Georgia Center for Nonprofits

Georgia Center for Nonprofits
Power shift: The #GivingTuesday founder on the “new power” principles transforming philanthropy

Georgia Center for Nonprofits, Betsy Reid

Back in 2012, 92nd Street Y Executive Director Henry Timms came up with a simple but powerful idea: a day all about generosity to follow the post-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy. Together with his team, Timms created #GivingTuesday, and its now-iconic heart-shaped logo, then started sharing the idea with the Y’s network. Their approach was fully inclusive, with no rules: Participants were encouraged to rework the logo, call the campaign whatever they liked, and invent ways to involve their own networks.

Six years later, #GivingTuesday has grown into a worldwide movement, adapting and evolving with each community and nonprofit that adopts it (see our own GAgives), and growing year over year in participation, donations, and acts of generosity.

This decentralized approach is what Timms calls “new power.”

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