The First to Give
Given my “living and giving” lifestyle, I was particularly interested to read an article on the impact of Giving Tuesday. Last year, Giving Tuesday was launched to promote the idea of making a donation after days of unapologetic spending.
Its name, Giving Tuesday, follows the nomenclature established by Cyber Monday (for online shopping) and Black Friday (in-store buying and traditionally the largest retail shopping day of the year).
A group of charity-minded individuals, including Henry Timms, started Giving Tuesday as the unofficial national day of giving and to launch the year-end giving season.
It is estimated that more than 2,500 nonprofits, corporations and individuals participated and more than $10 million dollars were donated on that signal day: Nov 27, 2012, a 53% increase in giving from the previous year.
Bloomberg called Giving Tuesday “the social innovation idea of the year” – which just might be true given the popularity of the campaign in the blogosphere. Here’re a few quotes that convey the enthusiasm for Giving Tuesday (or #GivingTuesday) on the Twitter alone (see the full list of quotes):
- Measure your net worth not by what you have, but how many people you impact.
- It’s about something larger than yourself. It’s about this world, helping others.
- To be social, you have to give. The good ones do it enthusiastically and do it first. Give first.
Giving Tuesday is now partnering with the United Nations Foundation and other notable philanthropists. This year, Giving Tuesday will be held on Tuesday, December 3, 2013. What do you think? Should we be the ones to “Give First?”
Tags: charity, donations, giving, Giving Tuesday
This entry was posted on Friday, August 16th, 2013 and is filed under The Giving Guide.
