Global day of unity and giving, organized in just six weeks, offered opportunities for hope and healing during pandemic
#GivingTuesdayNow sparked activity in more than 145 countries on May 5, 2020 for a global day of unity and giving. Millions of people expressed their generosity through acts of kindness, donations of goods, time and money, notes of compassion, advocacy for causes, and care for family and friends. The event was launched by GivingTuesday—in addition to the annual GivingTuesday that will take place on December 1, 2020—as an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19.
“We are in awe of the outpouring of generosity, collaboration and innovation that came into focus on #GivingTuesdayNow,” said Asha Curran, GivingTuesday CEO. “This show of unity is a reminder that we are all connected and we are all generous, even when we are uncertain and afraid. We must now take the energy and inspiration of this moment forward to establish stronger habits of generosity, to think about the good we can create in the world every day. GivingTuesday will continue to help communities and the social sector rebuild in the wake of COVID-19 with a renewed focus on resilience.”
On #GivingTuesdayNow, people came together to present a united front of hope, generosity and kindness in a time when many are facing challenges due to the pandemic. One local leader shared what the day meant to so many local organizations and their staff, “On behalf of all local nonprofits, thanks for helping us get our fire back. It was about more than money today, today was about confidence. It was a chance to be bold in the face of so much uncertainty. Thank you.”
The day ignited a global conversation on generosity with more than three billion social media impressions and online activity in more than 145 countries around the world. #GivingTuesdayNow platform partners—which include more than 90 companies who provide fundraising, volunteering and donor engagement technology—reported a spike in giving during the day. GivingTuesday, through the GivingTuesday Data Commons, plans to publish deeper research, analysis and insights on shifts in giving behavior and opportunities to continue to increase generosity, even in times of crisis.
#GivingTuesdayNow’s accelerated launch was made possible because of GivingTuesday’s unique model of movement leadership and organization. GivingTuesday’s lean core team of 12 is the nucleus for a worldwide network of community and country leaders who mobilize individuals, nonprofits, governments and small businesses. In just six weeks, the team worked to rally organizations of all sizes to join the movement, resulting in a day that brought together millions of people around the world. To help strengthen #GivingTuesdayNow initiatives and campaigns at the local level, GivingTuesday also devoted $200,000 to launch The Starling Fund, which distributed funds among the organization’s existing cohort of official community and country leaders to bolster their outreach and on-the-ground work.
#GivingTuesdayNow: Inspiring Stories of Community, Hope and Generosity
Individuals and communities came together to collaborate, innovate and inspire across borders and demographics to make a difference in the lives of others, finding creative ways to mobilize networks, host virtual events, and spark a wave of kindness around the world.
Official GivingTuesday global leaders in nearly 70 countries took part in the day, with Sierra Leone, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Turkey and Guam joining for the first time as country-wide movements.
Buildings and monuments around the world, including La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, the Petrin Tower in Prague and the skyline of Chicago, were lighted in red to mark the day.
GivingTuesday Slovakia’s “give 5 on 5” campaign encouraged all 5.5M Slovaks to do good or to give 5 of anything on May 5th for #GivingTuesdayNow. The campaign saw people do 55 pushups, practicing piano for 5.5 hours, learning 55 words of sign language, challenging friends to write down 55 things they like about themselves to promote self confidence and importance of mental health
GivingTuesday Australia launched an ‘Ovation across the nation’ thanking frontline staff for helping throughout the crisis. The campaign has been extended through May to make sure the generosity conversation continues, and to roll out a Generosity Register, that captures detailed information about organizations so that Australians can give to a cause they care about.
More than 100 U.S-community campaigns reached out to encourage civic engagement, charitable donations, and acts of kindness.
North Texas GivingTuesday Now, the joint giving effort between United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, Communities Foundation of Texas, and Dallas Cowboys, closed out 18 hours of philanthropy with nearly 45,000 donors giving more than $20.7 million to more than 2,500 North Texas nonprofits. Additionally, more than 9,400 donors pledged nearly 300,000 volunteer hours.
Together at Home with Cleveland Kids created a platform for Northeast Ohio families to participate in six community challenges including raising funds for Greater Cleveland Community Shares and 40 local nonprofits.
TorontoGives organized a day to spread joy throughout the city by equipping residents with sidewalk chalk to leave messages of inspiration and cheerful images for their neighbors.
GivingTuesdayKids simultaneously celebrated #GivingTuesdayNow and National Astronaut Day with an exclusive live interview with astronaut Dottie Metcalf Lindenberger. These young changemakers also organized and promoted projects to give back and inspire other young people to get involved.
