When is Giving Tuesday? The day after Cyber Monday, bringing to an end a series of shopping days — including Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.
If you’re itching to take advantage of steep Cyber Monday deals and also looking to give back to communities in need, you may want to consider shopping on Giving Tuesday, Dec. 1. Kristen Gall, the President of shopping network Rakuten, called Giving Tuesday the “Black Friday of charity.” But what is Giving Tuesday, exactly?
“It’s a way to give back with every dollar you spend as many retailers donate profits from the day to various charities and nonprofit organizations,” she explained. Gall noted it’s a “wonderful opportunity” to support both local businesses and various nonprofits otherwise, many of which may have experienced hardships due to the coronavirus.
Giving Tuesday launched in 2012 as a partnership between the United Nations Foundation and 92nd Street Y in New York — last year, Giving Tuesday took off on its own, separating from its founding organizations. There are currently more than 225 Giving Tuesday communities across the country. So when is Giving Tuesday observed? The day of giving back is observed across 70 counties on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
Giving Tuesday was created to promote charitable acts of giving after consumers spent billions of dollars on goods during Black Friday weekend and on Cyber Monday. “All of that money [being spent after Thanksgiving] is coming from the same wallet,” said Asha Curran, the CEO of Giving Tuesday, in an interview with the American Bar Association. “We wanted to appropriate a little bit of that money for the nonprofit world.” Adobe Analytics found online shoppers spent a record $5.1 billion this Black Fridayand are expected to spend approximately $12.7 billion during Cyber Monday.
