How to Change a Life - 5 Reasons to Give on #GivingTuesday

What is #GivingTuesday?

Shopping mania starts on Black Friday and swells on Cyber Monday, but on #GivingTuesday the focus shifts from consumption to charity. Over the past 4 years #GivingTuesday has, “connected diverse groups of individuals, communities and organizations around the world for one common purpose: to celebrate and encourage giving.”

In 2015, participating charities raised over $116 Million in a single day, with #GivingTuesday surpassing 1.3 million social media mentions across 71 countries. The fifth annual event on November 29th, 2016, looks to be an even bigger affair. Here are 5 reasons to consider getting involved.

#1. Everyone Can Give

It was our last day of a two week service project to a rural village outside of Chennai, India. Gotham (pronounced Go-Thumb), a 6 year old boy living at Little Flock Children’s Home, sheepishly walked up to me.

Earlier in the week I learned when he was only 4 years old, Gotham’s parents were murdered. He and his older sister came to the orphanage with nothing. They still owned virtually nothing. But as we said goodbye Gotham’s clasped hands held out a gift.

“Thank you for everything Jeff-Uncle,” he said. He handed me a small plastic medal he had won earlier in the week, wrapped in a hand drawn note, complete with a few other knick knacks you might receive from a cavity-free visit to the Dentist’s Office. Gotham’s powerful lesson in generosity still lives on my desk. Everyone can give.  

It is so easy to shirk responsibility, look at limited resources and say, “My gift wouldn’t matter. I have nothing to give.” But Giving Tuesday challenges that notion, encouraging participants to expand their definition of gifts. Whether you give of your resources, time, or talents, your community can benefit from your generosity.

If you can’t swing a donation of money this year, lend your voice on social media to advocate for a charity you love. Give time by volunteering at a local charity. Check out the list of over 27,000 participating organizations for a starting point. Finally, consider donating your skills by working pro bono for a charity.

While the rest of this article will primarily focus on the impact of financial gifts to charitable organizations, don’t check out! Consider giving your time, your talents, or your voice this year if a financial gift is out of the question. Everyone can give.

#2. The Need is Great

#givingtuesday attempts to leverage social media to increase financial giving and to spread a simple message, “the need in our world is great, and your gift can make a difference.” Raising awareness is important because the needy in our world often suffer silently. Nonprofits won’t show up on television with Black Friday donation-matching deals or get the best paid Cyber Monday ads online. These organizations and the people they represent are counting on individuals to get behind a cause and spread the word: people need help.

In the U.S. and abroad millions of people struggle with the burdens of hunger, homelessness, disease, depression, and other difficulties every day. In our communities faithful nonprofits, foundations, churches, and individuals work to address these issues, but the needs are immense.

Consider the estimated 560,000 people in the United States who are homeless, or the 42 million in America dealing with hunger or food insecurity. According to water.org, globally 844 million people lack access to clean drinking water.

Numbers like these can be overwhelming, but they need to be paired with good news. Many of these statistics are improving because ordinary people have mobilized and partnered with great organizations to confront these issues. #GivingTuesday is all about addressing the great needs in our world by leveraging the small gifts of many people to make a big impact.

Pick a cause that you care about or an issue that has personally impacted you. Consider making a donation and sharing your story with friends. $1 given to Feeding America can provide 22 meals for the hungry.  $25 given to the American Red Cross can give provide basic necessities to 10 people during a disaster. Yes the need is great, but even a small gift can make a difference.

#3. Giving is Better than Getting

Yes, you read that right. At a time when companies are clamoring for your dollars and it’s tempting to believe that happiness is just a few items on your “wish list” away, it is still better to give than to receive. Studies have borne out the fact that prosocial spending (spending money on other people) leads to greater feelings of well-being than spending money on oneself.

In one study, participants were given either $5 or $20 and instructed to either spend it on themselves or on a gift for another person. After spending the money researchers polled participants’ happiness at the end of the day. The findings?

Those who spent the money on others were measurably happier than the participants who spent the money on themselves, regardless of whether they spent only $5 or $20.

“How people spent the money mattered much more than how much of it they got. This experiment suggests that spending as little as five dollars to help someone else can increase your own happiness.”

