“At the end of the day, it’s not about what you have or even what you’ve accomplished. It’s about who you’ve lifted up, who you’ve made better. It’s about what you’ve given back.” -Denzel Washington
Giving Tuesday started in 2012 by Henry Timms and based on an idea by Carlo Lorenzo Garcia the year before. Garcia wanted to balance the consumerist energy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday with a day more in keeping with the Thanksgiving spirit.
“I'll admit that much of my family's conversation around the dinner table on Thanksgiving was talking about Black Friday deals. It made me wonder why the days after Thanksgiving, a day for reflection and gratitude, is synonymous with great deals and what can we do to put the giving spirit back in Thanksgiving.”
Timms, the author of New Power: How It’s Changing The 21st Century and Why You Need to Know, as well as the president and CEO of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, asked, “Could [we] add a day that reversed the trend, that, after all this consumerism, that people would give back, that they would engage with the world?” he told NPR. “As we watched it grow, [it became] a story of other people stepping up and saying. . . what are the causes our family stands for?”
To date, it’s estimated that 7 billion dollars worldwide have been given to charities due to the influence of #GivingTuesday. It should be noted that the estimated amount just Americans donate to charity in one year is about 485 billion dollars.
More than raising money, the day focuses on what’s needed to be done to make society better. “It’s not just a fundraising day,” said ...
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