NonProfit NewsPod: Big Day of Giving 2026. Final Push, Maximum Impact

jeff holden: [00:00:00] Welcome to this nonprofit podcast News pod where we amplify the voices of nonprofits making a difference in their communities. I'm joined by Kelly Siefkin, chief Philanthropy Officer at the Sacramento Region Community Foundation to share some fast and final tips for Big Day of giving. Now less than just one week away.

Kelly, can you believe we've been doing this for four weeks and we're on the last episode prior to Big Day of Giving. 

kelly siefkin: Where does time go? It is sucked into the B Dog vortex. It's, it disappears immediately. 

jeff holden: That's right. I'm getting so many emails from all the nonprofits that we've had on the episodes and done episodes with.

It's wonderful to see that they are engaged and doing what they're supposed to be doing. It's great. 

kelly siefkin: Wonderful. 

jeff holden: Let's talk about a few things as a recap before we get into Big Day of Giving on May 7th. Our first episode, we spoke about business engagement in giving [00:01:00] and how to support Big Day of Giving this year.

What have you seen as far as business participation? 

kelly siefkin: Well, we've got some great matches from companies, which is a really cool way that businesses have stepped up, so they are offering a match. To donors who go through their page and they're either dollar to dollar, 50 cents per dollar up to a certain amount.

And that's great because that's great support from a business, um, while also, um, really stretching donors dollars a little bit further. We're also getting a lot of cool prizes from businesses. So you'll see that we have even more than we had in years past that randomly at different times during the day, we're gonna get some of, um, additional dollars out to nonprofits, which is wonderful.

All those great sponsorships that have been coming through, we've seen actually some broken team pages pop up. So that's really how employers are engaging either their employees or their customers, which is wonderful. And I have to say, there's been some excellent yard sign placement in a few businesses, and they've been sharing some of those pre-made graphics on social that the foundation [00:02:00] provides.

jeff holden: Well, and I can also say we have our yard sign proudly displayed. We're right on a corner, so you've got the intersection for everybody to see. 

kelly siefkin: Wonderful. 

jeff holden: That's also great to hear that those gifts and or prizes and or matching dollars are in greater effect this year than less, because that is gonna engage our community a little bit differently as well.

On our second episode in this series, we talked a little bit about trends and tools for donors this year, and with the event now almost here. Any last minute suggestions for donors that you wanna share? 

kelly siefkin: We have been receiving a lot of interest about options to give this year. So we, you know, everyone's familiar with the credit and the de debit card, but Apple Pay and Google Pay and Venmo, those great digital wallets were added recently, but we're getting a lot more interest in QCD this year, which is wonderful.

So anyone who has an IRA that has a required minimum distribution. It's allowed to give part of that to an organization and they can choose to do it through many of them from victory of giving. So they work [00:03:00] with the foundation. We're able to do that. We're receiving stock for the first time this year.

We've already received some, which is wonderful, and we've all seen a little bump in donor-advised funds. And I'm not surprised because more donor-advised funds exist, existed in the universe than did you know, a year ago. And so we're seeing more requests from individuals who hold donor advised funds. Uh, to give to their favorite organizations.

I think people are loving that. That minimum gift is just $10. I have to remind everybody, and if you want to see what you gave last year, there's really an option to refill your cart if you want. So if you wanna be speedy with this year's big day giving, you can always add or remove organizations. Change the giving amounts, but it does make it faster.

I wanna remind everyone that a hundred thousand dollars is up for grabs and wells, you know, prizes and ways to boost your gift. And if 910 nonprofit organizations feels too overwhelming, please consider using that discovery assistance to help narrow down the field for you. 

jeff holden: And [00:04:00] I also like the fact that you said, you know, if you wanna give those $10 gifts to multiple organizations speed, next year we'll do a speed giving category to see how fast people can give into different categories with different nonprofits.

The, the third episode that we covered. We talked about the impact collaborative. Mm-hmm. Let's touch briefly on that, that philanthropy for everyone as a reminder, and you already said the $10 minimum gift, but everybody can be a philanthropist. 

kelly siefkin: I, I spent a little bit time thinking about that since we talked Jeff, and I want everyone to sort of put that imposter syndrome to the side.

So Big day of giving and philanthropy is, so we all know the big day of giving makes it easy to give a gift as little as $10. So. Remember that those $13.8 million last year came from tens of thousands of dollars who gave an average gift between 15 and $50. I also think that Big Day of Giving is a great tool to teach your children about philanthropy.

Maybe [00:05:00] set a budget of a hundred dollars for the day, but each family member, an organization, and put it in the cart. It's a great way for more people to, to be part of this great movement. 

jeff holden: And I can see so many opportunities that are, are teaching moments Yeah. Regard to this, you know, find something that you have a, some empathy for, or an organization that have a passion about.

kelly siefkin: Yes. 

jeff holden: Whatever it may be. You know, last week we revisited trends and trust-based philanthropy. Everyone should know that Big Day of Giving is really all about the unrestricted funds for organizations, meaning they don't have to go to a particular cause, they can even fund administration, which is really, really a necessity.

What's the momentum you expect to see to continue beyond Big Day of Giving for this trust-based philanthropy? 

kelly siefkin: Well, I hope with the visibility and participation from Big Deal of giving supporters. Plus the money that's raised in earmark for unrestricted. Those are two concepts. People will be exposed to the incredible work of more [00:06:00] nonprofits and continue to trust them to use the money to fulfill their mission.

Philanthropy is one way that you can stand up and show this community who you are. I think a lot of history has shaped really intense expectations of nonprofits to do what donors demand, even if it's beyond the mission or may not be the greatest need. And nonprofits are really now showcasing what impact can look like if trust-based philanthropy is employed.

So I love this AP approach to big day gaming, to be educational, connect people with nonprofits, but also list up the importance of those unrestricted funds. 

jeff holden: And we are just about out of time, not only for this last episode, but really for everybody to be ready to give on May 7th. Any last minute suggestions you wanna leave our audience with?

kelly siefkin: Yes, big Day of giving belongs to our community. You are the ones who make it possible. I encourage you to give what you can to organizations that you know about, and I also encourage you to [00:07:00] find one you didn't know about before. I encourage you to share Big Day of Giving on your social media. The foundation has all the graphics you could possibly need to personalize, and you could even create an ambassador page that highlights your favorite organization and see how many people have given.

Thanks to your promotion. None of those require any gifts or just tools that are available. If you enjoy Big Day of Giving and want to explore additional philanthropic options, please contact the foundation because we're here to support you and your philanthropic journey. 

jeff holden: We will have that link in the show notes, so it's really, really simple for anybody who has an interest.

Kelly, I don't know what I'm gonna do the next couple of Thursdays until we get to the wrap up. 'cause I've been talking to you for five weeks in a row here. Now 

kelly siefkin: it's, it's such an honor and I'm so grateful to help get the word out. 910 organizations, millions of dollars raised something that belongs to this community.

I'm so very proud. 

jeff holden: Well, thank you so much for the really valuable input over these last five [00:08:00] weeks in helping our community understand what they can do to make big Day of Giving 2026 the best ever, for the most ever. You know, I enjoyed having these conversations with you and I really look forward to the wrap session that will happen a couple weeks post, big Day of Giving to give everybody the update on what it all looked like, how it all ended up, and how significantly we helped our community nonprofits.

Thank you so much. 

kelly siefkin: Thank you, Jeff. 

jeff holden: Thanks for listening. If you like our program, please subscribe. Give us a positive review and share with someone you know. This nonprofit podcast News Pod is a production of Hear Me Now Studio.