Millions of People Come Together to Celebrate Generosity, Share Kindness & Drive Record-Breaking Giving on GivingTuesday 2021

 GivingTuesday, the global generosity movement, reports record-breaking giving by millions of people worldwide during the annual GivingTuesday celebration on November 30, 2021.

The GivingTuesday Data Commons estimates that 35 million adults participated in many ways on GivingTuesday 2021 in the U.S., a 6% increase over 2020. Giving in the United States alone totaled $2.7 billion representing a 9% increase compared to GivingTuesday 2020, and a 37% increase since 2019. With unprecedented levels of giving in 2020, these totals represent a significant continued trend of increased generosity.

A celebration of all types of generosity, GivingTuesday inspired people around the world to give gifts of time, skills, goods, advocacy, and more, showing that everyone has something to give and every act of generosity counts. The organization projects that volunteering and gifts of goods on GivingTuesday also increased from 2020 in the United States. Volunteering on the day increased by 11% and gifts of goods (clothes, food, supplies, etc.) saw an 8% increase compared to 2020. Additional results and deeper analysis of giving, including global stats, will be shared in the coming weeks.

“This extraordinary show of generosity lit up the world against a backdrop of a dark two years. From every corner of the globe, there were countless amazing stories of kindness, connection, and community. GivingTuesday is joyful even at the darkest of times, and yesterday was about millions of people celebrating their ability to meaningfully impact their communities and the world,” said Asha Curran, co-founder and CEO of GivingTuesday. “Giving is an important metric of civic participation, a way to build the kind of society we want to live in. Our hope is that this boost of generosity is an inspiration for continued giving, kindness, and recognition of our shared humanity each day of the year.”

What started in 2012 as a simple idea – a day that encouraged people to do good – has grown into a worldwide phenomenon inspiring millions of people to give back and reach out in kindness each year. GivingTuesday is now a year-round global generosity movement with a distributed network of entrepreneurial leaders who have launched national movements in 80 countries and more than 300 community campaigns across the U.S. alone. At the grassroots level, people and organizations participate in GivingTuesday in every single country in the world. Greece, Nepal, Peru, South Sudan, and Zambia joined as official GivingTuesday country movements in 2021.

The success of GivingTuesday 2021 follows a record-breaking year in 2020. As the pandemic continues to disrupt systems and drive increased need, GivingTuesday continues to mobilize and unite communities in the face of crisis and uncertainty. The organization continues to expand its global reach, investing in leadership development for underrepresented and underresourced leaders, and supporting sector resiliency through data and insights. With a focus on collaboration and innovation, GivingTuesday fosters partnerships, coalitions of organizations working in concert, and collective efforts that transcend borders, beliefs, and backgrounds. “GivingTuesday continues to grow and evolve, fueled by radical generosity, with no leveling off of the ongoing innovation and creativity we have seen every year, from the smallest town to the largest countries to the newest coalitions or the youngest children,” said Curran.

GivingTuesday 2021: Inspiring Stories of Generosity

Year-round, GivingTuesday inspires people to come together through cause- and culture-based coalitions and in towns, cities, and regions of all sizes to spark civic engagement, organize community care efforts, uplift nonprofit capacity, and coalesce support and activism to break down systemic inequity. Leading up to and during this year’s GivingTuesday celebration, these collective efforts around the world showed tremendous amounts of generosity, kindness, passion, and creativity. Examples include:

GivingTuesday Philippines distributed more than one million pieces of bread through the “Pass the Bread” campaign that tackled hunger directly and inspired Filipinos to share kindness and get involved in their communities together.

Giving circles (where groups of individuals donate their own money or time to a pooled fund) were launched for GivingTuesday in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Spain, with many circles being led by women, youth, and marginalized communities.

National campaigns in Brazil, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Ukraine, and more collaborated with schools and youth groups to inspire more young people to give back and create their own projects focused on generosity.

Coalition campaigns in the U.S. tapped into the community spirit of GivingTuesday to host conversations on important issues like supporting domestic violence survivors, combating loneliness in teens, advancing equity in philanthropy, conservation of oceans and bays, and reaching across differences to find common ground.

In Nepal, doctors and volunteers gave free eye and ear screenings and checkups in rural areas in the week leading up to GivingTuesday.

#CryptoGivingTuesday reported a 5x increase in cryptocurrency giving on GivingTuesday, compared to the previous year.

In the true GivingTuesday spirit of embracing creativity and innovation, thousands of organizations found new ways to stand out, have fun, and get their communities involved — from a camp director in Michigan who sat in a tree until they met their goal of 300 donors to community leaders in Wisconsin taking the Stinky Fish Challenge. GivingTuesday Canada created a “Kindness Is Golden” merit badge for Scouts in their country in honor of GivingTuesday. University students in Pakistan created “Generosity Packets” to hand out to their peers, while GivingTuesday Guam’s campaign featured a Kindness for Caregivers wall where people wrote messages of gratitude for others in their community. Many organizations, platforms and businesses of all sizes have already reported meeting or exceeding their goals for participation on November 30.

Created in 2012 at New York’s 92nd Street Y and incubated in its Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact as a day to do good, GivingTuesday has grown into a year-round global generosity movement that drives an increase in giving through its leadership network and programs. GivingTuesday’s 10-year celebration will happen throughout 2022 and will feature events, expanded content, and additional data reports that expand understanding of a full range of giving and generous behaviors.

GivingTuesday is generously supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, Fidelity Charitable, the Ford Foundation, Ford Motor Company, LinkedIn for Nonprofits, and the National Philanthropic Trust.

For access to photos and videos of giving stories shared from around the world, visit the GivingTuesday 2021 press kit. Logos and additional resources can be found on https://www.givingtuesday.org/logos or by contacting media@givingtuesday.org.

About GivingTuesday

GivingTuesday is a movement that unleashes the power of radical generosity around the world. GivingTuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good. Over the past nine years, it has grown into a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity year-round. The movement is brought to life through a distributed network of entrepreneurial leaders who lead national movements in 80 countries and hundreds of communities worldwide, including more than 300 community campaigns across the U.S. alone. At the grassroots level, people and organizations participate in GivingTuesday in every single country in the world. To learn more about GivingTuesday participants and activities, please visit: www.givingtuesday.org

About the GivingTuesday Data Commons

The GivingTuesday Data Commons, with over 300 contributing partners and 50 global data labs, is the leading data collaboration on giving and generosity. The GivingTuesday Data Commons is an open and distributed network of partners across sectors and borders who seek to understand the drivers and impacts of generosity, explore giving behaviors and patterns, and use this data to inspire more giving around the world.

The GivingTuesday Data Commons uses data provided by the following organizations to estimate total giving on GivingTuesday: ActBlue, Anthology, Benevity, Blackbaud, Bloomerang, Charity Navigator, Classy, Combined Federal Campaign, Cybergrants, Donately, DonorPerfect, DonorsChoose, Every.org, EveryAction, Facebook, Fidelity Charitable, Firespring, Give Lively, GiveButter, GiveCampus, GiveGab, Giving Block, GlobalGiving, Global Impact, GoFundMe, HIPGive, IATS Payments, Keela, Kindful, LaunchGood, Mightycause, Movember, National Philanthropic Trust, NationBuilder, NeonOne, Network for Good, PayPal, Pledge, QGiv, RallyUp, Ruffalo NL, Salsa Labs, Schwab Charitable, ShoppingGives, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Tiltify, Vanguard Charitable.