By Henry Berman, Exponent Philanthropy
Today is #GivingTuesday.
In 2012, New York’s 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation led the charge to create #GivingTuesday, the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, to inspire generosity on the heels of two days dedicated to spending: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Hundreds of organizations from Sony to Skype signed on as partners, and thousands of nonprofits, schools, and cities launched #GivingTuesday campaigns to draw attention to their stories and their impact.
To mark this day of giving, I encourage you to celebrate the many ways you can—and do—give. I particularly challenge you to think carefully about opportunities to give beyond financial gifts. Bringing nondollar assets to the table (alone or in combination with grants) is perhaps one of the most powerful ways we see our members lead.
Wrote Exponent Philanthropy Senior Program Director Andy Carroll earlier this year, “…some foundations and donors are quietly pushing the boundaries of philanthropic practice, with a type of philanthropy that hasn’t even been named yet. By combining grants with research, technical assistance, convening, connecting, advocacy, mobilization, and other kinds of direct action, philanthropists are changing, and sometimes completely transforming, their philanthropy.”
