GivingTuesday
GivingTuesday, often stylized as
GivingTuesday was initiated in 2012 by Henry Timms at the 92nd Street Y in New York. The co-founding organization was the United Nations Foundation, with support from .
The date range is November 27 to December 3, and is always five days after the US Thanksgiving holiday. A similar concept was floated in 2011 at the non-profit Mary-Arrchie Theater Company in Chicago by then-producing director Carlo Lorenzo Garcia, who urged shoppers via The Huffington Post to consider donating to charity after they had finished their Cyber Monday shopping. He suggested the name Cyber Giving Monday.
In its first eight years, GivingTuesday was housed in the 92nd Street Y's Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact. In June 2019, GivingTuesday split off from 92Y to become an independent organization, with Asha Curran as CEO.
Among others, GivingTuesday has received support from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, Emerson Collective, Fidelity Charitable, the Case Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Ford Motor Company, PayPal, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the David Lynch Foundation.
Programs
As an organization, GivingTuesday promotes the concept of "generosity not as a benevolence that the haves show to the have-nots but rather an expression of mutuality, solidarity, and reciprocity." To that end, they execute several year-round activities to support the generosity sector around the world.GivingTuesday has a global presence through 75 country movements spanning the world, each representing their own cultures and needs, while remaining united in their determination to mobilize their countries around generosity and shared humanity. In each country, a team of entrepreneurial leaders work with their own ecosystems of communities, nonprofits, platforms, religious institutions, families, schools, and private sector partners to drive increased giving, connection, and innovation.
At a local and cause level, GivingTuesday operates through a network of leaders working toward a common goal. Around the world, hundreds of GivingTuesday communities are led by a range of hand raisers: community foundations, nonprofits, giving groups, giving circles, and social activists. In the U.S. alone, more than 240 GivingTuesday communities and coalitions drive generosity among people with a common connection to a geography, cause, culture or identity.
Data Commons
The GivingTuesday Data Commons works with partners across sectors and borders to understand the drivers and impacts of generosity, explore giving behaviors and patterns, and use data to inspire more giving around the world. With over 100 contributing partners and 50 global data labs, the initiative is the largest philanthropic data collaboration ever built.#GivingTuesdaySpark
Originally called GivingTuesdayKids, the #GivingTuesdaySpark program focuses on amplifying the voices of young people and spreading the culture of generosity all over the world by connecting leaders from 8 to 22 years old to boost the impact of young people assuming leadership and recognizing their power to make change.Starling Collective
Starling Collective is a learning lab and innovative fellowship for grassroots organizers that are often philanthropically unrecognized and under-supported.History
Summary of money moved
2012
The idea for GivingTuesday was first announced in October 2012, a month before the first planned GivingTuesday. The announcement was made by GivingTuesday founding partner Mashable, a technology website. Other founding partners listed in the story were Skype and Cisco. Other partner organizations announced over the coming weeks included Microsoft, Sony, Aldo, Case Foundation, Heifer International, Phoenix House, and Starwood. Mashable provided detailed coverage of GivingTuesday.Other news and opinion websites that announced GivingTuesday well in advance were CNet, the Huffington Post, and Deseret News.
Shortly before, during, and after the date, GivingTuesday was covered by Washington Post, the White House official blog, ABC News, and the Huffington Post. Forbes used the occasion to publish a guide to effective giving.
2013
Mashable also covered GivingTuesday in 2013, including a partnership with Google+ to hold a "hangout-athon" for GivingTuesday. The Huffington Post also covered GivingTuesday extensively.GivingTuesday also received coverage in many philanthropy information websites, including Charity Navigator and the Chronicle of Philanthropy. The December 4 Chronicle of Philanthropy article highlighted a donation by Good Ventures to GiveDirectly, Google's hangout-a-thon, and matching grants announced by the Case Foundation.
GivingTuesday was also covered by mainstream newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times and USA Today.
Charitable giving on GivingTuesday in 2013 was approximately twice the value in 2012. Over 7,000 nonprofits participated in the 2013 GivingTuesday.
2014
In 2014, thePhilanthropy News Digest, the Chronicle of Philanthropy and Mashable reported estimates by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, based on payments processed by Blackbaud, DonorPerfect, GlobalGiving, Network for Good, and Razoo, that a total of $45.7 million was donated on GivingTuesday. Of this, $26.1 million was processed by Blackbaud. The tally did not include $7.5 million that Indiegogo claimed to have raised for 419 nonprofits on that day. By 2014, the movement became global and involved organizations and individuals from 68 countries.
2015
The John Templeton Foundation released a study based on a survey of Americans that showed that whereas 93% of respondents were familiar with Black Friday, only 18% were familiar with Giving Tuesday, showing that the day still had a long way to go in terms of achieving name recognition. Nonetheless, organizers were optimistic about continued growth in money moved, volunteering, and name recognition for the day, and payment processors and retailers offered donation matching and incentive schemes to encourage people to donate on the day. In 2015, Blackbaud supplied data to show real-time statistics on an online dashboard to highlight the impact of #GivingTuesday.Facebook's principal founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan published an open letter to their newborn daughter, announcing their intention to donate 99%+ of Zuckerberg's wealth from his Facebook shares through the newly formed Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Their announcement, which did not mention GivingTuesday, happened on GivingTuesday 2015, and some commentators noted that the couple had taken GivingTuesday to a new level. However, Blackbaud's data analysts suspected that Zuckerberg's announcement did not have much effect on the overall volume of charitable giving for the day.
According to initial reports, Blackbaud processed $39.6 million in donations for GivingTuesday, and total money moved for the day was $117 million.
2016
In 2016, according to USA today, #GivingTuesday broke a record with $168 million in charitable donations worldwide, topping 2015 by 44%. CNBC reported GivingTuesday.org's number of $177 million. The Blackbaud group processed more than $47.7 million from more than 6,700 organizations.Furthermore, when compared with the previous year, online donation volumes increased by 31% while 33% more nonprofit groups received an online donation. Since 2012, they also calculated that the presence of GivingTuesday had increased by 317%.
In the U.K., Charities Aid Foundation announced more than one in ten adults took part in the event while 6.4 million people stated they had heard of the movement. Of these people, one in three stated they would do something for charity.
Facebook and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced $500,000 in matching for donations to fundraisers on Facebook, and Facebook waived fees for $500,000 in donations. After the $500,000 limit was hit within hours, the Gates Foundation increased its matching to $900,000.
2017
For GivingTuesday 2017, Facebook and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced $2 million in matching for donations to fundraisers on Facebook, and Facebook announced that it would waive its 5% fees for U.S.-based nonprofits all day long. Matching was limited to $1,000 per fundraiser and $50,000 per nonprofit. $45 million was raised by nonprofits through Facebook fundraisers on Giving Tuesday, well above the $2 million matching limit.An unofficial third-party analysis, based on data shared by donors with timestamps of donations and whether or not they were matched, showed that donations were matched for only the first 86 seconds.