Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Giving Tuesday: Creating a new tradition

Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday....Giving Tuesday?

You've never participated in Giving Tuesday before? That's probably because it's a new movement started this year on this simple premise: We have a day for giving thanks. We have two for getting deals….Wouldn’t it be great to have a day for giving back?

All you have to do is to take all those thankful feelings from Thanksgiving and combine them with those spend-y feelings the media tries to instill in us on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Then, when Tuesday comes around, join thousands of other Americans in creating a new tradition of giving back to your community...and I define my community as the entire world, by the way. Make a donation to make the world a better place. 

Hey, if you do it right, you can make turn those donations into holiday gifts, too! (Think Kiva.org gift certificates so your Aunt Eunice can grant a microloan to a grandma in Guatemala)

If you like this idea for a movement and want to encourage others, follow these simple steps to Get Out the Give

  1. Decide how you're going to give.
  2. Take a picture of yourself holding a sign saying how your gift will help (example: "I'm helping rebuild New Jersey")
  3. Post it on Facebook or tweet it out with the hashtag #GivingTuesday

It's really that simple, but you can watch this slick video to if you're more of a visual learner:



At a loss for where to give? Here are 10 of my favorites (minus Kiva because I already mentioned it):

Happy Thanksgiving and happy giving!