Giving Tuesday, which refers to the Tuesday after U.S. Thanksgiving, was created in response to the commercialization and consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
The movement was launched in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y, a cultural institution and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, along with the United Nations Foundation. The goal was to create an international day of giving at the beginning of the holiday season.
Makes sense, really: since there’s already a day for giving thanks, and two days (in some cases more) for taking advantage of sales, shouldn’t there be a day for giving back?
This year, December 1 was the day that charities, families, businesses, community centers, and students around the world came together for the purpose of celebrating generosity and to give. And the best part is you get to post about all of your efforts—in fact, it’s encouraged!
The reception of Giving Tuesday has been very positive, with a large number of organizations—including big names like Google, Microsoft, Skype, Cisco, UNICEF, the Case Foundation, and others—joining in as partners. There’s no specific recipient of all this generosity, as the multi-platform campaign involves many different non-profits and donation processing platforms.
Top influencers tweeting with the hashtag #GivingTuesday included @EmWatston, @jk_rowling, @GaryLineker, @CBSNews and @gatesfoundation. There were also more than 331,000 streaming tweets using the hashtag.
MediaMiser monitored tweets using the phrase “Giving Tuesday” from November 25 to December 2.
Top Twitter handles using the phrase were:
- @DayofGiving
- @Claguemuseum
- @HippTheatre
- @TheDealfm
- @NehemiahCEC
Handles with the highest number of followers using this phrase were:
Top hashtags using the phrase were:
- #GivingTuesday
- #GIVING
- #GivingTuesdayCA
- #News
- #Unselfie
What might prove to be just as meaningful a day is #ThankYouWednesday. Since gratitude is the key to Giving Tuesday, it only makes sense that organizations remember to thank donors, volunteers, employees, and staff for all of their work.
