As you probably know — or at least figured out from your email, if your in-box looked anything like mine this morning — today is Giving Tuesday, which I just looked up on Wikipedia because it’s a fairly new thing and I wanted to know who had the sincerely bright idea to designated the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (and Black Friday) as the day everyone makes charitable donations:
GivingTuesday was initiated in 2012 by Henry Timms at the 92nd Street Y in New York. The co-founding organization was the United Nations Foundation, with support from BLK SHP (Black Sheep).
Good for you, Henry!! As you’ll see on the Wiki page, Giving Tuesday has raised BONKERS amounts of money over the last decade. And I think that is great! I personally give monthly to the Los Angeles Mission, which is an organization to help aid our homeless neighbors. I also try to give to a variety of organizations throughout the year, including Donors Choose (where they’re doubling donations to classrooms today!) and Kiva, which provides microloans to individuals to improve their lives and start small businesses. Donations there are being tripled today! A lot of us, including me, can sometimes use inspiration as to where to give our money, so please share your favorite organizations in the comments! (Just a note that if you include a link, you automatically get kicked to moderation, but I will fish you out, so don’t worry.)
Photo: Getty Images. Informative Caption: “[Audrey Hepburn] opens an official Red Cross Fund and membership drive in Grand Central station. Other volunteers began coin box solicitations at various points throughout the city.”
