You’ve heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but have you heard of #GivingTuesday?
Giving Tuesday is a national campaign launched last year by New York City’s 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation as a national day of giving. The day was created as a charitable mirror to Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday — and as a way to help jump-start the giving season.
Giving Tuesday is a new movement fueled by social media. The Case Foundation reports that in a 24-hour period, the campaign hashtag has been mentioned more than 1.8 million times. People are taking to Twitter to help tweet the word and drum up online donations.
This year’s event is slated for Tuesday and anyone can participate. Giving Tuesday now has 10,000 businesses across the globe participating in this year’s movement. Some of the official local partners include:
- American Red Cross
- Case Foundation
- Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI)
- Heritage Preservation
- National Park Foundation
- National Trust for Historic Preservation
- National Women’s Health Network
- National Wildlife Refuge Association
- PSI
- Rock the Vote
- Shakespeare Theatre Company
- Click to view the full list
There are several ways businesses and individuals can get involved during Giving Tuesday, according to the Case Foundation, including:
- Commit a portion of proceeds from sales to a favorite cause.
- Organize an employee volunteer day.
- Offer customers the option to add a donation to their purchases to benefit a local charity.
- Match employees donations on Giving Tuesday.
