Amplify Austin: Making Austin a Better Place to Live
Supporting local nonprofits in a fun, interactive way.
If you have always wanted to support cherished local nonprofit organizations that help keep Austin cultured and weird, but didn’t know how or where to help, I Live Here, I Give Here’s upcoming Amplify Austin event is a great place to start. The annual event, which in just three short years has grown to an essential part of the local philanthropic scene, is a community-wide celebration of generosity and giving that encourages people to donate to their favorite nonprofits, or to find a new one.
“Austinites love festivals, and online giving days like Amplify Austin seemed like a natural fit for our passionate and changing community,” says I Live Here, I Give Here Executive Director Tom Spencer.
“So we started Amplify Austin because we saw it as a way to make giving back fun and easy.”
The goal for this year’s Amplify Austin campaign is to raise $7 million in just 24 hours, and 520 Central Texas nonprofits are currently gearing up to make that happen.
Phoebe Chen, the organization’s director of nonprofit and customer relations, explains that the biggest news for this year is St. David’s Foundation providing a $1 million match for their nonprofit grant partners.
“Fifty or so of the organizations participating will have the chance to have their donations ‘amplified’ by the St. David’s Foundation’s very generous gift,” she says.
Amplify Austin 2015 will also feature a brand new mobile-friendly site that will help donors to shop and browse online during the 24-hour event, allowing participants to give to as many nonprofits as they wish.
“Last year, more than 800 people signed up to be individual fundraisers for their favorite causes, and together, they raised over $442,000,” says Veronica De La Rosa, I Live Here, I Give Here’s associate director of programs and operations.
“We hope to double that number this year.” To get involved, donors can schedule donations to their favorite causes. Participants can also join in during the live event, which will begin at 6 p.m. on March 5 and will run until 6 p.m. on March 6.
Sponsored Events
I Live Here, I Give Here: Amplify Austin
March 5, 6p.m. – March 6, 6p.m.
Texas Women in Business Luncheon
March 20, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Shoal Crossing Event Center, 8611 North Mopac Expressway
Jewish Federation of Greater Austin: 16th Annual Women’s Division Mosaic Luncheon
March 30, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Hyatt Regency, 208 Barton Springs Road
Amplify Austin: By the Numbers*
94,257 total visits to amplifyatx.org during last year’s 24-hour Amplify Austin event
$78,000 awarded in prizes to 54 nonprofits
$111,000 incentive dollars raised and distributed
More than 34,000 gifts made online by nearly 20,000 donors
More than 800 people raised more than $442,000 through their Amplify Austin fundraising pages
$875,000 matched by St. David’s Foundation
$4.5 million raised online
*Based on 2014 data.
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