Give to the Max Day 2025

Have you heard of Minnesota’s annual day of generosity, Give to the Max Day? Minnesota is one of the most generous states in the nation, and that’s why we at The Lift Garage joke that we’re the “land of 10,000 nonprofits,” not just “10,000 lakes.” With a state this generous, it’s only fitting we have our very own day of giving! Give to the Max Day 2025 is just around the corner on November 20, 2025, and, as the only nonprofit auto shop, we couldn’t be more excited. Keep reading to find out how you can make a difference this GTMD25!

Give to the Max Day is Minnesota’s annual day of charitable giving to nonprofits and schools. On this day, Minnesotans come together to make an impact on the causes that matter most to them and the best charities in Minnesota. 

In 2024, the results of Give to the Max Day were over $37.1 million dollars raised for more than 6,000 charitable organizations across the state! At The Lift Garage, generous donors gave over $30,000 to support low-cost car repair for low-income Minnesotans. That’s a whole lot of love from our MN community! We are so grateful.

Give to the Max Day is on November 20th, 2025. However, you don’t have to wait until the 20th to give! Early giving for GTMD25 starts on November 1st, 2025 (which is when The Lift Garage will kick off our campaign!). Any donation made through GiveMN from Nov. 1st through Nov. 20th will count towards Give to the Max Day.

One option for donating on Give to the Max Day is through the GiveMN platform. Just follow these steps to give today:

1. Visit GiveMN.org/search
2. Search for an organization you care about or use the filters next to the search bar to find a cause important to you
3. Click on the organization you wish to give to
4. Click on the “Donate” button
5. Choose the amount you wish to give and fill out the donation form
6. Click “Pay”

The other option is to give directly to the nonprofit of your choice! By doing so, you can make sure more of your donation goes directly to the cause you care about by avoiding GiveMN processing fees (you can also choose to cover these fees on GiveMN).

How you donate to an organization for Give To The Max Day may look different depending on where you’re giving. For The Lift Garage, we have a page dedicated to Give to the Max Day donations. You can also visit the nonprofit’s website and click on their donate button.

And, just like that, you’ve made a difference for our MN community!

There are so many great charitable organizations in Minnesota to support this Give to the Max Day! With so many options, deciding where to donate on the big day can be tough. While we’re admittedly biased (towards The Lift Garage, of course!), we believe it’s important that you feel great about where your money is going. Think about the causes that matter to you the most – like poverty, safety, or housing – and let that guide your decision.

The GiveMN platform allows you to filter through different nonprofit categories, making it easier to find and support organizations that align with your values and priorities. This approach can be very helpful when narrowing down what organizations you want to consider this Give to the Max Day 2025!

Give to the Max Day categories include:

• Children & Family. In Children & Family, each nonprofit serves a unique need for Minnesota families! Some common missions include alleviating poverty and homelessness, fighting hunger, aiding medical needs, and providing educational opportunities.
• Community. Here, you’ll find organizations focused on uplifting our Minnesota community, such as parks, housing, accessibility services, veteran societies, and more!
• Economic Development. In Economic Development, organizations are primarily focused on providing advancement opportunities for various communities both in Minnesota and worldwide.
• Emergencies. When an emergency happens – like an unexpected car repair – nonprofits in this category are here to help! You’ll see missions focused on serving those facing poverty, hunger, housing insecurity, domestic violence, and more.
• Environment. Whether it’s recycling initiatives, cleaning up the air, or protecting our lakes and forests, nonprofits in this category are (you guessed it!) doing what’s best for the environment.
• Health. The Health category includes organizations focused on mental health, providing medical aid, meeting accessibility needs, and other health-based initiatives.
• Humanitarian Aid. Organizations in the Humanitarian Aid category provide assistance and support to people and communities facing different challenges, such as natural disasters, poverty and housing instability, medical emergencies, and food insecurity.
• Travel. This category is all about preserving Minnesota’s historical buildings, parks, and destinations, increasing mobility and accessibility across the state, and offering cultural experiences.
• Volunteer. Whether run by volunteers or offering opportunities for Minnesotans to get involved, organizations in this category foster community engagement and giving back.

That’s not all though! You can also cross-filter with organizations that serve BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities, are BIPOC led, have matched donations (like at The Lift Garage), and have volunteer opportunities.

