After Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday comes GivingTuesday. The global initiative encourages people to donate their time and money to charitable causes. This year, the day that inspires people to do good will be observed on Nov. 28.
GivingTuesday also embodies a wonderful opportunity for nonprofits to harness the collective power of generosity, make a lasting impact, and further their mission. The movement aims to bring together people, charitable causes, and businesses to facilitate positive societal change by bolstering generosity during the festive time of year.
Consumers are expected to spend a record amount of money this holiday season. The National Retail Federation forecasts shoppers will spend between $957.3 billion and $966.6 billion between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31. At a time of skyrocketing consumerism, GivingTuesday aims to advance a more giving world.
Promoting Philanthropy and Generosity
GivingTuesday’s roots go back to the Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact at the 92nd Street Y (now known as 92NY) in New York City. In 2012, a small group founded the movement and observed the first annual GivingTuesday. Within a decade, it had raised over $10 billion.
Asha Curran is one of the founders and current CEO of the charitable call to action. GivingTuesday was her first step into philanthropy. Curran has said, “Generosity is a basic, positive human value. In today’s climate, it is a tremendously undervalued tool for depolarization. It is really powerful to feel like we are part of something bigger than ourselves.”
At the start, #GivingTuesday was just an idea, some publicity, a social media hashtag, and a package of advice and branding for any nonprofit that wanted to participate. “It was a deliberate choice not to have intellectual property,” Rob Reich, GivingTuesday’s board chair, explained in a Vox article. “We had a website with a logo, but it was not copyrighted. You could use the hashtag. You could do whatever you wanted with it. Everyone could put their own content into it, with the hope it could spread.”
The first seven GivingTuesdays operated as part of 92NY. Curran and Reich with collaborators, including Henry Timms, a former CEO of 92NY, and Laurence Belfer, a board member, witnessed the small idea bloom into a global generosity movement with a reach covering more than 85 countries.
In 2019, the movement became an independent nonprofit. “It just got big enough that it was like a planet living within another planet,” Curran stated. “It has a really strong and clear mission of its own.” Today, it’s the premier day of philanthropic giving in the world.
The GivingTuesday premise remains grassroots — various acts of kindness and generosity from people, nonprofits, and businesses. However, its impact is dynamic. In 2022, approximately $3.1 billion was raised from nearly 35 million donors across the United States alone.
In 2022, the top 10 types of causes mentioned in the GivingTuesday conversation on social media and online news were health and health care, animal welfare, science and education, children and elderly people, poverty and hunger, climate and environment, landmarks and arts, religious, LGBTQ, discrimination, and disaster.
How To Participate
There are numerous ways to join the global movement for generosity. A simple way to start is by using social media to spread the word with the hashtag #GivingTuesday. Here are five other ways to get involved:
- Find a local fundraiser, community drive, or coordinated event to join and help others with shared interests in giving back.
- Make a monetary donation to a favorite fundraiser or cause.
- Lend your voice to a cause close to your heart.
- Volunteer virtually — share your talents from anywhere in the world.
- Share kindness with your neighbors — grab a rake and help a neighbor with yardwork.
Every little bit helps. Most donations are from everyday people giving $25, $50, or $100. “We can make it really hard on each other, or we can make it much easier on each other, lighten each other’s loads, and make each other’s days or lives better,” Curran stated. “By doing that, it will create a more generous future at the roots.”
