What is GivingTuesday? The annual day of charitable giving is coming up

abcnews.go.com:

Since it started as a hashtag in 2012, GivingTuesday has become one of the biggest fundraising days of the year for nonprofits in the U.S. It happens every year on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and this year, it is on Dec. 3

Since it started as a hashtag in 2012, GivingTuesday, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, has become one of the biggest fundraising days of the year for nonprofits in the U.S.

In 2022 and 2023, GivingTuesday raised $3.1 billion for chartitable organizations, according to estimates from GivingTuesday.

This year, GivingTuesday is on Dec. 3.

The #GivingTuesday hashtag started as a project of the 92nd Street Y in New York in 2012 and became an independent organization in 2020. It's grown into a world-wide network of local organizations that promote giving in their communities, often on different dates that have local relevance, like holidays.

Now, GivingTuesday, the nonprofit, also convenes researchers working on topics about everyday giving. It also collects data from a wide range of sources like payment processors, crowdfunding sites, employee giving software and institutions that offer donor-advised funds, a kind of charitable giving account.

The hashtag was started to promote generosity and the nonprofit continues to promote giving in the broadest sense.

For nonprofits, the point of GivingTuesday is to raise money and engage their supporters. Many will be familiar with the barrage of email and mail appeals that coincide on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Essentially all major American nonprofits will organize fundraising campaigns and many smaller, local groups also participate.

Nonprofits don't have to be affiliated in any way with GivingTuesday, the organization, to run a fundraising campaign.