It’s that time of year again! After Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, you’re ready to give back on Giving Tuesday! Here at Bonusly, we’ve been busy building our own donations dashboard (we just crossed $200k in total donations!) and adding new donation reward partners (more on that below).
What’s Giving Tuesday?
You might be asking yourself what makes this Tuesday so special and why it’s so close to Thanksgiving. In short, it’s a “global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration”. It’s a time at the end of the year for us to celebrate and support organizations that give back.
"This Giving Tuesday, our goal at World of Children is to raise $10,000 to fund programs run by some of the world's most impactful humanitarians. By donating your Bonusly points, you can help American K-12 students with dyslexia receive phonics-based tutoring, give children in Bolivia access to full dental treatment, provide vaccinations to street children in Senegal, and supply school children in Kenya with hot, healthy lunches." -- Kimberly Sanders, Director of Communications, World of Children
Giving Tuesday began back in 2012, when 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation wanted to create a response to the commercialization of the holiday season and kickstart the giving season (November and December are the busiest months for nonprofit donations). Since then, thousands of organizations and countless individuals dedicated to the values of service have participated in this new holiday. According to GivingTuesday.org:
“#GivingTuesday connects diverse groups of individuals, communities and organizations around the world for one common purpose: to celebrate and encourage giving. A team of influencers and founding partners joined forces, collaborating across sectors, offering expertise and working tirelessly, to launch #GivingTuesday and have continued to shape, grow and strengthen the movement.”
Why Giving Matters
Many companies give back this time of year. Workplace giving benefits employees, employers, and participating nonprofits. Benefits include higher employee engagement, connecting meaning to work, and building positive company culture.
"Chobani's company culture was fostered by the spirit of giving from very early on. Bonusly makes it even easier for our employees donate to the causes we support, like Operation Homefront, because they can give their earnings directly to charity via the Bonusly app." -- Andy, Manager, Human Resources, Chobani
According to Deloitte’s 2017 Volunteerism Survey, 70% of working Americans believed that “volunteer activities are more likely to boost employee morale than company-sponsored happy hours.” When asked about volunteering, 89% of respondents indicated that companies sponsoring volunteer activities offer a better overall working environment than those that do not.
Need more inspiration on giving back in your workplace? Read Why Volunteering as a Team Can Inspire Employee Engagement.
New Giving Partners
This Giving Tuesday, we’re proud to announce that we’ve added three new donation reward partners! We listened to your requests to expand our Reward Catalog with more donation options. Based on user requests, we’ve added the following new options for rewards:
World Wildlife Fund
For nearly 60 years, WWF has been protecting the future of nature. The world’s leading conservation organization, WWF works in 100 countries and is supported by more than one million members in the United States and close to five million globally.
Wikimedia
The non-profit Wikimedia Foundation provides the essential infrastructure for free knowledge and access to educational information. The Wikimedia Foundation hosts Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, created and edited by volunteers around the world, as well as many other vital community.
charity: water
charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries. The organization has has helped fund thousands of projects in 26 countries, benefiting over eight million people.
"By donating your Bonusly points to charity: water, you'll help support our mission of bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in need around the world." - Anthony Marinos, Senior Manager of Business Development, charity: water
Don’t forget that you can also add specific charities not currently available in our catalog through our custom rewards functionality. Many companies use Bonusly’s custom rewards to facilitate donations to local nonprofits and host charity events.
Your Thoughts
What’s next? We’ll be adding more donation reward partners in the future, and we want to hear from you! Fill out the following form if you have a nonprofit partner or category you’d like to suggest: Share your thoughts with us.
