Tuesday, November 29th was Giving Tuesday, a global day of giving that started in 2012 to kick off the charitable season that typically occurs when people are focused on holiday and end of year giving.
Always the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, and after the big shopping days of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, I celebrated Giving Tuesday by donating money to the two nonprofits closest to my heart – Tedford Housing (where I am the Director of Development) and WaterAid America (whose work I write about quite a bit here).
In its fifth year, Giving Tuesday has gained quite a bit of momentum. As a development director, I see planning activities for this day almost year round. The goal of the day is to celebrate and encourage giving, bringing together all kinds of nonprofits, businesses, civic organizations, individuals and families.
As you can see below in the infographic, over $168 million was raised on Giving Tuesday online from 1.56 million total gifts in 98 countries. Not too shabby, but imagine the kind of impact we could make if some of the $3.45 billion that was spent on Cyber Monday could trickle on over to Giving Tuesday.
Another goal of Giving Tuesday is to encourage people to give year round. It is much like my own philosophy and idea behind my book Simple Giving: Easy Ways to Give Every Day, which just happens to make a great (and meaningful) stocking stuffer.
I should probably start my Christmas shopping soon. In the meantime, here’s a recap of #GivingTuesday 2016 in infographic form.
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