Giving Tuesday Generates Record Number Of Charitable Donations

For a few years, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving has been called #GivingTuesday, hashtag included. This is a day where people donate to organizations and give back, in general. But this year, donation records have skyrocketed. For some, President-elect Trump was their primary motive for giving.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

There's Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and then there's Giving Tuesday. It's been a thing since 2012.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

And it was a really big thing this past Tuesday, raising $168 million. That's up 44 percent from last year.

CORNISH: On Giving Tuesday, people volunteer, raise awareness and donate money to organizations of their choice. They can go large and national.

SHAPIRO: Big Brothers Big Sisters, Planned Parenthood.

CORNISH: Or small and local.

SHAPIRO: The Alaska Botanical Garden in Anchorage, for instance, the Archdiocese of New Orleans or Donors Choose.

KATIE BISBEE: It was the most generous day in the history of our organization. So we had over 17,000 citizen donors donate to classroom projects, totaling $1.2 million. And that went to over 3,000 classroom projects across the U.S.

CORNISH: Katie Bisbee is the chief marketing officer at Donors Choose. It's a 16-year-old nonprofit based in New York that helps teachers raise money for school supplies or special projects. It's been part of the Giving Tuesday since it started.

BISBEE: The first year was pretty - it was pretty small. Everybody who heard of the idea loved it and instantly made a lot of sense to them, but it really wasn't until year two and year three that it started to grow.

SHAPIRO: And this year, that growth boomed. Bisbee says one reason - more foundations and companies are partnering with nonprofits. Another reason...

BISBEE: We just saw that people really cared about being in a positive movement that was larger than just themselves.

CORNISH: Bisbee says it's the political climate. People are more energized to stand up for causes they believe in, and Jonathan Greenblatt agrees. He's the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League. They saw a 25 percent jump in donations this year.

JONATHAN GREENBLATT: I think the increased level of contributions on Giving Tuesday were reflective of this collective effort to fight hate. This moment calls for people coming together.

SHAPIRO: Not just coming together but making a statement. Greenblatt says hundreds of donations to the ADL were made in the name of none other than former Breitbart executive Steve Bannon, one of President-elect Trump's senior advisers.

GREENBLATT: We've expressed some pretty strong concerns about Steve Bannon, who in his own words tried to position Breitbart as, quote, "the platform for the alt-right" - this term that I don't like very much, but this kind of invoke term to describe the new generation of white supremacists and anti-Semites and racists.

CORNISH: While skyrocketing donations are good, Greenblatt says organizations like his need to seize the moment and make sure people stay as engaged as they are right now.

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