Millions of Canadians eager to do good on 6th annual GivingTuesday .@GivingTuesdayCa #GivingTuesdayCa

Millions of Canadians eager to do good on 6th annual GivingTuesday

Today, more than six million people and 6,000 charities and businesses across the country will unite for Canada's sixth-annual GivingTuesday, (#GivingTuesdayCa) bringing much-needed funding and support to the nation's charitable sector. 

Known as the unofficial opening to the holiday giving season, GivingTuesday has seen an incredible 468 per cent increase in dollars donated since the initiative was co-founded in Canada, in 2013 by GIV3 and CanadaHelps. What started as an exciting grassroots movement is now easily the biggest day on the nation's charitable calendar, with community activations taking place from coast-to-coast: Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax.

"With charitable giving in decline across Canada over the past decade, GivingTuesday has become indispensable to the fundraising efforts of the nation's smaller charities especially," said Marina Glogovac, President and CEO, CanadaHelps. "To inspire more Canadians to give generously this GivingTuesday, we're excited to announce that every donation made on canadahelps.org will be matched with an additional $1 donation from ShopBrain."

Together, CanadaHelps and ShopBrain an innovative shopping app that helps shoppers find the best prices in real time, will also reward the 10 Giving Rock Stars who donate the most on GivingTuesday with $100 each to donate to their charity of choice!

Charities that actively participate in GivingTuesday are shown to benefit the most. According to CanadaHelps data, participating charities have seen a 2051 per cent increase in dollars donated on GivingTuesday compared to the same day the year before it started. Considering that charities generate almost half (47%) of their total donations in the last three months of the year and an astounding 30 per cent in the month of December (The Giving Report), it is clearly more important than ever for Canadian charities to get off to a strong start to the holiday giving season. 

Following a weekend of consumerism (Black Friday and Cyber Monday), GivingTuesday has become the day on the calendar where each one of us finds our own way to "Do Good Stuff". This year, more than 6 million Canadians are expected to donate money, participate in food/clothing drives, volunteering for a non-profit, commit to a blood/organ donation, or spread the word about Giving Tuesday on social media.

An interactive map of GivingTuesday partners on givingtuesday.ca shows participation in every province and territory.