"Giving Tuesday didn’t exist 10 years ago, but thanks to the internet and a whole lot of enthusiasm, it’s hard to miss it these days."

Giving Tuesday: Answering The Call

With all the advertising we see around the holidays in the U.S., it’s easy to understand how a visitor from far away might think it was a simply a season of spending, of hunting for deals, of vendors competing for customers’ attention by any means necessary.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday…money changes hands at a dizzying pace, and it can be easy to forget that, by gift-giving, we’re supposed to be celebrating each other as well as something fundamental to who we are.

Giving Tuesday didn’t exist 10 years ago, but thanks to the internet and a whole lot of enthusiasm, it’s hard to miss it these days. Back in 2012, just a few organizations came together to create an international day of charitable giving on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, pushing back against the tide of holiday commercialism right at the time when it swells the highest.1

Fast forward to now—with more and more money given under its banner every year since then—and it’s safe to say that the idea has taken hold. Not tied to any particular charity or cause, #GivingTuesday has exploded online as a seasonal rallying cry for philanthropic giving to become just as much a part of our holiday mindset as shopping, Christmas music or egg nog.

Many people could say that simply giving generosity a hashtag doesn’t represent anything particularly new. It’s true that Americans are among the most generous people on earth2, they give more now than ever before3, and they give the most during the month of December.4

But harnessing the power of our interconnected world to put charitable giving conspicuously on the calendar, making it a global trend that ties our best values to the beginning of the spending season? In terms of response and money raised, the results speak for themselves.5

No matter the specific cause or charity you might choose to support, Giving Tuesday has become an effective call to do and give more. It’s a collective effort that harnesses the catalytic power of generosity to support the most vulnerable, to lift up communities that need it—and yes, to feed hungry children both in the U.S. and around the world.

We hope you’ll support the charity of your choice on this important day when all of us can make a difference by opening our hearts.

  1. http://www.deseret.com/2012/11/15/20509838/giving-tuesday-to-give-black-friday-a-run-for-its-money
  2. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-us-is-the-most-generous-country-but-americans-say-debt-is-keeping-them-from-giving-more-to-charity-2019-10-18
  3. http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/statistics/u.s.-generosity
  4. www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=1360
  5. http://www.givingtuesday.org/blog/2018/11/givingtuesday-2018-surpasses-billion-dollars-online-donations-its-inception-most