The seventh Give to the Max Day takes off Thursday. The 24-hour online giving spree will match donors with 40,000 fundraiser pages, and offer prizes to keep the enthusiasm going through the day.

Last year's event collected $18.3 million, said Andy Goldman-Gray, interim executive director of GiveMN, the event organizer.

The Bush Foundation supplied $150,000 for prizes to be awarded to nonprofits in four categories: small, medium, all nonprofits and schools, and colleges and universities.

"Golden tickets" worth $1,000 will be awarded in hourly drawings. Two "supersize" drawings worth $10,000 will be held, one between midnight and noon Thursday and another between noon and midnight Friday.

Commuters on buses and trains who wear green could win giving cards as part of a "Give on the Go" partnership with Metro Transit.

At lunchtime, 13 school principals will mouth off in a lip-sync contest at the Hard Rock Cafe at the Mall of America. Previous principal contests included last year's ride on the mall's zip line, Goldman-Gray said. "Instead of scaring them, this year we're just going to embarrass them," he joked. The winner gets $500.

Nonprofits have prepared for the day by arranging $4 million in matching gifts for the donations made Thursday. The GiveMN.org home page has a "find matching gifts" button to help donors search for them.

Maureen McCarthy