Giving Tuesday logo - GivingTuesday.org
Giving Tuesday is today! In 2020, according to the #GivingTuesdayNow Impact report, $503+ million was given in online donations in the United States alone, leading up to and on #GivingTuesday 2020. Heading into its tenth year in 2022, giving Tuesday was co-founded by Henry Timms and Asha Curran, two powerhouses in the good movement, who were leading social impact incubation efforts at the 92nd Street Y.
GivingTuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good. GivingTuesday was born and incubated at the 92nd Street Y and its Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact in New York City. GivingTuesday is now an independent nonprofit and a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.
As each year comes to an end, giving instead of getting, especially on #GivingTuesday, is top of mind thanks to Timms and Curran and their teams of contributors—both from the Y and the now established Giving Tuesday organization. They paved the way for small community nonprofits and global impact institutions to harness the internet, data, hashtag activism, and our collective drive in good and giving awareness.
In a recent article in the Financial Times, Putting the 'giving' into Thanksgiving by Enuma Okoro, she describes Timm's inspiration for #GivingTuesday in the fall of 2012.
Henry Timms, a British man living in New York, was sitting at his kitchen table reflecting on the cultural phenomena of millions of people around the world committing these particular days entirely to consumerism. He wondered if, given the opportunity, people would also commit an entire day to giving to others, to being generous. No one had claimed Tuesdays, so Timms did. He came up with “Giving Tuesday”, the idea that the Tuesday after Thanksgiving could be focused on generosity.
I have followed #GivingTuesday for the last nine years and am indebted to Timm's creativity as a social impact innovator. I've utilized the power of #GivingTuesday, as a campaign in my roles of development and marketing with community nonprofits for the always much-needed end-of-year fundraising. Yet, this year, I wonder if it is unbeknownst to so many that in 2011, Carlo Lorenzo Garcia; who was then producing director of the Mary-Arrchie Theater Company, had encouraged shoppers after their Cyber Monday deluge of consumerism, to give to charity in the name of Cyber Giving Monday. I too had never heard of Carlo's earlier campaign. With the grave challenges the arts faced through the COVID pandemic and always face—in the wake of priorities in giving and good as a necessity to society, I want to take a moment to thank Carlo for his foresight and ingenuity as a community arts leader. #GivingTuesday has led us all to give as no other campaign has in the past, but non-the-less it can't hurt to give thanks to an earlier idea that may have unconsciously inspired this annual phenomenon. This year, I am giving to Street Corner Arts, the community arts collective Carlo champions in Austin, Texas. You too can here.
A Giving Tuesday thank you from GivingTuesday.org
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