#GivingTuesday Follows Black Friday & Cyber Monday Getting

#GivingTuesday: the day when helping others overshadows second helpings. If Black Friday is the ‘main course’ of holiday spending, Giving Tuesday is a guilt-free dessert, a day entirely devoted to donating. Born in 2012, it doesn’t have cultural roots that run as deep as Thanksgiving’s, but maybe that’s because Twitter doesn’t either. Twitter makes a huge impact in spreading the national day of giving back with memes like the #unselfie and Twitter chats. The day’s popularity is spreading so quickly that last year it brought in $46 million of donations, a 63 percent increase from the year before.

Blackbaud, a software supplier for nonprofits puts together an annual report on #GivingTuesday trends, and says the average online gift is $100. However, there is absolutely no pressure. The day is expanding into a movement reaching beyond cash donations, and giving has no limitations. Participating in #GivingTuesday can be as simple as cleaning out your closet and donating that old pair of jeans that definitely aren’t going to fit after Thanksgiving.

Or, if you’re in a really giving mood, you can follow in the footsteps of this anonymous couple in Minnesota that dropped $500,000 into a Salvation Army kettle.