By Scott Pansky
It’s that time of year again. First came Halloween, then Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and no, not Christmas, Giving Tuesday! Giving Tuesday is one of the most impactful days of the year for nonprofit organizations around the world. And having consulted with nonprofits for more than 30 years, it’s a day I love to share with consumers and business leaders, let alone family and friends.
In 2023, Giving Tuesday campaigns raised more than $3.1 billion. That’s a lot of donations. Large companies, such as Double Click, Intelsat, PGT Innovations and Careem, were each actually purchased for this amount. Tesla could sell more than 30,000 trucks to equal this amount. Yet, individuals from around the globe use their hard-earned money to make a difference during the holiday season.
Even more convincing, between health pandemics, the current geo-political environment, inflation, housing crisis, climate change and more, individuals still dip into their wallets to help regional and global causes with their donations!
As we head into the uncertainties of 2025, I would like us to consider why as a society we feel it is important to make a difference, large or small. Whether it is writing a check or venmo-ing an organization $25, donating food and water, or volunteering at a Special Olympics event, we do this because it is clear many of us DO want to help.
I believe we do this for several reasons: many nonprofits take the time to outreach to us sharing incredible touching and personal stories of the people needing their services and or donations; often, there are matching gifts from donors, which will help our donations go farther; and this time of year, we will see incredible creative campaigns from organizations such as St. Jude Children’s Hospital which I have had the chance to visit in the past.
Yet at the heart of all of this, I believe it’s our community passion to do good. We want to play nice in the sandbox during the holidays. Whether privately or personally, we want to support causes that are important to us.
My final thought, not for the consumers, but for the nonprofits receiving these special dollars – remember your donors year-round. You do many things, whether through education and services to donating supplies and needed funds, share your stories regularly, and year-round. More than 34 million adults in the U.S. supported Giving Tuesday last year and even more supported across 90 countries. Maintain and build deep authentic relationships with your donors. As donors, we can also provide strong word-of-mouth or push your stories across our social media channels reaching others who have similar interests. Together, we can create momentum and relationships for Giving Tuesday, and beyond which could benefit a cause for generations.
Scott Pansky is a co-founder of the agency and leads Allison’s Social Impact group. He developed the agency’s proprietary Corporate Socialanthropy™ process, which helps corporations identify social impact partners and builds the foundation for long-term campaigns that incorporate employee recruitment and retention programs, internal and external communications, and cause-related marketing strategies.
