In the midst of this season of shopping, there are some (jingly) reminders that it's important to give back to those in need — but we readily welcome one more.
Giving Tuesday, designated for the Tuesday after Black Friday's shopping extravaganza and Cyber Monday's clicking madness, is December 3, 2013. Created in 2012 by New York City's 92nd Street Y with the UN Foundation, the day is meant to encourage donations, volunteering and general awareness for charities and people in need.
According to GivingTuesday.ca, for its first year in Canada, more than 1000 Canadian companies and charities are on board with this charitable effort, including Twitter Canada, PayPal Canada, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Pfizer Canada, MS Society of Canada, Make-A-Wish Canada, Canadian Women’s Foundation and YWCA Canada.
Many organizations are matching or adding to donations today, and we've pulled together a list of those that will make your donation go even further. Check out the full list of partners here, and don't forget to check out your favourite cause today to help push them toward their goals today:
- Interac Canada will be adding up to $25 to each donation made via GivingTuesday.ca and CanadaHelps.org on Dec. 3
- Habitat For Humanity — sign up for monthly giving, and the organization will match you dollar for dollar for a year
- JDRF (diabetes research) — donations are doubled up to $40,000
- Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia will receive a matching donation from Deloitte for all individual donations on Tuesday, December 3, 2013
- Calgary Public Library Foundation is adding children’s books to the Library’s collection — a text to GTBOOKS will donate $10 and be matched by an anonymous donor
- For every retweet of CIBC’s #GivingTuesdayCA tweet on December 3, CIBC will donate up to a maximum of $10,000
- The Victoria Foundation – share a picture that shows how you give back to your community, and you’ll be entered to win $250 to donate to the charity of your choice
- Donate to the Red Cross or Unicef for the Philippines typhoon relief effort, and the government will match the donation until Dec. 23
- Nellie's Shelter will match donations dollar for dollar up to5,000 until Dec. 31
- Donate to The Council of Canadians, and donations will be matched up to $50,000
- Donate to Breakfast Clubs of Canada, and Canadian Pacific will match the donation (up to500,000) until Dec. 19