How the Tuesday after Thanksgiving came to be known as Giving Tuesday

Erin McCullough
·2 min read

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Tuesday after Thanksgiving is now known as a day for people to donate to their favorite nonprofit organizations, from animal rescue organizations, to homelessness reduction initiatives, to veterans assistance programs and beyond.

But the spirit of giving on Giving Tuesday is a more recent tradition around the country.

Giving Tuesday was first formed as an alternative to participating in Cyber Monday deals and instead spending money on local nonprofit organizations in 2012 and has grown substantially. For the first eight years, it was housed in the 92nd Street Y in New York but has since branched off and operates elsewhere as its own organization.

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“Giving Tuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good,” the official Giving Tuesday website says. “Over the past nine years, this idea has grown into a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.”

Participation in Giving Tuesday is free, but what people choose to donate to their preferred local nonprofit organizations is up to them. Some people may choose to donate their time by serving in soup kitchens or cleaning their local park, while others may choose to donate money to organizations doing work they enjoy, such as the Boys and Girls Club or the YMCA.

When the initiative was first launched, it received support from large businesses, including Skype and Cisco, as well as support from other larger organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

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As of 2023, the official Giving Tuesday is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, Jesse Ball DuPont Fund, Fidelity Charitable, Ford Foundation, Ford Fund, Google, Microsoft, National Philanthropic Trust, Network for Good, PayPal and Schwab Charitable, among many others.

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