Media organizations across the state are partnering this week to support 850 nonprofits statewide in the first Alabama Gives Day. Organizers hope to make history by raising more than $1 million for Alabama non-profits in just 24 hours.

Alabama Gives Day is supported by the Razoo Foundation, the Alabama Press Association, Alabama Giving, Intermark Group , al.com, Alabama Broadcasters Association, and hundreds of nonprofits in Alabama.

The Gives Day movement began three years ago in Minnesota as a means to increase philanthropy and help grow the individual donor base of nonprofits. In 2011, Minnesota’s Give to the Max day saw 47,538 donations totaling $13.4 million. Colorado Gives Day recently had 52,000 donations totaling $12 million.

Organizers have set this Thurs., Feb. 2, 2012, as Alabama Gives Day, from midnight to 11:59 p.m. A dedicated online giving portal will be available at www.alabamagivesday.org, and donors can whose the non-profits they want to support from a list of 12 areas of interest.

There also will be links to specific non-profits. Among those with interests in Andalusia that are participating are Alabama 4-H, the Lower Alabama Arts Coalition (LAAC), the Alabama Clean Water Partnership, or specifically the Conecuh-Sepulga and Blackwater Rivers CWP.

Certainly, we can prove we are as giving as those in Minnesota and Colorado. Log on and contribute this Thursday.