#GivingTuesday: Generosity and Community in all 50 States

6th Annual #GivingTuesday Raises $274 Million.

From Raising Funds to Put Students Through College to Volunteering for Disaster Relief for California, Puerto Rico, and Texas, #GivingTuesday Showed Common Values of Generosity & Community in all 50 States 

New York, NY – November 29, 2017 - #GivingTuesday, the global day of giving, millions of people in more than 150 countries came together to give back, from opening their wallets and volunteering their time to help those in need to raising their voices in support of causes they believe in. On the sixth annual #GivingTuesday, individuals, civic coalitions, non-profit organizations, schools, and businesses in all 50 states raised $274 million online to benefit a broad range of causes, and gave much more in volunteer hours, donations of food and clothing, and even random acts of kindness. The total number of donations reported is over 2 million.

#GivingTuesday began as a simple idea at the 92nd Street Y (92Y) in New York City in 2012, working in partnership with the United Nations Foundation: after two days for getting deals-- Black Friday and Cyber Monday-- it was time for a holiday centered around giving back. Today, #GivingTuesday has grown into a global movement, with individuals, families, organizations, and communities coming together to demonstrate their common willingness to give.  In addition to grassroots giving activities, over 40 countries-- from Taiwan to Russia to Tanzania and Brazil-- formed independently led national #GivingTuesday movements to inspire greater giving and generosity across their nations.

“#GivingTuesday is a powerful reminder that despite the division we see today, giving is a shared value that unites us all. We saw countless examples in every corner of America and around the world of everyday people coming together in a spirit of generosity,” said Henry Timms, Executive Director of 92Y and Co-Founder of #GivingTuesday. “It demonstrates how much we can accomplish when we focus on the everyday acts of compassion that bring us closer.”

Giving Time:

• Volunteers with the Houston Public Library hosted “pop-up libraries” for thousands of Houston children in neighborhoods devastated by Hurricane Harvey, where many library branches remain closed. Participants distributed free books and held reading events at elementary schools and in communities hit by the storm.
• In Alameda County, California, community members came together at a food bank to deliver truckloads of meals to families in communities ravaged by the Northern California wildfires. Seniors at the Orinda Senior Village in Northern California also collected books, new toys, and reading glasses for victims, and gathered to write personal notes of support to recipients.
• In Baltimore, Maryland, THREAD and a coalition of other nonprofits teamed up with Hidden Voices for the #BMoreAware campaign to collect postcards from Baltimoreans anonymously sharing their secrets, dreams, fears, and wishes. By surpassing their goal of collecting 1000 postcards, the campaign unlocked a challenge gift of $1,000 per postcard, for a total of $1 million from a group of donors.
• Elementary school students at New York City’s West End Day School hosted a drive to assemble pack backpacks with school supplies and write handwritten notes of support for children impacted by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
• Bloomington, Illinois police officers handed out hot coffee and bagels to morning commuters, and reminded them to find a way to give back to their community on #GivingTuesday.

Giving Money:

• Facebook expanded their partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to match up to $2 million in donations to nonprofits on Facebook - up from $900,000 last year. Facebook also waived all processing fees for such campaigns on #GivingTuesday.
• Dallas, in a campaign led by the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, far exceeded their goal of 10 million impACTS, garnering more than $22 million for 92 organizations and logged more than 484,445 volunteer hours.
• The City University of New York received over $760,000 from 3463 donors, to support student success and advance degree completion at its 24 colleges. With this second edition, the university-wide campaign surpassed last year’s total number of participating donors.
• #iGiveCatholic raised more than $3.6 million from over 13,500 donations to benefit organizations in 17 Catholic Archdiocese across the country.
• Tufts received 7,500 gifts, totaling $2.2 million.  This far exceeded their goal of 5,000 donors in one day.  The funds raised will support students, faculty and many programs across the University.
• The Cave Canem Foundation, created to remedy the under-representation of African American poets in the literary landscape, exceeded their fundraising goal of $5,000. The $18,000 raised will provide more than 100 African-American poets with scholarships to literary workshops and graduate programs.
• JPMorgan Chase and its employees raised over $4,700,000 for nonprofits through their #GivingTuesday campaign, a more than 23% increase over last year.

Giving Resources:

• Dads in a dozen cities across the country packed and delivered 40,000 pouches of baby food and toddler snacks for children in need through a partnership with CityDads, Plum Organics, and local food banks.
• In New Milford, New Jersey, Hypelite led a campaign across New Milford schools where hundreds of students collected donations of clothing and toiletry items for 295 kits to be delivered to local homeless shelters.
• College of the Sequoias in central California raised $12,000 to supply food pantries that help address food insecurity on campus. The funds will support 1,200 students with 3648 meals and surpassed last year’s campaign total of $2,600.
• In Bozeman, Montana, Operation HomeFront Heroes supported homeless veterans by providing survival packs for this winter - filling backpacks with new boots, clothing, jackets, snacks/food, along with hotel vouchers to be used on the coldest of nights.
• The Trevor Project raised enough funding to provide more than 63,000 minutes of crisis counseling for LGBTQ+ youth in the United States. For every dollar raised, Trevor Project staff and volunteers can spend another minute on the phone with at-risk youth.
• No Kid Hungry surpassed their $100,000 fundraising goal by raising  more than $310,000, including a $100,000 match from Citibank. The funds raised will help provide 3.1 million healthy meals for children.
• In York County, South Carolina, nonprofits and local restaurants teamed up in a campaign called ‘Dine Out, Do Good’ to build awareness and raise funds. The campaign encouraged locals to dine out on #GivingTuesday instead of cooking at home to support local organizations.

#GivingTuesday was born at 92nd Street Y’s Belfer Center for Innovation and Social Impact, which deepens the organization’s focus on reimagining community for a global, digitally connected world, and develops new mission-driven initiatives that honor the innovative spirit that has always been central to 92Y’s work and mission.

www.GivingTuesday.org | December 1, 2017