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Neat to know ~ Feature of the week

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Giving Tuesday

day of generosity

Image: John Hain, Pixabay

One day after the United States’ holiday of gratitude – Thanksgiving – Americans shift their focus 180 degrees:  to shopping!  The day known as “Black Friday” is famous for huge sales and masses of shoppers, pushing their way into stores, scrambling to be the first to grab products, even fighting with one another over coveted items.  “Cyber Monday” (started in 2005) has become a continuation of the shopping frenzy, offering 24 hours of online deals and steals. Many have described Black Friday and Cyber Monday as ugly displays of consumerism that overshadow the noble sentiments celebrated just hours earlier on Thanksgiving.

Now enter “Giving Tuesday,” a concept developed in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y in New York City and the United Nations Foundation.  It was the beginning of a movement intended to counter the swirl of consumption, with the idea of generosity.  Every year since its founding, the Giving Tuesday movement has grown.  People have responded to the idea that there has to be a counterpoint to the shopping mania that has come to define this part of the calendar year.  The idea has resonated, not only in the United States, but all over the world.  Many countries had already followed the U.S.’s lead and adopted “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday,” but then they jumped on the bandwagon of giving, as well.

Giving Tuesday takes place every year, on the day after Cyber Monday.  In 2020, it falls on December 1st.

Rapid Response

The seed idea that started Giving Tuesday was straightforward.    The founders at the 92nd Street Y wanted to get people to do good.  It didn’t matter how.  The point was to have a day when the kind of energy that is usually channeled into consumerism is concentrated on giving.   Early on, people and organizations responded.  Founding partners, already back in 2012, included UNICEF, Sony, and Google, among others.  Media organizations like The Washington Post and ABC News reported on the first steps of the movement, and word spread quickly.  Even President Obama’s White House talked about it.  The idea of turning the focus away from accumulating as much stuff as possible, and toward giving to others who are less fortunate, struck a big chord.

On November 27, 2012, the first Giving Tuesday helped charities raise $10 million.  Each year, that number went up by leaps and bounds.  And in 2019, as people and organizations all over the world increasingly responded to the call to action, about $503 million were raised for charity as a result of Giving Tuesday’s generosity campaigns.  

Despite the difficulties that millions of people face this year due to the coronavirus pandemic and widespread economic hardship, it is anticipated that 2020 will be the biggest year of giving yet.

Ways to give

According to its website, the mission of Giving Tuesday is to “[unleash] the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and their world.”  

This is a big, broad idea, intended to encompass all forms of giving and limited only by people’s imaginations.  Many give money to nonprofit organizations that fight for important causes, from stopping child hunger to helping to protect the earth’s dwindling rainforests.  Others might make their focus local.  Maybe they want to show love to healthcare workers who are risking their own safety in order to help save the lives of people sick with COVID-19.  Or they might go help out at the neighborhood food bank to support the neediest people in the community.  The size of the contribution doesn’t matter.  A corporation might make a large monetary donation to a charity fighting world hunger.  A local business might hold a fundraiser to buy computers for children who need them for online learning.   A school might hold a bake sale to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund.  A family might bring clothes to a local organization that gives to the poor.  A single child might bring a plate of cookies and a caring note to an elderly neighbor who has to spend the holidays alone this year.  The basic philosophy behind the Giving Tuesday movement is that no gesture of generosity is too small.  Taking action is what matters.

Getting the word out

One core element of Giving Tuesday’s far-reaching success has been its ability to connect many people, quickly.  From the get-go, the founders started a hashtag so that the simple idea behind Giving Tuesday could be easily spread.  It didn’t take long for #GivingTuesday to go viral.  This set off a flurry of chatter that got individuals, organizations, and companies excited about getting involved.  In 2019, the hashtag was used on social media in 145 countries.  

Across the globe, people have been responding to the uncomplicated message that lies at the core of Giving Tuesday.  The immediate goal is to have a day that underscores the message of giving.  But the larger hope is that generosity becomes a way of life every day, shared by millions of individuals across the globe.

Sources: https://hq.givingtuesday.org/; Alvergne, Ines, Keela, “Everything you need to know about Giving Tuesday 2020,” https://www.keela.co/blog/nonprofit-resources/giving-tuesday, September 23, 2020; Days of the Year, “Giving Tuesday,” https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/giving-tuesday/; Labianca, Juliana, Good Housekeeping, “What is Giving Tuesday? Everything You Need to Know about the Day of Generosity,” https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/what-is-giving-tuesday/, November 28, 2020; Piper, Kelsey, Vox, “Giving Tuesday, Explained,” https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2018/11/26/18098840/when-is-giving-tuesday, December 2, 2019.