Delia Bell, 8, and Ely Baraff, 9, students at Beechwood Elementary School, Beechview, showed up yesterday morning at the PPG Wintergarden, Downtown, with $145.81 they helped to raise through hot chocolate sales for the Carnegie Library in their neighborhood that faces closure next year.

Combined with a 50 percent match from the Pittsburgh Foundation during yesterday's Match Day, the children's donation amounted to about $218.

Not nearly enough to save the Beechview library or any of the four others that are targeted for closure because of the library system's looming deficit. But it was the kind of grass-roots gesture that Pittsburgh Foundation officials said is crucial in an era when large foundations and corporations cannot always support nonprofits at the same levels they did in decades past.

An estimated $1.2 million was raised for regional charities and nonprofits during yesterday's first-ever Match Day with $300,000 in matching funds from the foundation exhausted within 23 minutes of the event's launch at 10 a.m.

Another $100,000 in matching money was set aside for the cash-strapped library and $77,000 of that was tapped by 6 p.m., said Grant Oliphant, the foundation's president and chief executive.

The nonprofits that reaped the most dollars were the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium, the Pittsburgh Public Theater and Pittsburgh City Theatre, though Mr. Oliphant declined to disclose the exact amount raised for each organization.

The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank received the highest number of total gifts but didn't raise as much as the zoo and theaters because the average size of each donation was lower, Mr. Oliphant said.

Others that received strong support, he said, were the Pittsburgh Promise, a scholarship program of the Pittsburgh Public Schools; and public broadcasting station WQED.

The donations were made electronically through a Web site, www.PittsburghGives.org, which the foundation established to allow potential donors to view profiles of about 350 nonprofits before they made their selections.

But the technology didn't hold up for all prospective donors yesterday.

Many individuals and nonprofit groups reported problems accessing the system in time to have their donations matched or had issues navigating the system.

One employee of a local nonprofit who asked not to be named said three people in his office logged on to the PittsburghGives site before 10 a.m. and within a few minutes were preparing to enter their credit card numbers -- but the system froze and they were unable to stay connected.

Prior to yesterday, that individual's employer, as had many others, mailed postcards to its donors alerting them of Match Day and encouraging them to contribute using the PittsburghGives site.

"We had made considerable investment of funds in printing and in human capital and wanted to make the most of it," he said. "We don't know if we got anything out of it in donations but three employees couldn't donate."

The foundation was aware of trouble people had with the donation process and was reviewing the problems with its technology providers, Mr. Oliphant said.

"It simply had to do with the volume of people coming on the site. It doesn't seem to be at all the majority but there were enough out there with problems that it needs to be corrected for next time," he said.

He said Match Day served to "introduce a brand new resource for giving in our community" and noted that prospective donors can still get on the site and give even though their contributions won't be matched.

Gifts of $50 or more were matched with 50 cents for every dollar up to $2,500 per individual gift, except for gifts to the library, which were matched with 50 cents on the dollar up to $10,000 per individual gift.

Observing as the children from Beechview made their donation at a computer bank in the Wintergarden, Barbara Mistick, director of the library system, said, "These folks represent the true spirit of what will save the library. Individual gifts will make the difference."

Mr. Oliphant said, "One of the things I really hope comes out of this process and this whole day is the need to encourage a culture of individual giving. Pittsburgh is historically a town with large foundations and corporations and people tend to think they will always save the day."

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