Based on years of covering news stories about charities, charitable giving, and the economy, I have one simple guess as to why the inaugural ROC the Day event is off to such a successful start: People like knowing where their money is going.
We've seen dozens of charity drives come up short when the people asked to give were hesitant because they weren't sure how their money would be used. With ROC the Day, they can pull up a list of local charities and give directly to any or all of them. They're not giving to a large umbrella fund; they can choose where to send the money.
I confess to being surprised by the early totals. $150,000 raised by 10:30am? That's truly remarkable.
I've spoken to volunteers with many of these charities, and they are overwhelmed with gratitude. It will be interesting to see just how high the totals go throughout the day on Thursday.
