Giving Tuesday: The Selfless Response to Cyber Monday and Black Friday

If you’re like me, you’re just emerging from the barrage of sales stretching from Black Friday through the weekend to Cyber Monday. This year, many Americans, and people around the world,  are unemployed due to the COVID pandemic.  For the past four days many Americans have been shopping.  If you look at the research, despite fights, gun fire and early store opening hours Americans turned out to shop. This year, there was a huge increase in online sales on Black Friday & Cyber Monday as holiday shoppers once again went online for the best deals.    But if you’re tired of shopping and spending, you might want to check out Giving Tuesday today.  Giving Tuesday encourages consumers to give to charities instead of spending.   Consumers are also invited to “shop with purpose ” at brands that will give a portion of their sales to charity.

My favorite Giving Tuesday purchase UNICEF Holiday Cards

Giving Tuesday, was launched  last year by New York’s 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation.  In 2020  the initiative has expanded to include 7,500 nonprofits, up from 2,500 in 2012 according to data from USA Today.   So how is it going?  Despite spending on themselves, Americans are giving.

If you visit the Giving Tuesday website, you can see what it’s all about.   The initiative strives to connect donors and major charities. Giving Tuesday is also heavy on Social Media, signing up bloggers like me to participate on their website using Social Media and sharing the desire to give on their social networks using the hashtag #GivingTuesday.

World Kitchen Central offers a hot plate of food to those in need.

Part of this year’s Social Media push is to encourage the  “selfie”s ubculture to take a break from narcissistic posting  about themselves (paging the Kardashian family) by posting  pictures of a charitable cause, rather than  a picture of themselves.  If you participate, use the hashtag”#UNselfie,”  on Twitter or Instagram to share your picture of a charitable cause near and dear to your heart.   I’ll be posting later today  the work the World Kitchen is doing to provide food to families during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Please consider a donate to this worthy cause on the World Central  Kitchen website.

As for shopping today, this is the day I will buy my UNICEF Christmas /Holiday cards and donate to Autism Speaks.   You can buy the cards online.  Proceeds go to help  children in developing countries.  To help Children with Autism, visit the Autism Speaks website.

Other charities that you can give to today include The Red Cross and  The Humane Society .

Winston Churchill was right when we said, “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”