Four years ago, a New York cultural center founded in 1874 began promoting a clever way to encourage people to donate to nonprofit charitable causes. It was called #GivingTuesday, designed to connect donors to charities through social media on the day after the ubiquitous promotions for Cyber Monday online retail sales. The idea worked. Last year, $46 million was raised, up 63 percent from the previous year. Numbers this year are not yet available but are expected to exceed last year’s contributions.
The concept is interesting because it is based on the notion that people are inclined to open up their wallets to help others and only need a little push to do so: a push, and the availability, through social media, of a quick and convenient way to make a donation — not unlike what mail-in voting has done for rates of voter turnout.
It’s good to see philanthropy, in the language of modern media, go viral. It’s good to see exemplary acts of giving that will sustain that trend. An example, perhaps coincidentally, occurred on #GivingTuesday when Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg announced he and his wife would give 99 percent of their wealth to charitable causes during their lives. The amount would be in the neighborhood of $45 billion.
Zuckerberg follows the path of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, whose charitable foundation has made grants totaling more than $34 billion. These are inspirational acts that we hope will serve to imbue an entire generation with a desire to pay it forward, give back and embrace the values of compassion and generosity.
