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This #GivingTuesday, Give Your In-Box a Break
Unsubscribe, disconnect, and give your time instead.
Tomorrow is #GivingTuesday, an annual event focused on galvanizing generosity for others that was born nine years ago as a digital response to the hyper-commercialism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Since its founding, #GivingTuesday has become a global movement (supported by its own nonprofit hub). In the United States, it has generated a big spike in donations to groups and causes at this time of year, which is already when most nonprofits and charities raise most of their funds. Last year, nearly $2.5 billion was donated on #GivingTuesday.
You already know this, unless you live under a rock, because just about every nonprofit organization and charity in existence has flooded your inbox with claims on your attention, your heartstrings and your wallet tagged to #GivingTuesday. Just like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday has become an orgy of self-gratification, only it’s do-gooder organizations seeking gratification by praising themselves and shaming you into supporting them. They do this because it works: Last year, for organizations seeking to acquire new donors, #GivingTuesday was the single best day of the whole year
My friend Mario Lugay, the senior innovation director of Justice Funders, is a trenchant critic…
