Giving Tuesday, the annual day devoted to philanthropy, raised roughly $380 million for charities from four million people, organizers said. The results represent an increase of 27 percent (about $80 million) over last year.
New York’s 92nd Street Y and the U.N. Foundation started Giving Tuesday in 2012 as a philanthropic alternative to commerce-focused Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Since then, it has raised $1 billion online.
Reports of this year’s results from online gift processors and individual charities were encouraging – and perhaps indicative of a strong fundraising finish to 2018.
Among the results provided by companies that help charities raise money online:
- Donors brought in more than $125 million on Facebook, up from $45 million in 2017. The social network has introduced new tools in the past year that make online fundraising easier. Facebook and PayPal together offered a $7 million match for Giving Tuesday donations and saw that match gobbled up “within seconds” after 8 a.m. Eastern time, a Facebook spokeswoman said.