What is GivingTuesday? How to donate on the annual day of charitable giving

Since it started as a hashtag in 2012, GivingTuesday, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, has become one of the biggest fundraising days of the year for nonprofits in the U.S. This year, nonprofits face uncertainty about how donors may respond to a range of changing factors.

High prices may affect how much small dollar donors give this year or how many charities they will support. But President Donald Trump’s tax and spending legislation, which passed in July, also included a new charitable deduction of up to $1,000 for individuals and $2,000 for married couples for the majority of tax filers. That could incentivize more households to give.

For larger donors, a strong stock market usually indicates they will give generously. These major donors also make up an increasingly important share of overall charitable donations and are more likely to give than less economically well off households, according to a study from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy in partnership with Bank of America.

Nonprofits are also letting potential supporters know about a range of new challenges this year, with many human service organizations seeing higher demand while facing cuts to government grants, especially last month’s freeze of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits. And many charities are highlighting programs that will match or multiply donations — even up to a factor of five at some nonprofits — to showcase increased impact.

Altogether, that sets up GivingTuesday, which falls on Dec. 2 to be a high stakes fundraising day for U.S. nonprofits.

How did GivingTuesday start?

The #GivingTuesday hashtag started as a project of the 92nd Street Y in New York in 2012 and became an independent organization in 2020. It’s grown into a worldwide network of local organizations that promote giving in their communities, often on different dates that have local relevance, like holidays.

Now, GivingTuesday, the nonprofit, also convenes researchers working on topics about everyday giving. It also collects data from a wide range of sources like payment processors, crowdfunding sites, employee giving software and institutions that offer donor-advised funds, a kind of charitable giving account.

What is the purpose of GivingTuesday?

The hashtag was started to promote generosity and the nonprofit continues to promote giving in the broadest sense.

For nonprofits, the point of GivingTuesday is to raise money and engage their supporters. Many will be familiar with the barrage of email and mail appeals that coincide on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Essentially all major American nonprofits will organize fundraising campaigns and many smaller, local groups also participate.

Nonprofits don’t have to be affiliated in any way with GivingTuesday, the organization, to run a fundraising campaign. They can just do it, though GivingTuesday does provide graphics and advice. In that way, it remains a grassroots effort with groups and donors participating however they like.

How to donate on GivingTuesday?

There is essentially no wrong way to choose what nonprofit or cause to give to, volunteer with or champion.

Asha Curran, CEO of the nonprofit GivingTuesday, suggests looking at what your friends, relatives or connections have supported and consider matching their gift. That means giving the same amount to the same nonprofit.

“It’s like a double act of generosity,” Curran said. “You’re giving to the cause and you’re also saying, ‘I really care about what you care about.’”

You could consider giving to organizations based in your community, whose impact will be felt locally. You could also choose to support a nonprofit that works on a cause you have a personal connection to. There are also many organizations that rate nonprofits or offer analysis about which organizations are most effective, though you will see a range of opinions on what it means to be effective.

Many nonprofits appreciate donors committing to give smaller gifts each month rather than one lump sum at the end of the year. These regular donations help them plan ahead.

You can also consider giving directly to people on crowdfunding sites or through mutual aid networks, which are often small, informal groups that organize to meet local needs.

Has GivingTuesday been successful?

That depends on how success is measured, but it certainly has grown far beyond the initial effort to promote giving on social media. The day has become an enduring and well-known event that seeks to center charitable giving, volunteering and civic participation in the U.S. and around the world.

For years, GivingTuesday has been a major focus of fundraising for nonprofits, with many seeking to organize matching donations from major donors and to leverage their networks of supporters to contribute. It is the beginning of the end-of-year fundraising rush, as nonprofits seek to reach their budget targets for the following year.

Donations on GivingTuesday in 2024 reached $3.6 billion, an increase from the previous two years.

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.