by João Paulo Vergueiro, CEO of the Brazilian Fundraisers Association (ABCR)

Yesterday we celebrated #GivingTuesday, the global campaign that is bringing attention to social causes and creating a culture of giving throughout the world.

#GivingTuesday first emerged in the US with a clear purpose: Thanksgiving, BlackFriday and CyberMonday were huge movements encouraging –directly and indirectly – unrestrained consumption, though there wasn’t a date dedicated to inspire people to be generous to others. This was seen as an opportunity to create a national day of promoting giving – which was exactly what 92Y, a local Manhattan charity, decided to do. In 2012 they came up with the idea of #GivingTuesday and proposed a mobilization with the “do it yourself” approach by creating the concept and providing communications materials and toolkits for those willing to join it – the campaign was quickly spread out and became a huge hit since its very beginning.

Other countries, realizing the success and potential of the campaign, realized they could do something similar, adapting it to their local contexts. #GivingTuesday is now officially in over 40 countries, and in all continents. No campaign is the same as any other – in Latin countries, for example, #GivingTuesday is translated as #undiaparadar (or #diadedoar, in Portuguese that could be translated as “one day to donate” in English).

In every country where #GivingTuesday happens, there is an organization leading the campaign and most of these organizations have a history of supporting the development of philanthropy structure. This is the case for Russia and the United Kingdom, with Charities Aid Foundation as the main drivers, or Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, where the East Africa Association of Grantmakers took the lead. In Singapore, the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre is hosting the campaign and Instituto Donar (Giving Institute) is in charge of the activities in Uruguay.

Having philanthropic support organizations leading #GivingTuesday in many countries of the world is a great opportunity for the sector as we cannot develop structured philanthropy if there is no philanthropic basis for it. Apart from countries such as the US and the United Kingdom, the fact is that most of the world does not really have an established culture of philanthropy, and it is our role to make awareness for that in order to build its structure – they should run together.

Fundraisers are also deeply engaged with #GivingTuesday in many countries and willing to support the philanthropic development and its progress, which is the case of Brazil, Italy and Switzerland where local fundraisers associations are running the campaigns.

This is what makes #GivingTuesday such a rich initiative – it’s open, it’s wide, and it’s suitable for everyone. There are many ways to participate, you can join it locally, you can lead a regional movement, or you can help organizing national campaigns. In the end, if you are promoting giving and all of the good that comes from it, you are doing it right.

Check out how other members from our network have been involved in promoting the campaign!

GuideStar India; Asociación Española de Fundaciones (AEF); Council on Foundations (CoF); Foundation Center