National Day of Giving

National Day of Giving takes place on Tuesday directly after American Thanksgiving, which in turn takes place on the 4th Thursday of November. Also called Giving Tuesday, this event was established to help the “giving season” get started, reminding people that there is more to holidays than consumerism and commercialization.

History of National Day of Giving

National Day of Giving was started when two organizations, the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation came together in 2012, about a month before Thanksgiving. Their intention was to set aside a day that was all about celebrating the generosity of giving.

Many thought leaders in the areas of social media, philanthropy and grassroots quickly joined in, and together they created a group of founding partners including United Nations Foundation, Cisco, Mashable, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), Sony, Aldo, Groupon, UNICEF, Google, Skype, Microsoft and Unilever.

The first announcement about National Day of Giving was made through Mashable, a technology website. The inaugural celebration of National Day of Giving was covered extensively by the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, ABC News, Deseret News, and the White House official blog, causing the scheme to gain an enormous amount of popularity in a short period of time.

National Day of Giving is organized and celebrated each year with the simple aim of encouraging individuals, families, schools, businesses, and other organizations to give to the less fortunate. A year later, in 2013, even more organizations joined in, including eBay (which gives a percentage of all its sales proceeds from a week in December to National Day of Giving) and fashion designer Kevin Cole, who both designed and promoted awareness ID bracelets, giving 100% of the proceeds to National Day of Giving.

National Day of Giving has been praised by many, including the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a newspaper that covers the nonprofit world, as an antidote to consumer culture and a way for people to give back.

How to Celebrate National Day of Giving

There is no shortage of waysto celebrate National Day of Giving! So get those creative juices flowing regarding getting involved. Or take a look at a few of these ideas for getting involved:

Organize Fundraisers

Celebrate National Day of Giving by organizing fundraisers with the intention of giving the proceeds to a charity. Host a bake sale, walk/run, craft fair or some other event to get the community connected with giving.

Encourage Community Giving

Among these are blood drives to give some assistance to local hospitals, volunteer fairs at which individuals can pledge to give time to community projects, and families giving food from their home to local pantries.

Become a Social Media Ambassador

Join the National Day of Giving’s team of Social Media Ambassadors, who are dedicated to spreading the word about the event and taking collaborative action to give back. Share online to remind friends and family to start the holiday season off with being generous.

Choose a Favorite Charity

Thousands of non-profit organizations are doing good around the country and all over the world. And every one of them could use some help! Find a cause that is especially important to you personally, whether it’s fighting a certain type of cancer, helping to buy schoolbooks for children from poor families, or helping the animals at the local animal shelter. Then, take action on National Day of Giving!