12-year-old Jordyn Webb’s grandmother is an essential worker at Lowe’s home improvement stores. For #GivingTuesdayNow Jordyn wanted to say thanks to her grandmother and all of her coworkers. Jordyn says, “I worry about her every time she goes to work.” To combat that worry, Jordyn delivered handwritten thank you notes and hand sewn masks sent from fellow GivingTuesdayKids leader Khloe Thompson to the unsung heroes at her grandmother’s Lowes.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital hosted a livestream event that invited audiences everywhere to Take 5 Together #forStJude and enjoy a moment to sing, dance, laugh and give back.
A Next-Gen Coalition formed and launched the #NextGenGenerosity campaign, resulting in $306K raised for next gen initiatives and causes. Additionally, those participating in the campaign completed just under 500,000 next gen acts of generosity, with a campaign goal of one million acts of generosity by May 26, 2020.
LaunchGood is hosting their annual Ramadan Challenge and reported their biggest Ramadan giving day so far on May 5 with 940 campaigns participating from all over the world, raising $921,660 through 24,874 donations.
For the first time, the GivingTuesday team hosted a livestream event for #GivingTuesdayNow, interviewing campaign leaders from ten countries, as well as representatives from GivingTuesday Military, GivingTuesdayKids, and philanthropic leaders and celebrities including chef and humanitarian José Andrés. The livestream also showcased video clips from social media and campaign results, complemented by live data analysis of the social conversation trends of the day.
#GivingTuesdayNow Supporters
#GivingTuesdayNow Leadership Supporters included the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and PayPal, as well as America’s Food Fund, Fidelity Charitable, Ford Foundation, Ford Motor Company and the Hewlett Foundation. A range of partners joined the day with campaigns to encourage action and togetherness:
This #GivingTuesdayNow, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation partnered with GivingTuesday, VolunteerMatch, Candid, and DonorsChoose to respond to the impacts of COVID-19 and launch PowerOf, a platform created to make it easier for millions of givers to connect with the charities helping the people and communities they care about. On the site, givers can find nationwide opportunities to support local teachers, give to national and local COVID-19 response funds, volunteer virtually, and check out GivingTuesday resources and ideas for spreading kindness and giving back. To power this platform and support the generosity infrastructure, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also announced a $10 million commitment to strengthen the nonprofit sector in the United States.
PayPal proudly supported #GivingTuesdayNow by sharing all the ways to give with PayPal, including a new way to donate using credit card rewards points, COVID-19 fundraisers in 12 markets around the world, and donations at checkout. The global PayPal community raised approximately $65 million on #GivingTuesdayNow, which was 43% higher than the previous 7 days, demonstrating that #GivingTuesdayNow created a surge in giving during the pandemic. People can continue to donate to COVID-19 relief efforts within the PayPal app or by heading to paypal.com/covid19.
America’s Food Fund encouraged their community of over 18,000 supporters to be generous by showing appreciation for frontline food workers: school nutrition workers, food bank workers, farm workers, delivery workers, restaurant workers and those on the front lines. “We must weaponize empathy.” In an interview on the event’s streaming platform, Chef José Andrés joined the #GivingTuesdayNow team to discuss America’s Food Fund’s rapid response efforts, why donating what you can makes a difference, and that raising awareness is a critical piece of hunger relief work.
Candid hosted the webinar “Get Ready for #GivingTuesdayNow on May 5th: A Global Effort in Response to COVID-19,” where GivingTuesday’s Chief Strategy Officer Jamie McDonald shared ways to inspire donations and citizen engagement to support communities and nonprofits. Over 250 new organizations earned their first Seals of Transparency from Candid, and traffic on GuideStar was up 15 percent compared to the previous Tuesday.
The CDC Foundation shared a new video with their song, “Against All Odds,” along with social media, a blog and outreach to their donors, to honor health heroes and spread the word about its COVID-19 response. Dr. Judy Monroe, President of the CDC Foundation said, “GivingTuesdayNow gave us all a way to come together, united around a common cause during the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic. Our team was proud to honor our health heroes in healthcare, public health and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as all who are working behind the scenes and on the frontlines to meet significant needs across the globe. Thanks for inspiring so many people to perform countless acts of kindness and generosity on this global day of giving.”
Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) reported strong results with 18% of their campaign coming in on #GivingTuesdayNow, with 80% of the donors being new donors and 77% of donors making recurring gifts.
