Coming on the heels of Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday has changed the dialogue about giving and become an increasingly recognized day for charitable giving and volunteer support. Born from conversations at 92nd Street Y, #GivingTuesday engages people in supporting their favorite charities and giving back to causes that matter to them.
In 2015 and 2016, 92Y will continue to welcome our global community of partners to consider three Big Questions: Why give?, Why does giving have such positive effects on us as well as others?, and How can new models like #GivingTuesday inspire changes in our attitudes about philanthropy? In these conversations, we will expand our exploration of the relationship between gratitude, a central value within the #GivingTuesday movement, and giving. By working closely with researchers and experts to create new content on the subject of gratitude, including blog posts, articles, and videos, 92Y will share messages that both cultivate a sense of gratitude and may also positively impact the way that people support non-profit organizations.
92Y will take steps to deepen our understanding of the relationship between gratitude and giving by working with a behavioral sciences firm to investigate and identify data related to our hypothesis that gratitude can cause increased giving and volunteerism. Over time, these results may have a profound impact on the way that non-profit organizations communicate with donors, through #GivingTuesday and beyond.
We anticipate that through these efforts, gratitude will increasingly become part of the vernacular of #GivingTuesday, and non-profits will better understand how to cultivate gratitude among their constituents as a means of more effective engagement.
