GivingTuesday is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the United States. It is touted as a "global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world". An organization of the same name is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports the global movement.
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.. The project received a startup grant from the Lodestar Foundation.
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 GivingTuesday organizes programs with 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."
GivingTuesday coordinates 75 country movements each organized according to local cultures. 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 the local and issue level, GivingTuesday operates through a network of community based groups. These groups may be organized by community foundations, nonprofits, giving groups, giving circles, and social activists. In the U.S. more than 240 GivingTuesday communities and coalitions bring together people with a common connection to a geography, cause, culture or identity.
Data Commons The GivingTuesday Data Commons is a philanthropic data collaboration that 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.
#GivingTuesdaySpark Originally called GivingTuesdayKids, #GivingTuesdaySpark is a youth program for people between ages of 8 and 22. The program focuses on amplifying young people's voices and encouraging tgenerosity worldwide.
Starling Collective Starling Collective is a fellowship and training program for grassroots organizers that are often philanthropically unrecognized and under-supported.
History Summary of money moved Year Date of GivingTuesday Total money moved Total money moved through Blackbaud Total money moved through Facebook Time window for which Facebook donations were matched Other money moved 2012 no information $10.1 million N/A N/A no information 2013 $28 million (covers Blackbaud, DonorPerfect, GlobalGiving, Network for Good, and Razoo) $19.2 million (+90% over 2012) N/A N/A no information 2014 $45.7 million ($34.9 million online, $10.8 million offline) (covers Blackbaud, DonorPerfect, GlobalGiving, Network for Good, and Razoo) (+63% over 2013); also Indiegogo money moved of $7.5 million $26.1 million (+36% over 2013, +159% over 2012) N/A N/A Indiegogo reported raising $7.5 million for 419 organizations. 2015 $116.7 million $39.6 million (+52% over 2014, +292% over 2012) N/A 2016 Estimates of $168 million and $177 million $47.7 million $6.79 million, of which Facebook and the Gates Foundation matched $900,000 (not available) PayPal: $48 million 2017 $274 million $60.9 million $45 million, of which Facebook and the Gates Foundation matched $2 million 86 seconds PayPal: $64 million 2018 $400 million (tentative approximate estimates) $62.6 million $125 million, of which Facebook and PayPal matched $7 million 15 seconds PayPal: $98 million, DonorPerfect: $35.2 million, Classy: $15.4 million 2019 $511 million (estimated online donations), $1.97 billion (estimated total of online and offline donations; this was the first year that this quantity was officially estimated) ?? $120 million, of which Facebook matched $7 million; an additional $20 million raised in Giving Tuesday fundraisers in the week leading up to Giving Tuesday 14 seconds PayPal: $106 million 2020 May 5 (#GivingTuesdayNow) $503 million in the U.S. 2020 $2.47 billion in the U.S. 2 seconds for 100% matching on first $2 million, ~3 hours for 10% matching on next $50 million 2021$2.7 billion in the U.S.2022$3.1 billion in the U.S.2023$3.1 billion in the U.S.2024$3.6 billion in the U.S.2025
2012 GivingTuesday received a $150,000 seed grant from the Lodestar Foundation in 2012. Lodestar President Lois Savage says "It was probably the most impactful grant in our philanthropy strategy that we’ve made".
The idea for GivingTuesday was first announced in October 2012, a month before the first planned GivingTuesday (November 27, 2012). The announcement was made by GivingTuesday founding partner Mashable, a technology website. Other founding partners listed in the story were Skype (launching Skype for Peace) 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 (a foundation funded by Dustin Moskovitz and run by his wife Cari Tuna) 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, the #GivingTuesday movement launched the #GivingTower. The #GivingTower is a partnership between 92nd Street Y, the United Nations Foundation, and Crowdrise. Every donation in the #GivingTower represents a brick in the virtual Tower.
Philanthropy News Digest, the Chronicle of Philanthropy and Mashable reported estimates by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy (with help from the Case Foundation), based on payments processed by Blackbaud, DonorPerfect, GlobalGiving, Network for Good, and Razoo, that a total of $45.7 million was donated on GivingTuesday ($34.9 million online, and $10.8 million offline that were processed on the next day). 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 (a 20% increase from 2015).
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.
2018