Looking to make the BIGGEST impact on Give to the Max Day? Luckily, we have some insider tips to help! By focusing your donations at specific times and rallying your friends and family to join you in giving, you can help make GTMD25 the biggest yet!

This year, each time you donate on GiveMN’s platform, you can help your favorite charitable organizations win part of a $100,000+ prize pool! This prize pool is thanks to the sponsorship of the Bush Foundation and is split into “Golden Tickets” and “Power Hours.”

Golden Tickets are random-chance drawings where, if your gift is randomly selected, the organization you donated to will receive an additional prize grant! All you have to do is make a donation (or many) on the GiveMN platform, and GiveMN will enter it into the drawings for each associated Golden Ticket.

Give to the Max Day Golden Tickets include:

• $500 Early Giving Golden Tickets. $500 Early Giving Golden Tickets are drawn once per day during the early giving period (Nov. 1st through Nov. 19th).
• $500 Golden Tickets. $500 Golden Tickets will be drawn every 15 minutes on Give to the Max Day (Nov. 20th)!
• $1,000 Golden Tickets. GiveMN is also giving away $1,000 Golden Tickets, drawn once an hour on GTMD. If your gift is drawn, your donation will be boosted by an additional $1,000!
• $10,000 Super-Sized Golden Ticket. This golden ticket is drawn from any donation made during Give to the Max Day and the early giving period (Nov. 1st through Nov. 20th). With this Golden Ticket, any donation you make of $5 or more can turn into $10,000 for the nonprofit you gave to!

On Give to the Max Day 2025, three Minnesota-based organizations that raise the most money on November 20th between 10:00-10:59 AM and 10:00-10:59 PM will share a $6,000 prize pool! This is split into three different prizes:

• 1st Place: $3,000
• 2nd Place: $2,000
• 3rd Place: $1,000

Only gifts made on GiveMN using debit and credit cards, Paypal, or Venmo will count toward Power Hours. Offline gifts, matching gifts, or DAF pledges do not count toward Power Hour totals.

If you have a specific organization you want to see be part of the $6,000 Power Hour prize pool, rally your friends and family to donate between 10:00-10:59 AM and 10:00-10:59 PM on Give to the Max Day!

Learn more about Grant Prizes by clicking here.

The GiveMN platform also lets you fundraise for the organizations you care about! Creating a fundraising page on Give to the Max Day can help amplify your impact by rallying friends and family to support the cause. Simply set up your fundraising page for the desired nonprofit, share it with your network (on social media, through text, and via email), and encourage others to contribute!

Minnesota may be known for its “Give to the Max Day,” but it’s not the only state with a dedicated day of giving! For example, Texas has “North Texas Giving Day,” Colorado celebrates “Colorado Gives Day,” and Georgia hosts “GAgives” on Giving Tuesday. Each of these days provides opportunities for communities to come together and support local nonprofits and organizations doing good in their home states.

Whether it’s better to give to an organization directly or through GiveMN can depend on the nonprofit you wish to give to and what their preferences are. Typically, nonprofits tend to prefer getting donations directly through their own website.

We recommend seeing if the nonprofit you want to give to has a page on their website dedicated to Give to the Max Day. This can be a good hint on where they hope to receive the most donations on the big day! You can also contact the nonprofit directly to see what they prefer.

That said, GiveMN/GTMD is great because it helps bring a lot of awareness to different organizations serving Minnesota and inspires people to give! Additionally, the platform allows givers to choose to cover processing fees, which can be helpful for smaller and medium-sized organizations.

With the Grant Prizes that GiveMN gives away, giving through the GiveMN platform can help make donations go further as well. Another thing to think about is whether an organization has a matching donation that will be fulfilled through donations made on GTMD through the GiveMN platform too.

However, if you want to give a large amount to a nonprofit on Give to the Max Day (large is typically thought of as $1,000+), nonprofits (like us!) may prefer that these gifts be given directly through their website.

Transaction fees help process donations and fund the GiveMN platform, ensuring 100% of your donation goes to your cause. Donors can choose if they want to cover the transaction fee. According to GiveMN, 93% of donors choose to cover the credit card and platform fee!

Learn more about GTMD transaction fees by clicking here.

There is a $5 minimum donation on Give to the Max Day. There is no maximum donation limit.

You do not need to create a GiveMN account to donate for Give to the Max Day! However, if you want to fundraise for your cause, you will need to create an account or log in to the GiveMN platform.