Cyber Monday and Black Friday bring out droves of shoppers in search of great deals, Giving Tuesday, on the other hand, aims to give back.
It began in 2012 as a response to the two very commercially focused shopping holidays according to Craig Smith of the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC).
“I think after two big days where the focus is shopping some people want a break from that, hence Giving Tuesday.”
Giving Tuesday has grown a lot since 2012, now being observed in over 150 countries. For charities like the NCC it is now one of their single biggest days of giving, says Smith.
” We sometimes will get donations in spurts so it isn’t always our biggest day but it’s definitely up there most years.”
To date Giving Tuesday has raised over $400 million dollars (figure only includes donations officially registered with GivingTuesday.org). The program also has a wide reach on social media with 1.4 billion impressions tracked across the globe.
