Registration and re-enrollment is now open for Arizona nonprofits interested in participating in Arizona Gives Day, a 24-hour online fundraising event, set for April 2, 2019. Re-enrollment is required annually and can be completed at www.AzGives.org before March 1, 2019. The registration deadline for new nonprofits is Feb. 22.

Arizona Gives Day — which is presented by FirstBank, one of the nation’s largest privately held banks with a focus on “banking for good” – raised $3.2 million in 2018 and has totaled more than $13.4 million since its inception. The 24-hour event is hosted by the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits and the Arizona Grantmakers Forum. Matson Money is the Platinum Sponsor. 

In addition to submitting general information about the nonprofit, registering or re-enrolling agencies should provide their IRS Determination Letter; the most current completed financials through Form 990 or the organization’s operating budget; a bank account and routing number for electronic distribution of donations.

“We have made substantial improvements to the website to streamline the process and offer additional resources for participating nonprofits,” said Arizona Alliance of Nonprofits Chief Executive Officer Kristen Merrifield. “Our ultimate goal is to provide critically important donations that enable Arizona nonprofits of every size to continue the good work they do in communities across the state.” 

Among the changes for 2019:

• A “roadmap” to guide nonprofits through the registration process.

• Employee giving landing pages and a business leaderboard page to engage employees in Arizona Gives Day.

• The opportunity to submit a request for support.

• A nominal $50 refundable deposit at re-enrollment or registration. The deposit will be refunded if the nonprofit raises $500 or more through the AzGives.org platform from April 1-15. The refund will be included in the first distribution of funds in early May. Nonprofits failing to pay the deposit will not be listed on the Arizona Gives Day website and will not receive support materials. 

“We believe the nominal registration fee will provide more equity for all nonprofits that utilize the fundraising tools made available through Arizona Gives Day,” Merrifield said. “In recent years, we have seen nonprofits register for Arizona Gives Day and take advantage of the resources and tools and then not participate online or raise little-to-no-funds. This puts an additional burden on those organizations who do raise funds on AzGives.org to sustain the program on behalf of everyone else.”

For interested donors, AzGives.org is available for year-round giving and offers an advanced search filter to find nonprofits by specific criteria, area of focus, and which donations may qualify as an Arizona tax credit.  Donors also can create an account to pre-schedule donations or can check out as a guest, set up recurring donations, and make changes to their giving throughout the year. 

“We want to make giving as easy as possible, and donors have shared they like having a place that has a whole list of nonprofits to choose from,” Merrifield said.

The website will provide a toolkit for participating nonprofits to assist in outreach through social media, email, and news releases. It also will offer offering training videos, promotional posters and flyers, logos, best practices, and successful fundraising strategies used by other nonprofits. 

For more information, visit www.azgives.org.