Think of it this way: if the holidays were all about getting, the older people became the more consumed we would be with getting presents. But doesn’t the trend change? Think about your own family. Were your parents primarily consumed with finding gifts for themselves or others? Parents spend hours hunting down the perfect gift for a loved one, then stay up through the night to ensure the gift remains a surprise, and look on with huge smiles as the gift is unwrapped.

For me, the greatest joy at the end of the year is no longer opening my presents. I revel in shopping for the perfect present for my 4 year old niece, sharing food around the dinner table, giving to causes I care about, and building lasting memories with those I love, because giving is better than getting.

#4. Dollars Go Further When Given Away

Disclaimer: I am not a tax expert and this should not be considered tax advice. Please consult with a tax, legal, or financial expert before considering charitable gifts as a part of your tax strategy.

#GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving. If you take an itemized deduction in your tax returns, the end of the year is a great time to connect with a tax expert to see how charitable gifts could impact your taxes.

Depending on your tax bracket, by the time a dollar of income nestles into your bank account it looks suspiciously like sixty to eighty-five cents after the government deducts their due. However, if you take itemized deductions, every dollar of your gift (up to certain maximums) is tax deductible.

That means if you are in the 25% tax bracket, when you give $100 to a charity you are really only missing out on $75 in take-home pay. The charity gets the $25 that would have gone to the government in taxes. Translation: your dollars go further when you give them away. Just be sure to keep your receipt as proof when tax time comes around!

The truth is, you could give on any day in 2016 and receive a tax deduction, so why give this Tuesday? One huge benefit to giving on November 29th is the increased impact of your dollars due to gift matching. Many charities expecting big donations have called in their biggest donors to match every dollar given up to certain thresholds.

For instance, Care.org is tripling every gift given until midnight on Tuesday to help lift women from poverty. Love animals? Gifts to Best Friends Animal Society will all be matched on Tuesday. Go to your favorite nonprofit’s website to see if you can double your dollar’s impact by donating on #GivingTuesday.

Even if the charity you love doesn’t have gift matching, you could double your contributions this year. What if you put the research on prosocial spending to the test? Make a deal with a friend, family member, or spouse: this year instead of exchanging one gift, commit to each gifting $50 to a charity of the other person’s choosing.

You can create a great conversation about the causes you care about, give money without creating a new item in your budget, feel great about your gift, and land a tax deduction for your present (maybe don’t lead with the tax deduction in the pitch to your friend).

#5. Create a Legacy of Giving

A final reason to consider giving on #GivingTuesday is the legacy your gift can create. Famed motivational speaker and life coach Tony Robbins tells an unforgettable story of someone who noticed his family’s need when he was eleven years old.

When his father couldn’t provide a Thanksgiving meal for his family, a stranger appeared at their doorstep with a basket of food and a massive turkey. The stranger’s gift moved Tony deeply, and he received it as a gift from God. He never forgot the gift, and resolved one day to pay the kindness forward when when he had money of his own.

At age seventeen Tony fulfilled his mission by going on the “shopping spree of his life” to buy two Thanksgiving feasts for families experiencing hard times. Delivering these meals changed his life, healed wounds from his past, and strengthened his resolution to do all he could to help others in need.

Over the past 40 years his tradition of giving has grown and grown. Now his organization, the International Basket Brigade, feeds an estimated 2 million people per year all over the world. What a legacy from one small act of kindness!

There is another way your gift can leave a legacy too, and that’s by creating a culture of generosity within your family. If you’re a parent or grandparent, be sure to involve your children or grandchildren in your decision to volunteer or donate to a charity. Not only will you create a lasting positive memory, you may have more influence on the next generation’s giving than you think.

A study by Vanguard Charitable and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy found that parents’ charitable giving positively influences their children’s decisions to give to charitable organizations. Parents who volunteered saw a double benefit, as they were more likely to have children both volunteer and financially support charitable organizations.

Giving Tuesday could be a starting point for a new year-end tradition for your family, or a great milestone in an ongoing relationship with your favorite charity. Either way, create a legacy of giving by inviting your family to participate.

So take the challenge this Giving Tuesday. Remember:

• Everyone can give
• The need is great
• Giving is better than getting
• Dollars go further when given away
• One generous act can leave a legacy

Visit www.givingtuesday.org to learn more.

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