On the Tuesday following Thanksgiving for the past five years, nonprofit organizations around the world have participated in the Giving Tuesday campaign.
Giving Tuesday was first created in 2012 by a team at the Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact in New York City.
The campaign is meant to kick off the charitable season, according to Giving Tuesday’s website, and has become a movement that supports giving and philanthropy.
According to the website, 2015’s Giving Tuesday saw 700,000 people raise $116,000,000, with people from 70 countries donating online.
This year, Muskingum University decided to join the movement for the first time, launching the #GIVINGTUEMU campaign on social media.
“The purpose is to celebrate generosity and giving back,” said Director of Alumni Relations, Jen Bronner.
The Giving Tuesday event ties into the whole Thanksgiving weekend, including the shopping events that directly follow Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
This year’s Giving Tuesday fell on Nov. 29, when Muskingum joined other organizations and businesses around the globe in personalized messages encouraging others to give back through various means.
As of 11 a.m. on Nov. 29, these people have donated to the #GIVINGTUEMU campaign, according to the donation page on Facebook.
According to Bronner, the goal for Muskingum’s participation is to engage with alumni and friends and to help make giving back to the University easy to participate in.
Part of that plan was to start the #GIVINGTUEMU social media campaign and to encourage those donating to make their donations either through a text message or on a mobile donation site on Facebook, as well as at the university website.
