For more than a decade, the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving has come to be known as Giving Tuesday, thanks to a charitable movement started at New York’s 92nd Street Y.
Giving Tuesday is an opportunity for people to give money to charitable causes following all of the shopping that occurs on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. This year, that falls on Nov. 28.
Consumer prices still rising and interest rates at their highest in 22 years, according to earlier reporting from CT Insider, and Business Insider reports that may be one of the reasons charitable giving is at a 28-year low. For those exercising caution about how they give, the Better Business Bureau shares advice to help donors decide where to give on Giving Tuesday.
Consumer prices are still rising and interest rates are at their highest in 22 years, according to reporting from CT Insider. Business Insider reports that may be one of the reasons charitable giving is at a 28-year low. For those exercising caution about how they give, the Better Business Bureau shares advice to help donors decide where to give on Giving Tuesday.
The BBB advises people to check out charities on its own accountability site, Give.org, which evaluates charitable organizations based on 20 standards. Other sites that show how an organization spends its money and who runs it are Charity Navigator and Guidestar.
The BBB also encourages consumers to check an organization’s registration status and tax-exempt status. Searching an organization on the Internal Revenue Service‘s website will show whether donations are tax deductible. It also says to be careful of organizations with similar names to be clear about where money is going and to be cautious of emotional appeals. The BBB warns that sometimes a story that makes donors cry can obscure what an organization actually does or doesn’t do.
Giving Tuesday was founded in 2012 at the 92nd Street Y and its Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Change. It’s since spun off to become its own nonprofit organization, according to the GivingTuesday website. The website states that giving doesn’t have to be monetary, it can be acts of kindness, too.
Last year’s Giving Tuesday raised $3.1 billion, a 15 percent increase over 2021, according to GivingTuesday’s 2022 impact report.