Where to Give on #GivingTuesday

In its fifth year, #GivingTuesday is a movement to highlight a day of giving after Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Touted as a day for giving after two days consuming, anyone can participate in #GivingTuesday – individuals, families, small businesses, large corporations, nonprofits, faith groups, Girl Scout troops – anyone. The best part about #GivingTuesday is that it’s easy. The only thing you have to give.

If you want to participate, but don’t know where to start, consider these ideas:

• Talk with your family about the issues that you care most about. Decide together where to donate your money, time or skills on #GivingTuesday.

• Visit charitable aggregator sites like DonorsChoose, Kiva or Razoo. They highlight charitable projects and fundraisers in countries around the world.

• Use sites like Volunteer Match to find volunteer opportunities in your community or with charities that have a mission that speaks to you. Some charities have remote volunteer opportunities like redesigning a website or doing database management that you can do from anywhere.

• Remember that it’s not about the money. Use social media to tout the charities and causes that mean the most to you, if you can’t give financially. Exposing your message to a new network of potential donors for the charity could mean even more than a check.

• If you’re in the Greater Philadelphia area, NPT and Comcast NBCUniversal are partnering to give away one $1,000 grant to a local charity participating in #GivingTuesday #PHL. Just tweet your #GivingTuesday plans to @GivingTuesPHL to enter by 11:59pm on #GivingTuesday, November 29.