The response to our "Take 5. Give 5." survey was bigger and faster than we ever could have imagined. We asked for 4,000 people to take our survey, and figured it would take at least two months to reach that goal. Turns out, more than 5,000 of you responded within one month.

We're overjoyed at this response, which-in and of itself-is a strong endorsement of the importance of what Generocity is doing. Even more important is what our respondents told us; that there is a demand for the kinds of content and features Generocity will offer, and that there are currently no viable (or at least well-known) alternatives.

These features included what we expect to be the backbone of Generocity's offerings: stories that inspire them to get more involved in their communities; a comprehensive directory of nonprofitsNonprofit:  An organization that exists for reasons other than to make a profit, such as charitable, community or service organizations, schools, cultural groups, and faith-based institutions.; parent-friendly information that can be used to teach kids about the importance of giving back; and consumer information about what a company or product stands for.

And the "Give 5" portion of the survey-where we allowed everyone who took the survey to designate a nonprofit to receive a $5 donation has also been a success. We were expecting to send out $20,000 to local nonprofits, but because of the strong response to the survey, we were happy to distribute $23,000 to over 650 groups throughout the region.