Meet #GivingTuesday

Last year shoppers spent roughly $52 billion on Black Friday. For the whole holiday weekend it balanced out to almost $400 per shopper.

A few days later on Cyber Monday we collectively spent another $1.25 billion.

I like a big flat panel TV to cheer on my football team (Go Texans!) as much as the next person. But what if instead of those beautiful TVs, we made donations to our favorite charities? Since a flu shot for an adult is around $12.25, that $53.25 billion spent on shopping could translate into 4,346,938 flu shots. Or enough to vaccinate every single person in the state of Kentucky.

Now to think that every retail dollar could be or might be shifted to a charitable donation is probably a pipedream. However, this year with the launch of #GivingTuesday, the nonprofit sector might see its slice of the pie expanded.

In a nutshell, #GivingTuesday aims to do for the nonprofit sector what Black Friday and Cyber Monday have done for the retail industry: build excitement and engage a large audience.

To help you individually participate in #GivingTuesday or help your organization leverage the buzz, read these great #GivingTuesday ideas.

And to eat my own dog food so to speak…

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