Earth Protect Blog

People are donating more than they ever have to charities. There’s no time when such giving is more on display than today, Giving Tuesday, a day when celebrations of generosity on social media have helped turn an idea into a global happening in just six years. 

The day was created in 2012 by the community center 92nd Street Y in New York and the United Nations Foundation to counterbalance the glaring consumerism of Thanksgiving weekend — Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.

It has grown from a day that logged $10 million in donations in its first year to one that recorded a whopping $180 million in the United States alone in a 24-hour span last year, according to Givingtuesday.org. People participated in 98 countries across the world. 

But that’s just part of the story.

What is not quantified are the countless coat drives, food pantry drop offs and towel deliveries to animal shelters inspired by Giving Tuesday. All are encouraged by the organizers. 

“The easiest measure is money but that’s only one measure,” said Henry Timms, Executive Director of the 92nd Street Y and one of the creators of Giving Tuesday.

The reason Giving Tuesday has become so popular, Timms said, is because the day encourages people to give, but allows them to do it however they want. So that could be clicking “give now” for a medical research group or rolling up sleeves and donating blood, whatever connects with people and their friends. It doesn’t hurt that people are able to humble brag about it on social media.

doesn’t hurt that people are able to humble brag about it on social media.

Since the message is inclusive in terms of how to participate, people don’t feel left out if they only have small amounts to give. The average online gift was about $108 last year.

Millennials, who are less well-compensated than their parents’ generation, tend to give fewer dollars — the majority donated less than $200 annually. But at least on Giving Tuesday they give in record numbers. Of the people aged 18 to 34 who had heard of Giving Tuesday, 88 percent give that day, according to the organization, compared with 53 percent of people 55 and older.  (The senior set gives more — with about half of people aged 65 and older giving more than $500 a year, according to Giving Tuesday.)

Since the message is inclusive in terms of how to participate, people don’t feel left out if they only have small amounts to give. The average online gift was about $108 last year.

Millennials, who are less well-compensated than their parents’ generation, tend to give fewer dollars — the majority donated less than $200 annually. But at least on Giving Tuesday they give in record numbers. Of the people aged 18 to 34 who had heard of Giving Tuesday, 88 percent give that day, according to the organization, compared with 53 percent of people 55 and older.  (The senior set gives more — with about half of people aged 65 and older giving more than $500 a year, according to Giving Tuesday.)

Artticle continues; https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2017/11/28/its-givingtuesday-heres-why-people-are-giving-more-than-ever/?utm_term=.3b132d122e45