So...What is Giving Tuesday?
Giving Tuesday is the day after Cyber Monday, explicitly devoted—in the wake of so much buying and selling after that de facto commercial holiday—to giving.
Sounds like a great idea. Who thinks of this stuff?
That would be our friends at the 92nd St Y! Henry Timms, the 92Y's executive director, came up with the campaign three years ago as a response to the multiple days of shopping following Thanksgiving. As he told CBS yesterday, "We never needed more than six words: It was always Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday." The rest—three years, 40,000 partners around the world, and $86 million later—is history.
Why am I reading about this on DonorsChoose.org?
We're one of those partners! And very happily so. We were among the first to join in on Giving Tuesday and we love the energy and spirit of the day as much as anyone. Plus, it helps us help our teachers and students.
How can I get involved?
On our site it's very simple: Just scroll up, find any classroom you'd like to support, and help in whatever way you can. If you'd like some suggestions, we happen to know a few categories of projects that could use some support. We have one subset of projects that are all masterminded by students—enhancing their education and providing them with a real-life lesson in charity; these classroom projects all specifically go to help students with special needs; and these projects go to help students who desperately need some form of "Food, Warmth, and Care"—essentials that many of us take for granted.What can I get out of it?Apart from that warm, fuzzy feeling when you know you've done something right...a couple things, actually! If you're a teacher, this is a big day to finally post that project you've been sitting on (it's not too late! and we have a teachers' guide to help you out, by the way). And if you're able to give, you'll find yourself on the receiving end of our practically unbeatable expressions of gratitude, and as we've written before, that's not just talk, even if it sometimes takes the shape of cute videos.
Feel free to read more about Giving Tuesday here and, if you can, choose any project on our site that you'd like to give to here.
