2021 Amplify Austin Day: The Impact of 24 Hours of Giving
What a year! What a day!
As I reflect on what we accomplished on Amplify Austin Day this year, I am reminded of the rollercoaster that was 2020. In addition to the devastation and uncertainty caused by the pandemic, we faced an unpredictable economy – which made planning and forecasting for our giving day very difficult. I Live Here I Give Here also experienced a major funding shift that cost our nonprofit partners $1.3 million in matching dollars on Amplify Austin Day. And then, just when we were starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the winter weather disaster struck in February 2021. But we remained steadfast! We knew we had to show up strong for both our nonprofit members and the most vulnerable in our community. They needed the support more this year than ever before, and we could not let them down.
Faced with these challenges, our fearless organization and Board of Directors leaned in, adopted an all-hands approach to finding solutions, left no stone unturned, innovated, and took calculated risks. We dissected every aspect of the Amplify campaign and asked the hard questions: How do we grow in this volatile environment? Are we working in the smartest way possible? What new partners should we engage? How much more capital should we invest to move the needle forward?
It became clear that growing the number of donors would be necessary to reach our financial goals, but in a year like 2020, the odds were stacked against us. We needed a novel approach and new metrics for success. After much discussion and evaluation, a 24-hour livestream (Amplify LIVE) and a promotional campaign to support Amplify Austin Day 2021 was born.
Investing capital into the creation of the livestream was paramount. Taking a data-driven approach, we set out to reach new audiences at home and refreshed the Amplify Austin Day image. We learned more about our existing donors and how to reach audiences similar to them. We partnered with local influencers to spread the word. We listened to our nonprofit members and supporters and provided additional avenues for participation. And we worked smarter to more deeply engage our business partners and their employees.
Developing new partnerships with C3 Productions, Electric Deluxe Recorders, Creative Producer Michael Lacy, Technical Producer Atomic Picnic, Music Producer Charlie Sexton, and Charlie’s “Super Group” of talented Austin-based musicians was also intrinsic to our success. This talented crew created a uniquely Austin livestream that featured moving stories of nonprofits on the front lines and highlighted the generous Central Texas artistic community. It was viewed by more than 5,000 households, and the creative images used to promote it raised $1.5 million and attracted 7,166 new donors, an approximate 25% increase over 2020.
When the extreme winter storm wreaked havoc on Texas in the homestretch, we were able to pivot quickly and establish the ILHIGH Disaster Relief Fund. Over the course of two short weeks, this effort garnered an additional $234,397 in matching funds for 146 local organizations that were responding to the weather catastrophe.
This year, the ILHIGH Amplify Fund also grew, with an additional $197,246 in matching dollars collected and distributed across all nonprofits. This increased pool of funding gave us the opportunity to more than double the total prize money available to all nonprofit members, a useful tool to drive donor acquisition across various campaigns.
Overcoming the odds on this year’s Amplify Austin Day was one of my greatest professional achievements. But my success was only possible because of you. You trusted I Live Here I Give Here to be the steward for your donations. You spread the word. You tuned into Amplify LIVE. You used AmplifyATX.org to support your favorite nonprofits. You stretched your giving during a time when it was most critical. And together, we amplified impact in our community.
Cheers to you, and cheers to our resilient community. We learned a LOT this year and can’t wait to come back in 2022 (our 10th anniversary!) with even more innovations and refinements. May next year be less of a ride but even more thrilling!
– Courtney Manuel, CEO, I Live Here I Give Here
Amplify Austin Day Impact stories shared across social media from our nonprofit members.
“You stretched your giving during a time when it was most critical. And together, we amplified impact in our community. ”
Central Texans love their animals! Here are a few used in Amplify Austin Day campaigns.
Amplify Austin BEHIND THE SCENES
“Amplify Austin Day is a great way to bring everyone together, educate people about all sorts of nonprofits, and give the community a chance to show their love for these causes.“
– Melinda Marble, Communications Coordinator, Hospice Austin
“With Amplify Austin Day, I Live Here I Give Here gave us a platform to empower all of our employees to give charitably. As the CEO of an organization, Amplify Austin Day provided a wonderful insight into what our employees individually cared about – their passions – far more effectively than an HR file.”
– Allen Gilmer, CEO, Enverus
“Amplify Austin Day is a great opportunity to connect with donors and tell our story. It is also an opportunity for us to advocate for other nonprofits we care about and advocate for generosity in the community. AAD is a great incubator for emerging nonprofits to really think about how they fundraise online and start digital fundraisers.”
– Jane Harvey, Founding Executive & Creative Director, bossbabesATX
“Amplify Austin Day is critical to the Central Texas community because it is the day that energizes our city to give back and honor the local nonprofits that make our city great. This day serves as a launching pad to spark the excitement of generosity throughout the year.”
“Amplify Austin Day is an amazing time, and it’s a great way to ignite all of Austin and have people learn about more ways of giving back to the community. The matching funds work as a catalyst to get donors to give, and donors see it as an opportunity to magnify their impact.”
“Being a part of a community means being engaged and helping to solve issues that are affecting your neighbors. Participating in events such as Amplify Austin Day is important to show people how to give back and the impact of giving back.”
– Katherine Cheng, Head of Global & Community Impact, Expedia Group
“As a PTA with little tech support, Amplify Austin allows us to drive donors to a proven, well-publicized event and a reliable platform.”
– Amy Laverentz, Founder & Chair, Art All Summer (Govalle Elementary PTA)
“It feels great to be part of this big, community-wide effort to fund the nonprofits that are doing such important work in the area.”
– Menaka Chandurkar, Community Education & Outreach Services Manager, Asian Family Support Services of Austin
“Amplify Austin Day does a great job of helping get the word out and showing folks how many nonprofits there are in Austin. For us, it helped us find new ways to connect with the community and share information about our work.”
“Amplify Austin Day is a wonderful fundraising opportunity, and we are grateful for the community-wide feel of it and how the camaraderie builds.”
– Caroline Newman Phillips, Director of Sustainable Philanthropy, LifeWorks
“Amplify Austin Day is an amazing and powerful platform that has been created for the nonprofits and for the people to get engaged in the community. There’s nothing more rewarding than to see people helping people and lending a hand out.”
– Susana Garza, Executive Director, Frontline Faith Project
“Amplify Austin Day is a great way to learn about other nonprofits, and it's really nice to see how the support from the entire community just floods in. It brings awareness to a lot of the nonprofits that people don’t even know exist in the city.”
– Morgan Skarin, Volunteer Coordinator, Drive A Senior ATX