Community rallies to raise $17.2 million during Giving Challenge

The 2024 Giving Challenge has raised more than $17.2 million for more than 700 local nonprofits in its annual 24-hour fundraising event that ended at noon Wednesday, the Community Foundation of Sarasota County is reporting.

The Bay Park Conservancy and Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium wound up atop the leaderboard, collecting more than $380,000 and $350,000, respectively, in individual donations and matching gifts as the countdown clock hit zero.

Other organizations in the top 10 included All Faiths Food Bank, Cat Depot, Suncoast Youth for Christ and Agape Flights.

More than 53,000 individual donations were collected in the 24-hour period the foundation posted on its website. 

Final totals are expected to change over the course of the next few days.

The first Giving Challenge in 2012 raised $2.4 million for 107 nonprofit participants. In 2022 nearly 46,000 total donors contributed $16.2 million benefiting 667 nonprofits.

Hosted by the Community Foundation and strengthened by The Patterson Foundation, the Giving Challenge events have raised more than $75 million in unrestricted funding for area nonprofits to respond to community needs with flexibility and innovation.