Black Friday has gone by, Cyber Monday deals are over, and now comes a day perfectly aligned with the holiday spirit of December: Giving Tuesday.
If you’re looking for worthy causes to exercise your philanthropic whims, here’s a handy list of four of our favorite #GivingTuesday strategies to jumpstart your holiday compassion.
1. #GamingTuesday
Compassionate nerds are taking to their computers to vlog or live stream their favorite games and ask for contributions for Save The Children. Gamers have already raised $23,000 in donations during the initiative with the money being doubled as all funds are matched up to $100,000.
2. Music And Memory For Alzheimer’s
If music be the food of memory, play on.
Music and Memory is a nonprofit that pairs personalized music playing iPods with Alzheimer’s patients to help them tap into their memories. Nurses are trained to use a patient’s musical favorites–playing the tunes that bring elders with dementia back to their senses.
The headphone company Voss is donating a dollar for every social media engagement made with the hashtag #GivingTunesDay and are matching all contributions made to Music and Memory up to $5,000. Money goes to buying iPods and music.
3. ‘Hanes For Good’ Sock Drive
Socks are the most needed, yet least donated, clothing item for the thousands of homeless people in America that average 10 miles of walking a day. That’s why Hanes is giving 200,000 pairs of clean socks to homeless shelters across the U.S., and encouraging others to do the same, with a hashtag, of course… #HanesForGood.
Go out and buy some socks–thickest you can find–and drop them off at a local shelter. You might be as happy as these people in the video below, who have just received a box of socks and are thrilled by their good fortune.
4. Kiva Lending
It’s been our favorite nonprofit story for years, but the organization is not a charity… It’s a microloan. With $25, you can make a world of difference for the small business entrepreneurs listed on Kiva – and it’s very likely you’ll get your money paid back.
Community start-ups or families who need capital to upgrade their farms only need to list their requests on the Kiva website. Then, they are ready to be funded by $25 microloans from around the world. Over a million people have contributed to mostly women after viewing their photos and reading their stories. 98% of all funds lent to the projects are repaid in full.
Helping people to help themselves is better than charity. And when they pay back the loan, you can withdraw the money or put it right back into another Kiva project–helping someone else to develop self-sufficiency and dignity.