Excitement builds for Giving Tuesday in Australia

Charities are using Giving Tuesday to try something new and innovative in their fundraising  

Momentum is growing for Giving Tuesday in Australia, with hundreds of organisations signed up for the global generosity movement this year.

Giving Tuesday launched in 2012 in the US – pitched as an antidote to the consumer frenzy of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping sales post-Thanksgiving.

The event encourages people and organisations to come together and give their time, money, goods or voices to celebrate the work of the NFP sector. 

But while charities in the US raised US$2.5 billion (A$3.5 billion) on this day alone last year, Australia has taken a while to jump on board with the event.

In 2018, only 7 per cent of Australia and New Zealand’s charities participated in the day and charities reported not noticing a difference in giving levels even when they did take part.

But ahead of Giving Tuesday 2021 (30 November), Denis Moriarty, the group managing director of Our Community – which leads the movement in Australia – said Australian charities were increasingly backing the event.    

“For the past two years we’ve focused our energy on engaging not for profits in Giving Tuesday, including providing free campaign resources and webinars with the aim of getting the event onto Australia’s community sector calendar,” Moriarty told Pro Bono News.  

“From a standing start, by last year we had nearly 500 organisations registered for the campaign and we’re expecting more than 600 this year, with thousands of individuals also getting on board. 

“This year, we’re seeing a growth in the number of organisations getting involved with far less prompting, which shows that we’ve hit a point where the movement has gained its own momentum in Australia, which is exactly what we wanted to see.”  

Moriarty said charities were utilising the day in a myriad of ways.

“Our research shows that two-thirds of groups use Giving Tuesday as a chance to try something new and innovative in their fundraising, and that three quarters use the day to boost social connection within communities,” he said.

“Many groups also used Giving Tuesday as a way to thank their networks for the support they received during the COVID-19 crisis.”

You can find out more about Giving Tuesday here.