in Austin! Over 24 hours, I Live Here I Give Here brings the entire community together to give to local causes. In the past six years alone, Amplify Austin has raised over $46 million for hundreds of local nonprofit organizations, including $10.3 million last year. We call it our festival of giving – it really is a big party in the city of Austin, highlighting all the good that our nonprofit community is doing!
Can you give us some statistics about the community impact of Amplify? (How much money raised, how many people contributed, number of nonprofits involved, etc.)
When I Live Here I Give Here was founded in 2007, our city was actually ranked number 48 out of the top metro areas in the nation in terms of giving. Which is pretty shocking given that we typically top every list in Texas!
Twelve years later, we have raised more than $46 million for local nonprofits and connected over 250,000 people to giving in our community. These efforts have helped move Austin up to number 33 on the list of most giving cities. Compared to our neighbors Dallas at number 4, Houston at number 5, and San Antonio at number 25, we’ve got more work to do together. Austin is one of the most economically segregated cities in the nation, and nonprofits are really doing the hard work of providing critical services to our community.
During Amplify Austin Day, we see that young people are stepping up for their community, with over 30% of donors being millennials. That is a huge part of our mission here in Austin, connecting nonprofits with new donors. Last year, we saw about 35,000 people giving on Amplify Austin Day – and they donated $10.3 million. Can you imagine if the whole of Central Texas each gave $25 the impact that we could have together?
What types of organizations/nonprofits are involved with the event?
Every type of organization! Small, large, established and volunteer-run. We work with over 740 organizations in 9 different categories – local favorites like Austin Pets Alive!, HAAM, Boys and Girls Clubs of the Austin Area, YMCA, Sustainable Food Center to Barton Springs Conservancy and the Austin Parks Foundation. Anyone can truly find the organizations which line up with their passions: from food to shelter, to the arts and parks, to education, families, pets, you’ll find hundreds of nonprofits making meaningful impact. It is a little bit like online shopping, but for the organizations doing the most good in your community.
Have you seen any benefits from using HALO at your nonprofit events?
We absolutely love our HALO! It allows us to engage new folks with giving back and our mission – helping to spread the word about what nonprofits are really accomplishing in our community. Our team is pretty small, only six people, and we all know how to set up our HALO. I am so excited to see the results from Amplify Austin Day – where we are lucky enough to get to be placing five HALO’s around town to really capture the magic of our city’s day of giving.
How can Austin locals get involved?
Locals can get involved of course by donating, but even just spreading the word about Amplify Austin Day can create huge impact!
When: 6pm February 28 – 6pm March 1
Give: AmplifyATX.org
Share: Tell us what you love about Austin with #ILiveHereIGiveHere
Follow: Stay in the know about giving and getting involved in Austin
Facebook: @AmplifyATX
Instagram: @AmplifyATX
Twitter: @ILH_IGH