Midlands Gives beats last year’s fundraising effort

Despite technical issues on its donations website, Midlands Gives squeaked past last year’s amount raised during the annual online giving challenge.

The event, hosted by Central Carolina Community Foundation, allowed 383 nonprofits in 11 Midlands counties to raise a collective $1,592,048. That number is subject to change as officials continue to calculate donations.

Last year’s event raised $1,543,032.65 through 11,372 gifts to 251 nonprofits, doubling what it made its inaugural year in 2014.

Officials said they had to take emergency measures to accommodate massive web traffic that caused system slowdowns on KIMBIA, the national giving platform the event used for donations. About 50 other cities were using KIMBIA for similar fundraising events.

Midlands Gives started out as a 24-hour fundraiser that started at midnight Tuesday. Organizers extended that by 12 hours to noon Wednesday due to the technical glitches, as well as create an alternate donation website.

Organizers continue to calculate the total number of gifts given.

Organizers will announce the final list of prizes 5 p.m. Thursday.

This story was originally published May 4, 2016 at 12:11 PM.