Mostly a US-based event, “Giving Tuesday” was created to shift the holiday focus away from the material a bit.
Is Giving Tuesday a Public Holiday?
Giving Tuesday is not a public holiday. Businesses have normal opening hours.
Some non-profit groups have organized fundraising campaigns around the date, held the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
Black Friday kicks off the Christmas shopping season, and many people spend that day and the following Monday, “Cyber Monday,” buying presents for friends and family.
Rapid Growth from a Modest Start
Some sources credit the founding of Giving Tuesday to Henry Timms at the 92nd Street Y in New York, who organized an online giving campaign around the date in 2012. However, a similar idea was also proposed in a 2011 article by theatre director Carlo Garcia.
As the concept caught on and began to grow, Giving Tuesday became a non-profit organization in itself, gaining support from large donors such as the Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the David Lynch Foundation in the United States.
All indications are that Giving Tuesday has become an important fundraising day for non-profits, mainly through online platforms such as Facebook. The Giving Tuesday organization estimated that charitable donations in 2023 reached around 3 billion USD worldwide.
While we diligently research and update our holiday dates, some of the information in the table above may be preliminary. If you find an error, please let us know.