We don’t usually post on Tuesdays, but we wanted to pop in today to wish everyone a happy Giving Tuesday! For those who aren’t familiar with it, Giving Tuesday is a celebration of giving and generosity that falls the Tuesday after Thanksgiving each year, a chance to think about our contribution to the world and the organizations working so hard to create positive change.
Whoops! Sorry, wrong photo.
(Image via givingtuesday on Instagram)
We hope that you will consider contributing to a cause or organization (or several!) that you believe in today or this season. Giving can mean a lot of things. Financial contributions are always appreciated by nonprofits, but you can also give your time (volunteering) or your talent (helping out with a particular skill you have, like graphic design).
We aren’t going to list specific organizations that we think are great because we both work at non-profits that we could pitch for hours, but if you’re looking for some help finding effective non-profits then we highly recommend Give Well as a great resource for finding and researching organizations.
Additionally, while doing some research on Giving Tuesday resources we came across the Family Dinner Project and wanted to mention it as a really cool resource. The basic idea is to encourage families to talk about challenging issues together, with prompts and ideas for how to do this on a regular basis around the dinner table and how to frame the conversation in age-appropriate ways for kids. (Here are some resources from them specifically on talking about giving.) But you don’t need to have kids (we don’t!) to find this a helpful resource for fostering meaningful and challenging conversation with loved ones.
We could get really sentimental about the importance of the social sector (feelings!), and we could also get super intellectual and academic (business degree!). But we’ll spare you both, and just reiterate our hope that you consider using Giving Tuesday as an opportunity to recognize and support the causes and organizations that are particularly meaningful to you. Because the season of giving is about more than that coffee maker you’re really excited to give your spouse for Christmas (good thing Sam doesn’t read the blog!).
This week, while home in Vermont, I am driving for Meals on Wheels and sleeping out at the falls to raise awareness and money for the John Graham Shelter. I haven’t really figured out how it where to give in the Caribbean while cruising. This inspires me to put more effort into that. Why shouldn’t every Tuesday be Giving Tuesday.
Well now you’ve created an infinity circle — you’re inspired by this post, but this post is inspired by you and the rest of our parents who taught us that giving is about what we do with our lives, not just about one day a year. Thank you!!!!