On the heels of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, a new movement focusing on charitable giving is hoping to shake up the normally-frenzied pace of holiday shopping and consumerism that takes place this time of the year.
Dubbed "Giving Tuesday," the movement takes place following Cyber Monday and encourages Canadians from coast to coast to raise money and/or volunteer.
"It's kind of a balancing off against the consumerism that we see at this time of the year," Lys Hugessen of Giving Tuesday told CTV Edmonton on Monday.
"It's really to encourage people to be giving, volunteering and thinking of others."
- For a list of Giving Tuesday events near you, click here.
The movement was started a year ago by 92nd Street Y, a non-profit community centre in New York, in partnership with the UN Foundation. In its inaugural year, online charitable giving in the U.S. jumped 53 per cent, according to a Giving Tuesday statement.
To help get the word out, Giving Tuesday asks users to post an “unselfie” picture to social media – an image of users holding up signs indicating which charities they’re donating to.
Canadian organizations taking part in this year's movement include: CanadaHelps, the Canadian Red Cross, and the Women’s College Hospital Foundation in Toronto, which is raising funds to buy a MRI biopsy machine for breast exams.
"We'd like people to help us out this year on Giving Tuesday to fundraise $50,000 to buy an MRI biopsy unit," Susan Carruthers, president and CEO, said in a statement.
A number of Giving Tuesday "events" will also be driven solely by social media.
CIBC, for example, is launching a one-day Twitter campaign on Tuesday to raise money for its Children's Foundation. For every retweet of CIBC's #GivingTuesdayCA on Tuesday, CIBC will donate $1, up to a maximum of $10,000.
To learn more about Giving Tuesday Canada, visit their website or follow #GivingTuesdayCa.
