Pittsburgh Magazine’s Caite Hartz Reflects on 10 Years of Giving Big

Give Big Pittsburgh — a 24-hour online fundraising event hosted by Pittsburgh Magazine, presented by GBU Life on GiveGab/Bonterra’s platform — is celebrating an important milestone this year: It is turning 10.

Since its inaugural year in 2017, Give Big Pittsburgh has raised more than $25.5 million for local charitable causes. Known nationally as Giving Tuesday, the event is held on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving.

On her first day of work at Pittsburgh Magazine, Caite Hartz, digital marketing & events manager, says she was handed a folder about Give Big Pittsburgh.

“The main reason behind starting this is that Pittsburgh is known as one of the most generous cities and so it was like, how can we prove this?” she says.

In the first year, the magazine staff had no expectations of what would happen with Give Big. That day, everyone in the office was glued to the Give Big website, watching in amazement as the number of donations climbed; the tracker hit $1 million right before midnight.   ™

Hartz calls Give Big her “baby,” and says she has felt pride in seeing the project go from barely hitting $1 million in its infancy to the participating nonprofits raising over $3 million in donations in just the last year.

“Our city and our community really care about these nonprofits that really do help the people in our community,” Hartz says.

Another standout moment came during the COVID-19 pandemic, when nonprofits, like many local businesses, struggled to stay afloat. The staff at Pittsburgh Magazine decided to make the best out of the situation by reaching out to the platform partner Give Gab/Bonterra and asking them to turn the Give Big website back on for a “Pandemic Giving Day.”

“Nonprofits were able to receive donations during that time because they were really struggling,” Hartz says. “It was fun to see people really caring for the nonprofits during that time.”

When the Give Big website goes live every year, Hartz enjoys watching the top organizations, such as the Humane Animal Rescue, Animal Friends and The Aviary, “battle it out” for the top donation spot.

“But I always have a soft spot in my heart for those nonprofits that you can tell are a little bit lower and really trying to spread the word to receive the donations,” she says.

In the last year, Give Big Pittsburgh has raised more than $3.5 million for 497 nonprofits in the Pittsburgh region. While there are no concrete fundraising targets, Hartz always has a goal in mind — beat the previous year.

“But as long as we are promoting philanthropy and the nonprofits are receiving the benefits, that’s really the bigger goal and the takeaway here,” she says.