In 2014, The Nonprofit Council and San Antonio Area Foundation jointly embarked on putting together a 24-hour give day for the San Antonio Area. With limited staff and resources and a $1,000,000 fundraising goal, they weren’t sure they were going to hit, the newly formed The Big Give planning committee turned to Burnam | Gray to work on the logistics, bring together nonprofits, rally the community, market and help establish and maintain the event.
By the time the dust settled on the first year campaign, we had raised more than double our goal for nearly 300 more nonprofits than we were expecting and had firmly established The Big Give as a player in San Antonio’s philanthropic community.
For the first four years of the event, Burnam | Gray was tasked with managing nearly all aspects of the give day, from nonprofit recruitment and training to fundraising, post event impact evaluations, and communications, including a full crisis communications plan.
Altogether, over the past four years, The Big Give has delivered nearly $15 million dollars from over 150,000 donations to over 2,000 nonprofits located in the 14-county region around San Antonio.
As the Big Give’s internal team capacity has grown, the Burnam | Gray role has lessened. The Big Give’s rapid growth and success demonstrates Burnam | Gray’s commitment to helping agencies rapidly scale and successfully repeat dynamic and innovative best practices while building capacity.