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Sacramento Big Day of Giving raises record sum despite technical problems

Sacramento Bee Staff
Nellie, center, a 5-year-old German shepherd who has a terminal illness and was adopted by the German Shepherd Rescue of Northern California along with Echo, left, a 4-year-old German shepherd who was rescued with broken back legs in a ditch in Yolo County, take in the smells and sights at The Sacramento region’s Big Day of Giving on May 3 at Cesar Chavez Park.
Nellie, center, a 5-year-old German shepherd who has a terminal illness and was adopted by the German Shepherd Rescue of Northern California along with Echo, left, a 4-year-old German shepherd who was rescued with broken back legs in a ditch in Yolo County, take in the smells and sights at The Sacramento region’s Big Day of Giving on May 3 at Cesar Chavez Park. Lezlie Sterling lsterling@sacbee.com

Sacramento’s Big Day of Giving raised a record $7.1 million for area nonprofits despite a nationwide website failure that crippled online giving for more than 50 such events around the country.

The May 3 event was extended for 15 more hours after the Big Day of Giving website failed. Event organizer Sacramento Region Community Foundation had set a goal of $6 million in donations, up from $5.6 million last year.

“Together our community overcame obstacles and persevered,” Linda Beech Cutler, CEO of the foundation, said in a prepared statement. She said 570 nonprofits across the region participated.

The Texas company that designed the computer platform for the national Give Local America campaign, of which the Sacramento event is a part, said it experienced a hardware problem that turned into a meltdown.

This story was originally published May 16, 2016 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Sacramento Big Day of Giving raises record sum despite technical problems."

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