Summit County nonprofit organizations received an explosion of financial support on Colorado Gives Day, with fundraising spiking 66% compared with 2019 and setting an all-time record.

In total, $623,167 was raised Tuesday, Dec. 8, up from $373,092 last year. The Summit Foundation Marketing and Events Manager Brian Balok said the money raised came from 2,751 donations to 49 local nonprofits, resulting in the largest total ever raised on Colorado Gives Day.

Balok said The Summit Foundation did not expect to see that big of a jump in giving amid the pandemic.

“Not only are the nonprofits suffering, but a lot of the locals are, as well,” Balok said. “To see that significant jump during the pandemic time, it is just overwhelming that people would come together and donate what they could to support the nonprofits. They know the community is suffering. I think the community, in their philanthropic spirit, really saw the needs during the pandemic, and nonprofits have raised that flag in regard to the need and impact the pandemic has had on everyone.”

Balok said The Summit Foundation does not yet have information specific to which nonprofits received the most money. Those numbers are typically released in the new year. Balok said Colorado Gives Day raised more than $50 million across Colorado.

Brianne Snow, executive director of the Family & Intercultural Resource Center, said she is not surprised by the community’s generosity, though she didn’t expect Summit County nonprofits to receive that much more in donations than last year.

Considering Summit County is primarily a service industry, Snow said she thinks Tuesday’s fundraising number is evidence that the community is well aware the county would struggle without service industry workers.

“The community has really come together to support neighbors and friends,” Snow said. “We have seen it consistently since the closures on March 15. Although it exceeds all my expectations, this reiterates that we have the best community ever.”

Nissa Erickson, development director at the Family & Intercultural Resource Center, said the nonprofit saw a “very big” increase in the number of donations it received. She estimated there were more than 300 individual donors, doubling that figure from last year. With more donors and an anonymous $25,000 match, the organization eclipsed its overall $50,000 goal, Erickson said.