In response to the unprecedented need caused by Covid-19, GivingTuesday announced what it described as a day of giving, generosity, and unity set to take place May 5.
The campaign, called #GivingTuesdayNow, will aim to inspire donations and citizen engagement to support communities and nonprofits around the world. Communities and individuals are encouraged to help a neighbor, advocate for an issue, donate, or take other actions on behalf of first responders and frontline workers, including the nonprofits serving the people most affected by the pandemic.
“As a global community, we can mourn this moment of extreme crisis while also finding the opportunity to support one another,” GivingTuesday CEO Asha Curran said in a statement. “We each have the power to make an impact with acts of generosity, no matter how small, and to ensure the sustainability of organizations and services that are crucial to the care and support of our communities.”
GivingTuesday, which is now a nonprofit, will commit $200,000 to launch the Starling Fund, designed to support its existing network of leaders in communities and countries around the world, with a priority on leaders working in the regions hit hardest by the crisis or who have the least resources to strengthen their #GivingTuesdayNow efforts.
Partners including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, PayPal, the United Nations Foundation, the CDC Foundation, Facebook, and many others will help amplify the campaign.
Over the last eight years, GivingTuesday has cemented its status as a global celebration of generosity and the unofficial kickoff to the year-end fundraising season on the first Tuesday following Thanksgiving.
Last November, charities raised an estimated $511 million online on GivingTuesday. The GivingTuesday Data Collaborative, a group of more than 60 partners, also estimated offline giving, bringing the total to an estimated $1.97 billion.
By some measures, giving has accelerated as the coronavirus has spread. Rapid-response funds have sprung up, and wealthy donors, foundations, and everyday Americans are stepping up their giving. Bill Strathmann, CEO of Network for Good, says the gift processor saw a 33 percent increase in donations during the first 30 days of March compared with the same time period in 2019.
