Giving Tuesdays

Now that Black Friday/Thursday is over and Cyber Monday has passed, we’ve reached Giving Tuesday. This is “a campaign to create a national day of giving at the start of the annual holiday season. It celebrates and encourages charitable activities that support nonprofit organizations.”

New York’s 92nd Street Y was the catalyst and incubator for #GivingTuesday, bringing the expertise of 139 years of community-management to the project, and providing #GivingTuesday a home. So naturally – initiated by the Jewish community! They have now more than 2,000 recognized #GivingTuesday™ partners from all 50 states, that are either registered charities [a 501(c)3] with a specific #GivingTuesday initiative, or for-profit businesses, schools, religious or community groups who have committed to spearhead a project that will benefit at least one 501(c)3. There’s even a Giving Tuesday section on Huffington Post.

Here in Colorado, though, the big nonprofit giving momentum is focused on next Tuesday – the 3rd annual Colorado Gives Day (#CoGivesDay). A project of the Community First Foundation, with lead sponsorship (and incentive funds) from 1st Bank, this is “24 Hours to Give Where You Live.” In 2010, Colorado Gives Day raised $8.4 million for 529 nonprofits. In 2011, Colorado Gives Day raised $12 million, a 40% increase over the prior year. Even more importantly, the number of donations skyrocketed from 20,000 in 2010 to 52,000 in 2011.

Over the next several days, we’ll feature some of the local organizations* that are participating in Colorado Gives Day. But in honor of Giving Tuesday, we’re sharing a tip for participating in both events: you can visit the website for Colorado Gives Day and get busy! The website includes a wealth of information about the participating organizations – you can see their financials, program descriptions, event information and in some cases even photos and videos. You can make your giving decisions on Giving Tuesday and schedule the donations to be made next week, on Colorado Gives Day. You can also easily give to multiple organizations through CoGivesDay – much easier than tracking them down one by one. High website traffic and some technical issues on CoGivesDay (2010 and 2011) caused some delays and disruptions. Beat the rush – double the goodness – participate in both! Click this link to see a video of “How to Make a Donation on GivingFirst.org.”

On top of that, 1st Bank is doing a trivia game on Facebook this week – winners get to select a nonprofit to direct their prize. See them on Facebook here (Like them to play). 

The #GivingTuesday™ team crafted this brief video. Below it, you’ll find the list of local Jewish organizations participating in Colorado Gives Day (more info to follow). Either or both – “live generously” this holiday season!

*Participating in Colorado Gives Day this year – this is just a partial list:

• Boulder JCC
• Menorah: Arts Culture and Education and Boulder Jewish Festival, a program of Menorah
• Colorado Agency for Jewish Education (CAJE)
• Jewish Family Service of Colorado
• Ramah Outdoor Adventure/Ramah in the Rockies
• Judaism Your Way
• Mizel Museum
• Robert E. Loup Jewish Community Center
• Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado
• Rose Community Foundation
• Denver Jewish Day School
• Denver Academy of Torah