You already know about the commerce-driven themed days ahead known as Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. But right around the corner is a day that’s less materialistic and more altruistic: Giving Tuesday, or as it’s known on social media, #givingtuesday. Giving Tuesday was launched by New York’s 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation in 2012 “as a day that encourages people to do good,” according to its website, givingtuesday.org. “It has grown into a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate and celebrate generosity.”

“It was a reaction to Black Friday, Cyber Monday,” said Ray Solley, executive director of the Tower Theatre Foundation. “It started as a worldwide day of giving back and volunteering and finding ways you could be supportive.”

According to Solley, the historic nonprofit theater in downtown Bend was among the first local organizations to embrace Giving Tuesday, set for takeoff next week.

Due to COVID-19, the need this year is critical for nonprofits. The Tower aims to raise $20,000 on Giving Tuesday, which will go some of the way toward making up the estimated $800,000 the Tower has lost in ticket sales and rental revenue since the COVID-19 shutdown began in March. Further, the Tower board of directors has pledged $10,500 in matching donations.

Shifting focus

Eight years ago, Giving Tuesday “wasn’t about fundraising as much as it was about showing the rest of the world, quite literally, that you were supporting a community, that you were supporting others,” Solley said.

These days, Giving Tuesday marks the start of the year-end fundraising season.

“People realized, and we’re certainly part of it, that it could be a kick-off for fundraising, that we don’t really have a whole lot of volunteer needs on one particular day. It’s not like you can come and paint the theater on Giving Tuesday and be done with it. We have needs 12 months a year, and this is a time for us to kick off the end of the calendar year giving. And then it became … a way to have fundraising. Yes, give your time, give your talents, but also give your treasure.”

“It’s more of a one kick-off event to get attention, but the push for donations doesn’t end there. It’s almost like it’s just the beginning,” said Kecia Kubota, executive director of Camp Fire Central Oregon, which helps young people by providing activities to help them explore their environment, give back to their community and grow their potential. She’s also a member of the Nonprofit Association of Oregon board of directors.

The Tower and Camp Fire are just two of many local organizations participating in Giving Tuesday, which means they’re also competing for local donors’ dollars, and Camp Fire has intentionally broadened its fundraising focus to include other times of the year.

“All of our end-of-year appeal (used to be) focused on Giving Tuesday,” Kubota said. “Especially for small nonprofits, the market’s so oversaturated. … If everyone is getting in their email inbox those appeals from every single organization they’ve ever given a dollar to, it’s so saturated that it’s really easy to get drowned out.”

Small donations add up

The nonprofit NeighborImpact is also well aware that many nonprofits seek donations on Giving Tuesday — and it’s keeping its goals modest.

The nonprofit serves an average of 55,000 households per year in Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson counties as well as the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, with a mission to support people and strengthen communities. NeighborImpact provides emergency programs for basic needs including food, rental and utility assistance and home weatherization. The 35-year-old nonprofit provides financial education, first-time homebuyer assistance, down payment assistance and aid with foreclosure prevention. It also operates Head Start and Early Head Start programs across the region.

“Because of our capacity, expertise and track record, we receive federal and state funds, but those funds don’t necessarily cover all of a program’s services,” said Suzette Chapman, Chief Development Officer at NeighborImpact. “For instance, we get food, but we don’t get food to put fuel in food trucks, or to pay drivers.”

“Because those private donations are so important, and because the need for food is so intense right now, we have made Giving Tuesday all about food,” Chapman said. Prior to COVID-19, NeighborImpact distributed 40,000 pounds of food a week.

“With COVID, we’ve more than doubled to 90,000 pounds a week, and I believe the number is around 32,000 people a month access food through our partner agencies,” Chapman said. “And we don’t expect that to drop any time soon.”

Nevertheless, NeighborImpact set a Giving Tuesday goal of just $5,000 for its food bank out of consideration of other nonprofits.

“We know that almost every organization participates in this, and every organization needs a little help,” she said. “We want to be modest in our request, and make it possible for other organizations to receive funds from a large number of the population.”

NeighborImpact suggests donors make small contributions of $10, she said.

“We know that there are thousands of people in the region who want to help, and they may not be able to make a significant contribution, and they don’t realize that a small donation really matters. So we’re asking people to give us $10. If they want to give more, they can, but we’re only asking for $10.”