Introducing #GivingTuesdayPHL

Back in February, NPT invited #GivingTuesday co-founder Henry Timms to Philadelphia to educate local leaders about this national day of giving. Attendees learned more about how the #GivingTuesday movement got its start. More importantly, though, it generated excitement about the possibility of putting our own regional stamp on the day. The result of that local interest and energy is:

#GivingTuesdayPHL

#GivingTuesdayPHL was created to promote #GivingTueday as a day of giving regionally and the kick-off to the holiday giving season in the Greater Philadelphia area. This year, #Giving Tuesday—which follows Black Friday and Cyber Monday—is on December 3rd.

Between now and December 3rd, #GivingTuesdayPHL hopes to inspire Philadelphia-area individuals, businesses and charitable organizations to get involved in this national day of giving. Generocity.org, which is a Philadelphia-based platform for social good, is hosting an online resource where local people and organizations can learn more, sign-up and detail what they’re doing on #GivingTuesdayPHL to give back.

I have spoken about #GivingTuesday to many different audiences in the months since its inaugural year and the interest is always enormous. Usually, I speak about the movement as an example of the ways in which the nonprofit sector is using technology to reach more people and educate new people about their cause. #GivingTuesday leverages a number of recent trends (including social media and online giving) to create unity in our industry around a single message: give on #GivingTuesday. This simple and effective message means that it can be easily adopted into an existing development strategy. In fact, #GivingTuesday is co-hosting a webinar on how nonprofits can incorporate #GivingTuesday into their development and marketing strategy.

#GivingTuesday goes beyond nonprofits. For example, businesses can make corporate gifts or encourage employee gifts on that Tuesday to their favorite charity; businesses can also donate in-kind services or gifts; families can teach their children about the value of giving back that day; or an individual can take time out to volunteer.

That’s the best part of #GivingTuesday, in my opinion: you can make it whatever you want it to be. No effort is too small. You just have to give.