On 30 November, charities across South Africa will be looking to catch the customary wave of goodwill surrounding Giving Tuesday, a global end-of-year movement to support charitable causes and communities.
What is Giving Tuesday?
Giving Tuesday operates as an independent non-profit organisation in partnership with a global network of leaders, communities, generous individuals and partners – including GivenGain, a leading global online fundraising platform for charity.
In 2012, an annual grassroots day of giving originated under the Giving Tuesday banner, growing to inspire volunteering initiatives, fundraising campaigns and events in over 70 countries in recent years.
Last year, almost $2.5bn was raised on Giving Tuesday in the US alone. Taking place directly after the shopping fests of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the movement encourages the public to give back in the form of donations and time to those most in need.
“Giving Tuesday is a much-needed initiative to promote cross-border fundraising and other forms of relief after the widespread impact of COVID-19,” says Jannie Smith, regional manager, sub-Saharan Africa at GivenGain.
“It’s become more important than ever to show up for our communities when so many people have been isolated from their normal support networks. We’re looking forward to supporting more charities than ever this year in meeting the needs of those they care for,” says Smith.
Unleashing the power of generosity
Through GivenGain’s cross-border capabilities, South African charities with Giving Tuesday campaigns are right now being supported by donors from all parts of the world.
One of the many inspiring charities, Made for More, raised funds for a new sustainable community centre in Durban, supporting people living with disabilities. The purpose-built, state of the art building is the first of its kind to run inclusive sport activities, training, counselling, leadership camps and employment opportunities.
Another successful participating charity is The South African Wildlife College, whose Giving Tuesday campaign raised nearly $10,000. These funds were enough to provide medical aid to their K9 unit of 30 anti-poaching dogs for a whole year.
Further afield, Giving Tuesday is making an impact in communities of all sizes. In the Philippines, individuals, partners and organisations came together to distribute 500,000 meals to families living in urban slums. And thousands of miles away in Ireland, Hands4Unity ran a Giving Tuesday campaign to provide free hot meals to families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tools for fundraising success
This year, GivenGain has again teamed up with Giving Tuesday to equip charities with all the fundraising resources they need – from structured timelines, writing guides, event ideas and captivating case studies. The starter pack enables charities to get their campaign up and running quickly, and ready to share in just a few clicks. They can also track the live progress of their fundraising total using GivenGain’s streamlined dashboards.
“We encourage participating charities to maximise the potential of Giving Tuesday by actively sharing their campaign pages to their networks and spreading the word about this global movement of giving,” says Smith.
As well as guiding charities on how to attract support from large corporates, this downloadable and completely free fundraising pack is an essential toolkit for individuals and companies organising fundraising initiatives throughout the year.
Smith continues: “We’re incredibly proud to continue supporting Giving Tuesday and play our part in this global generosity movement. It started as such a simple idea but demonstrates the power of people to overcome adversity and help those in need, whether the recipient is a close neighbour or a complete stranger. Giving Tuesday has enabled this time of year to become a season of selfless giving, even when many consumers are spending more.”
Charities can download the Giving Tuesday 2021 fundraising pack today.
To start a Giving Tuesday campaign, sign up to GivenGain today.
