Among the many client questions you and other attorneys, accountants, and financial advisors can be prepared to answer as year-end approaches is, “What is Giving Tuesday?” Here are a few questions your clients might have and how to answer them.
FAQ about Giving Tuesday in Kalamazoo County
"Why am I hearing about Giving Tuesday?"
Giving Tuesday—or “GivingTuesday” to be more accurate—has become a philanthropic phenomenon of sorts, generating support and enthusiasm from a wide range of people and institutions. Many of your clients are likely reading about GivingTuesday in the media, especially after the Gates Foundation recently announced its $10 million gift to support the effort.
Celebrating ten years in 2022—and vastly different from both the Black Friday and Cyber Monday that it follows—GivingTuesday is a day of generosity. This includes generosity of time, effort, money, concern or any other well-intended act of giving.
"How can I get involved?"
Clients typically get involved in GivingTuesday by supporting their favorite charitable organizations. Many nonprofits promote GivingTuesday as an important source of funds for their organizations, and they frequently encourage their donors—your clients—to give via cash, check or online. Following the hashtag #GivingTuesdayKalamazoo on social media can help you share these efforts with philanthropically-minded clients.
Your clients also can participate in GivingTuesday by recommending grants from their donor-advised funds to favorite organizations.
Fall Partner Highlights
Do your clients already have a donor-advised fund, or are they interested in organizing their giving by starting one? Click below to read about our featured organizations and share them with your clients based on their areas of interest.
Arts
Speak It Forward, Inc.
Black Arts and Cultural Center
Health
WMed Street Medicine Kalamazoo
Planned Parenthood of Michigan
Youth
"What is radical generosity?"
Far beyond simple acts of benevolence, GivingTuesday is steeped in the idea of “radical generosity,” which the organization describes as giving to create systemic change, or to “recognize that we each can drive an enormous amount of positive change by rooting our everyday actions, decisions and behavior in radical generosity—the concept that the suffering of others should be as intolerable to us as our own suffering. Radical generosity invites people in to give what they can to create systemic change.”
Beyond monetary donations, systemic change comes from participating in activities like social media advocacy (the # in #Giving Tuesday that creates ripple-effect awareness online), sharing love, spreading kindness, supporting a food pantry, shopping local or hosting a food or coat drive.
Facts about GivingTuesday:
Giving Tuesday started ten years ago in 2012
More than a day, GivingTuesday is a movement and an organization
It always falls on the first Tuesday following Thanksgiving
Though not strictly a fundraiser, money “moved” has grown from $28 million in 2013 to $2.7 billion in the U.S. in 2021
