Melinda French Gates plans to match $1M in GivingTuesday gifts to groups that support women
Melinda French Gates is offering to match up to $1 million in gifts to two nonprofit organizations to help spur donations on GivingTuesday
NEW YORK — Melinda French Gates is offering to match up to $1 million in gifts to two nonprofit organizations to help spur donations on GivingTuesday, which has become a major annual fundraising day for nonprofits.
For more than a decade, on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, charitable organizations have asked for donations or other support from their networks.
“It’s a great time to remind people that we’re better off when we give something back and we all have something to give back,” said French Gates in an interview, speaking about her enthusiasm for GivingTuesday. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was an early supporter of GivingTuesday, which started as a hashtag and a project at the 92nd Street Y in New York and has since become its own organization.
Last year, donors gave an estimated $3.1 billion on GivingTuesday, but the overall number of people who participated declined. Asha Curran, CEO of the nonprofit GivingTuesday, who calculated that estimate, said matches like French Gates' help catalyze people to give.
“We really share a commitment to the idea also that philanthropy is not just in the hands of the ultra wealthy," she said. «That it really takes everyone to contribute to a healthy society through generosity.”
Una Osili, associate dean at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, says that even if fewer households are giving, donations may be holding steady because those who donate are giving more.
“The optimist in me would certainly say there are lots of reasons to think that giving will at least hold steady,» Osili said. «But what we’ve seen in
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