Greater Public inspired, encouraged, and coached its national network of public media organizations to reach out to their listeners and communities on May 5. They shared, “We were deeply gratified that many public media organizations across the country were able to participate in #GivingTuesdayNow. During a time when local sources of music, news, and education are so critical, we are thankful so many Americans heeded the call to support these community institutions.”
Hundreds of Habitat for Humanity organizations across the U.S. and around the world took up the #GivingTuesdayNow call on their social channels, websites and through emails, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the global nonprofit’s work to build safe, decent and affordable homes. Habitat built its GivingTuesday appeal on its new Homes, Communities, Hope + You campaign, the organization’s answer to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many nonprofits, Habitat is facing significant financial headwinds and built this first-of-its-kind global fundraising campaign to help its entire network build support for its work in communities all across the United States and around the world. #GivingTuesdayNow provided a highly visible and well-timed platform to catalyze the campaign’s public appeal.
LinkedIn focused on connecting members with nonprofits in need of urgent volunteers, mission-critical talent, and digital fundraising via free product and program offers. Additionally, they announced free LinkedIn Learning courses on topics like working virtually and leading through change, and a new webinar series dedicated to nonprofits which will cover hot topics like leveraging social media to promote your mission and topical dialogue with nonprofit industry leaders. You can read more about all of these offers in this LinkedIn blog post.
Newman’s Own Foundation launched a video to promote giving back through small acts of kindness that can shine a light during this time of crisis. The Foundation believes that each of us can help make the world a better place and be a #Newmanitarian.
Teach For All and its partner organizations in countries around the world – from Nigeria to Malaysia to Armenia to Bangladesh and beyond – leveraged #GivingTuesdayNow to amplify their efforts to address inequities that have always existed, but that COVID-19 has exacerbated. On #GivingTuesdayNow, the global network shared powerful examples of the many ways educators, families, and communities have come together to ensure that despite the crisis, children in the most marginalized contexts can continue to learn.
To advance COVID-19 relief efforts, Salesforce was proud to again partner with GivingTuesday for #GivingTuesdayNow by creating awareness, education, and support for nonprofits and encouraging our community to give back in various ways. Salesforce Equality Groups, employee-led organizations that support and celebrate our underrepresented communities, kickstarted #GivingTuesdayNow with a campaign to support nonprofits through a donation matching campaign for 13 non-profits, which will be matched by Salesforce and each Equality Group.
The UN Foundation asked audiences and partners to give love, give thanks and give support to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) pandemic response for #GivingTuesdayNow. They saw a 30% average growth in giving, reaching a digital audience of 2.3 million. Users answered a call to dedicate Queen + Adam Lambert’s “You Are The Champions” to the heroes in their lives, and learned more about the GivingTuesday movement through a blog post authored by President and CEO Elizabeth Cousens. Over the past two months, the UN Foundation has raised over $200 million for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, the first, fastest and only way for companies, organizations and individuals to contribute directly to critical global response efforts led by WHO.
Long-time GivingTuesday signature media partner NBC News and MSNBC joined #GivingTuesdayNow, reporting stories of people and organizations responding to needs caused by the pandemic, and providing information about the day both on-air and across social and digital platforms to encourage viewers to join in.
GivingTuesday was born and incubated at the 92nd Street Y and its Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact in New York City. GivingTuesday is now an independent nonprofit, having grown into global movement, inspiring hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity year-round.
For access to photos and videos of giving stories shared from around the world, visit the #GivingTuesdayNow press kit. Logos and additional resources can be found on now.givingtuesday.org/resources or by contacting media@givingtuesday.org.
About the GivingTuesday Data Commons
The GivingTuesday Data Commons, with over 150 collaborators and 40 global data labs, is the leading data collaboration on giving and generosity. The GivingTuesday Data Commons is an open and distributed network of partners across sectors and borders who seek to understand the drivers and impacts of generosity, explore giving behaviors and patterns, and use this data to inspire more giving around the world.
About GivingTuesday
GivingTuesday is a global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world. GivingTuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good. Over the past eight years, it has grown into a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity. Whether it’s making someone smile, helping a neighbor or stranger out, showing up for an issue or people we care about, or giving some of what we have to those who need our help, every act of generosity counts and everyone has something to give. GivingTuesday strives to build a world in which the catalytic power of generosity is at the heart of the society we build together, unlocking dignity, opportunity, and equity around the globe. To learn more about GivingTuesday participants and activities or to join the global generosity movement, please visit: www.givingtuesday.org and www.givingtuesdaykids.org or find GivingTuesday on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Download the GivingTuesdayNow Impact Report
Read more in the GivingTuesdayNow impact report.
