Giving Tuesday is a day that is observed on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the United States. It was created in 2012 to celebrate giving and charitable acts.

Using the Internet and social media, this holiday can connect many different groups all over the world to support service and give back to the community—regardless of whether it’s the local community or the larger global community.

It is a holiday that is also known in Twitter parlance as #GivingTuesday, and participants use that hashtag to not only bring attention to the important causes they support but also raise awareness about Giving Tuesday itself.

History of Giving Tuesday

Giving Tuesday was created by the Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact in 2012. It was first announced in October of that year, a full month before the holiday was launched on November 27th.

The announcement was made by Mashable that year, and some of the partners of this holiday included Cisco, Microsoft, Aldo, Sony, Phoenix House, and Skype. Announcements of this new holiday were also offered by Cnet and the Huffington Post, and full coverage of the event was handled by the White House Blog, ABC News, and The Washington Post.

The following year, in 2013, Mashable also had a Giving Tuesday campaign in partnership with Google+. The year after that, the #GivingTower partnership was launched. This was a partnership between 92nd Street Y, Crowdrise, and the United Nations Foundation. Every gift given to the campaign was a brick in the virtual tower, and the campaign raised over $45 million.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a separate Giving Tuesday event was launched. This event was known as Giving Tuesday Now and used the hashtag #GivingTuesdayNow. During this campaign, people in 145 different countries responded, and over $500 million in online donations were contributed just in the United States.

On December 1st of that year, it’s estimated that 34.8 million people participated in Giving Tuesday—which is almost a 30% increase from the previous year. Just in the U.S., giving increased from $1.97 billion to $2.47 billion from 2019 to 2020. This was an increase of almost 25%.

As of 2021, there were 75 Giving Tuesday movements around the world with millions of people donating to do good for their local or global community. In the U.S., there were over 240+ community campaigns in full force.

Interesting Facts About Charitable Giving

As we put in the work to research this holiday, we learned some interesting facts about charitable giving. Facts that we would now like you to enjoy.

Americans Give The Most Money

One interesting fact is that U.S. philanthropy represents 1.44% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. This is almost twice as high as the next leading country—which just so happened to be Canada, who gives approximately 0.77% of their GDP to charity as of 2021. The next most generous countries to fall on the list include the United Kingdom (0.54%), Korea (0.50%), Singapore (0.39%), and Italy (0.30%).

Half Of UK Residents Have Donated To Charity Over The Previous Year

Another interesting fact that we’ve learned is that half of all British donors have donated money to charity over the last year. We also learned the average charitable contribution by the British is approximately £44.

A Lot Of Canadians Donate To Charity

We also learned that approximately 84% of Canadians have donated money to charity over the past year. The average contribution among Canadians is over $440.

A Third Of People Who Give Do So Out Of Their Home Country

If you take all of the people in the world who give to charity every year, you’ll notice something surprising about them. You’ll notice that about a third of them donate money outside of their country. The top five countries that receive donations from people outside the country include the U.S., Israel, Canada, Syria, and India.

Approximately Half Of Donors In Asia Prefer Online Donations

It’s also interesting to note that approximately 51% of charitable donors in Asia prefer to give their money online using their credit cards. Approximately 44% of charitable donors in Asia also give money to foreign countries, while approximately a third of them donate to support natural disaster relief programs.

A Third Of Annual Giving In The U.S Happens In December

Thanks to Giving Tuesday, Salvation Army bell ringers, and other drives around the Holiday season, about a third of all donations in the U.S. happen during December.

Giving Tuesday Celebrations & Customs

People can celebrate Giving Tuesday by giving their time or money to charities that they find worthwhile and then posting on social media what they support and why they support it.

When they post to social media, they should also make sure to use the hashtag #GivingTuesday to raise awareness about the holiday. People can also visit GivingTuesday.org to find out ways that they can give back to the community.