What Is Giving Tuesday?
There’s Thanksgiving. Black Friday. Small Business Saturday. Cyber Monday. And today we mark Giving Tuesday. As the giving season begins, Giving Tuesday serves as an annual reminder to think not just of our loved ones, but also of causes and ideas we support.
But Giving Tuesday is relatively new; what is it exactly?
Now in its sixth year, Giving Tuesday is celebrated on the Tuesday following American Thanksgiving. It was the brainchild of New York’s 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation. Last year, donations topped $180 million on digital platforms alone.
“Giving Tuesday began as a simple idea,” one of its founders, 92nd Street Y Executive Director Henry Timms wrote in a CNN op-ed last year. “After two days for getting deals–Black Friday and Cyber Monday–how about a day for giving back?”
EcoHealth Alliance research scientist Allison White works with local partners in Malaysia (Photo: EcoHealth Alliance)
Our hope is that this year, ours is one of the causes you’ll choose to support this Giving Tuesday. Right now in 30 countries around the world, our scientists are working in various multidisciplinary capacities to prevent pandemics which can cause immeasurable human suffering. Sometimes that means wildlife biosurveillance, tracking and testing wild animals for dangerous pathogens which they can spread to humans. It sometimes means modeling and risk assessment, using technology to best predict where new viruses will emerge and where they will spread. Some of our scientists are focused on behavioral risk, teaching members of communities at risk for disease spillover how to maintain a healthy relationship with their environment.
The work is our passion, but none of it happens without you.