More than 7,000 nonprofits plan to band together to promote Giving Tuesday next week, far more than last year’s effort, which attracted about 2,500 charities.
Companies, foundations, and other big donors are also chipping in to promote the day, which will largely rely on social media to promote giving and volunteering.
Even the Obama administration is urging people to give and volunteer on December 3. In the White House Blog, Jonathan Greenblatt, director of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, calls Giving Tuesday “a wonderful opportunity for a national conversation about the ability of all Americans to participate in positive action.”
The first such event was organized last year as an answer to the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping traditions.
This year, some of the participating charities have creative plans to get people to pay attention to their cause and give. Among them:
The Salvation Army is making a big bet on Giving Tuesday through an advertising partnership with NBCUniversal and its television and online outlets. It will promote its Red Kettle campaign on network TV and online broadcasts on Giving Tuesday to drive people to donate that day and through December 31. On December 3, the network will feature the organization’s “Rock the Red Kettle” concert performers and Red Kettle bell ringers to promote the day of giving.
The Seeing Eye, a guide-dog school, is asking its donors to support two puppies that were named by Giving Tuesday supporters in a contest last year—a yellow male Labrador named Hero and a female black Labrador named Gale. Its goal is to raise $10,000 for the cost of training these dogs to help people who are blind or otherwise visually impaired. Last year, it raised $6,600.
Dress for Success Worldwide will play on the Giving Tuesday theme by using the Twitter hashtag #GivingShoesDay. In 2012, the organization, which provides low-income job seekers with office-appropriate clothing, received almost 450 pairs of donated shoes through the campaign. Fifty of its affiliates, double the number in 2012, are expected to participate this year. The 10 donors who give the most shoes will receive a pair of limited-edition Palace heels from Fergie Footwear.
Numerous businesses are getting in on the action that day, too:
Microsoft will match donations to the online-giving site GlobalGiving for groups that provide education, employment, and entrepreneurship opportunities for young people. The match starts at 9 a.m. Pacific time on December 3 and will continue for 24 hours.
Crowdvance.com, an online giving platform, has signed up about 50 charities to use its platform on Giving Tuesday. Donors who give at least $5 to any those charities from November 29 through December 3 will get to choose a gift card from a company like MovieTickets.com or 1-800-Flowers. The more people give, the more gifts cards they can choose, up to four.
CVS Caremark is asking its workers to nominate nonprofits they volunteer for to receive $1,000 grants from its foundation. Winners—25 in all—will be announced on December 3.
Kind Healthy Snacks is offering $10 off its Indulgence Cube snack pack, which normally costs about $42, on December 2 and 3. For every purchase of the Cube, Kind will also make a $10 donation to City Harvest, an antihunger nonprofit in New York.
