Record-breaking 401Gives fundraising campaign raises over $5 million for local nonprofits
At 6 p.m. on April 1, after 36 hours of nonstop fundraising, the United Way of Rhode Island’s 401Gives donation campaign had raised a record-breaking $5,081,425 to benefit an unprecedented 705 local nonprofit organizations, according to a United Way press release.
The annual fundraising campaign, which launched in 2020, is administered by United Way Rhode Island and its Alliance for Nonprofit Impact, which aims to connect and support nonprofits across the state. This year, 401Gives received over 32,000 individual contributions from over 20,000 donors, both of which also surpassed previous years’ totals, the press release read.
“Raising $5 million was a work of extreme dedication and heart of every individual that gave,” Caitlynn Douglas, operations manager for the Alliance for Nonprofit Impact, wrote in an email to The Herald. “401Gives 2026 was a display of the radical love we all share for each other.”
Foster Forward, an East Providence-based nonprofit that supports young people impacted by foster care, finished in first place on the 401Gives leaderboard with over $218,000 raised. This is the sixth year in a row that Foster Forward has been the campaign’s top fundraising organization, according to Foster Forward Communications Director of Development and Communications Allison DeGerlia.