Well let's look at some of the previous donations:
Haiti (early 2010):
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/haiti-quake/gaia-pays-ten-grand-usd/t.58616105/
Gaia matched the $10,000 in user donations made to the Red Cross, so in this situation they raised over $20,000 (couldn't find how much Gaians donated, just that they would match it).
Gulf Spill (mid 2010):
http://gaiainteractive.wordpress.com/2010/08/14/gaians-contribute-to-gulf-oil-spill-clean-up/
Gaia sold an item and used
10% of the sales to go as a donation. They raised $4,600 but it was rounded up to $5,000.
Japan (mid 2011):
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/gaia-community-discussion/american-red-cross-thanks-gaia-community/t.73155427_1/
Gaia donated $55,194.48 to the red cross, and I believe $10,000 of which was Gaia's own money that they matched.
= = =
You might consider also that it's close to the holidays and people are keeping their wallets closed because of the spending they're going to do. Also the number for the Japan donations was much higher because of the variety of items from one to ten bucks, combined with other factors.