SAN ANTONIO – Organizers of the Big Give hosted a kickoff rally Wednesday afternoon and addressed last year's technical difficulties that many believe caused charities to fall short of their goals.
Organizers putting together the annual 24-hour day of giving called the 2017 campaign reinvigorated and redesigned after the Big Give's website crashed in 2016.
Since the first Big Give in 2014, $10.5 million has been raised for South Central Texas charities from over 100,000 donations.
Hundreds of nonprofits in 14 different counties are participating this year in the Big Give on May 4. The purpose of the community wide giving challenge is to increase public awareness of the impact of local nonprofits in addressing the community's social challenges, according to a news release.
One of the charities that received $16,000 from last year's Big Give is the Spay-Neuter Assistance Program, which has a location off Ingram Road and Loop 410 in San Antonio. A SNAP spokeswoman said it has a goal of $25,000 this year.
"Twenty-five thousand dollars could help, you know, I want to say 100-plus animals," Lainee Hooks said. "The more money we get from the Big Give the more animals and the more animal lovers we're able to help."
Organizers of the Big Give hired a new tech company called Give Gab to handle operations this year.