GIVING TUESDAY LAUNCHES WITH A BANG
THE INTERNATIONAL DAY TO GIVE BACK
03 December 2019
If you somehow missed it today is Giving Tuesday, the international day to give back in the run up to Christmas.
The campaign – which began in the US in 2012 before being brought to the UK by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) in 2014 – has caused quite a stir so far.
Giving Tuesday messages have been beamed on the top of London’s BT Tower throughout the day, whilst Thomson Reuters is showcasing the campaign on their Canary Wharf Jumbotron screen.
It’s been the top trending item on UK Twitter and garnered celebrity support around the world on social media from the likes of Lady Gaga, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, pop star Kelly Clarkson and the cast of Sesame Street, Snoop Dogg, Ant & Dec and Russell Brand.
Charities across the UK have been pushing hard to promote their causes to the wider public, and working on big campaigns to encourage donations.
The Trussell Trust is launching a Christmas Wish campaign to help eradicate food banks, so that one day children will only hear about them in history books.
The Tiny Tickers charity, which campaigns to increase early detection rates of cardiac conditions in newborn babies, is launching an appeal encouraging people to “Donate a Doll” to hospitals up and down the country. Their situs dolls cost just £10 each and help sonographers to scan tiny hearts during pregnancy scans.
The Woodland Trust is calling on the public to plant up to 10 trees by donating £15. Elsewhere, the Cool Earth charity is doubling all donations received in December in its bid to fight deforestation and climate change.
Not to be outdone, hundreds of businesses up and down the country are getting involved with their own initiatives.
eBay UK is donating 5p from every purchase it receives today to the Prince’s Trust to help improve young lives. Meanwhile Sainsbury’s and Argos are promoting a #ShopForOthers campaign, encouraging shoppers to pick up spare items in store and donate them to local food banks.
Although we don’t know how much has yet been raised, we do know that PayPal has been matching funds through their PayPal Giving Fund, up to a total of £150,000 on the day. RBS is also matching their staff’s payroll giving contributions and promoting Giving Tuesday to over 1.5million of their MyReward Customers.
Elsewhere, the Big Give charity is running a week-long Christmas Challenge, which started at noon today. It promises to be the UK’s biggest ever match funding campaign, aiming to raise over £14million throughout the week.
For more information on Giving Tuesday and how you can get involved, please visit https://www.givingtuesday.org.uk/.
Notes to editors
- Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving which takes place in more than 60 countries around the world.
- Charities taking part in the 2019 campaign include the Jo Cox Foundation, Islamic Relief, Sightsavers and Cancer Research UK.
- Household names involved include RBS, PayPal, Samsung and BT.
- Further information: https://www.givingtuesday.org.uk/
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