Give to the Max 2011 for Local Scholars and Leaders

Give to the Max Day Challenge: Last year, more than 42,000 donors logged on to GiveMN.org and gave over $10 million to Minnesota charities in 24 hours during Give to the Max Day.

This year, the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce Charitable Foundation has set a goal to raise $5,000 during this 24 hour period. We hope you will take part in this special day for all of Minnesota and support your Chamber’s Foundation in its mission to prepare tomorrow’s employees.

The SPACC Foundation annually awards Career Investment Scholarships to graduating seniors in the Saint Paul/East Metro area. In 2012, we plan to award $50,000 to local students. From homelessness to learning English as a high school student, the majority of our scholarship recipients face enormous challenges on their path to college. Most are low-income, minority students and many are the first in their family to pursue higher education - but all of them have enormous potential to succeed.

Did you know that each Leadership Saint Paul class logs over 2,000 volunteer hours for local non-profit organizations? Over 1500 participants have completed the program during its 31 year history and today, many LSP graduates are serving in leadership roles within local community organizations, corporations and non-profit boards.

Your donation during this 24 hour challenge impacts Saint Paul and the East Metro area by helping the SPACC Foundation reach our goals:

• Provide $50,000 in scholarships to Saint Paul/East Metro students in the Class of 2012 who are most underserved (minority and economically challenged students) and encourage business support for college scholarships.
• Inspire the spirit of leadership that fosters every great city in the 50 emerging leaders in the 2012 Leadership Saint Paul class.
• Recognize individuals and businesses that demonstrate exemplary dedication to the community through significant public service with our H.E.R.B.I.E. awards.

Up for the Challenge? You have two options to support the Chamber’s Foundation in reaching our goal.

Option One: Give a one-time donation right here! Make sure your gift is within the 24-hour window on November 16th! Then send the link to this page to all your friends, family members and co-workers so they can donate. Who knows, maybe someone you know will win a lucky ticket, which means GiveMN.org will send the SPACC Foundation $1,000 in honor of the lucky donor.

Option Two: Start your own mini-campaign and personally raise $100.00 dollars for the SPACC Foundation by creating your own fundraising page on the GiveMN Website.

Once your page is created, share the link with your friends, families and co-workers and see if you can raise at least $100.00 towards our $5,000.00 goal.

Make sure your contributors know that this is a limited 24 hour challenge and to maximize impact, donations should be made on November 16th.

Just follow the directions after clicking the FUNDRAISE button under “More Ways You Can Help,” on the right of this page.

Thank you for your support! With your investment, we offer the hope of a brighter future.