#GivingTuesday 2015 Wrap-Up

Dreamed up by staff at the 92^nd Street Y in NYC four years ago, as a day to give back—both with time and resources—#GivingTuesday 2015 was the most successful event to date. Fueled by social media and the power of personal connections, the hashtag #GivingTuesday had 1.3 million social media mentions, 114 billion impressions on twitter, and over 900,000 users on Facebook reached. Giving Tuesday has even become a global movement, with 71 different countries participating.

Donation Page Contest Winners

At Greater Giving, we celebrated the work of many of our nonprofit clients across the country with a Giving Tuesday Online Payments Donation Page Contest. We had so many wonderful entries, and our staff was tasked with voting for a winner. Here are the results of our contest:

Winner: Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood Foundation

HAHC is a rare neurological disorder in which repeated, transient attacks of hemiplegia (paralysis of a portion of the body, including the face) occur, usually affecting one side of the body or the other, or both sides of the body at once. The mission  of AHCF is to find the cause(s) of Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood, develop effective treatments and ultimately find a cure, while providing support to the families and children with AHC by funding research to accomplish these goals.

Runners Up:

Whitney Young Magnet School

Boys & Girls Clubs of Philadelphia

West Columbia Gorge Humane Society 

Lourdes Academy

Greater Giving Team Volunteering

Giving Tuesday is also a day for the staff members of Greater Giving to support the communities in which we live. We had teams of volunteers around the Portland, Oregon area (where our headquarters are located) and also at remote sites across the country.

Here are the organizations we supported this year:

Willamette West Habitat for Humanity — our team helped in the building of a brand-new home by installing siding, windows, and stairs.  Their mission: Willamette West Habitat for Humanity is dedicated to eliminating substandard housing locally and worldwide through constructing, rehabilitating and preserving homes; by advocating for fair and just housing policies; and by providing training and access to resources to help families improve their shelter conditions.

Dove Lewis — at the hospital, we decorated the office with a Holiday tree and some seasonal spirit. Their mission: to provide the best emergency and critical care for companion animals, and to support veterinary professionals and the animal-loving community.

New Avenues for Youth — at their Downtown Portland location, we helped organize, inventory, and set up their Holiday Store for homeless youth in our community. Their mission: take a complete approach to addressing youth homelessness and its root causes, delivering support and resources that enable foster, at-risk, and homeless youth aged 14-24 to overcome their barriers and realize their potential.

Cat Adoption Team — in Sherwood, our team helped clean cages, do administrative work, and play with some cute cats and kittens! Their mission: to save the lives of homeless, unwanted, sick, and injured cats and to work with our community to provide feline expertise and quality programs and services for people and cats.

Giving Tuesday 2016

We want to make launching a #GT campaign easy and effective for YOU. Let us know what support you would like next year!

Are you interested in having us volunteer at your organization in 2016? Do you want to submit an online donation page for the $500 contest and want support? Do you have specific questions about how to launch and run your campaign? Email us.