The season of giving is here! Not just the monetary gifts to charity or the gifts we give to family and friends, but also the love and talent we put into cooking and baking our favorite holiday foods to give, serve, and share. A recent Facbook post said, “Time to turn our scales back ten pounds” – so right!!
But since this isn’t a food column, I’ll stick to giving to charity and I have two new things this month.
First, an encouragement to “give big” on “Giving Tuesday.” We give thanks on Thanksgiving, hit the stores on Black Friday, shop local on Small Business Saturday, and shop the web on Cyber Monday. Now we have a day dedicated to giving back. On #GivingTuesday (this year on December 2), non-profits, families, businesses, and students around the world come together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give.
If you are planning to make a year-end gift to your favorite Grundy County charity, we ask that you do your best to deliver that gift on Tuesday, December 2nd. There are no special prizes if you do or penalties if you don’t. It’s just a fun day to bookend the hectic, consumer-driven weekend with another day of thankfulness — thank your local non-profits for their great work by giving your year-end donation on December 2nd!
Then on Wednesday we’ll announce the grand amount that charities in Grundy County collected on Giving Tuesday!
A number of non-profit organizations serving Grundy County are participating in this event and we have them listed on our website: cfgrundycounty.com. If the agency name is in color, it is a link to their online donation website. If their agency address is color, it is a map to the office so you can hand-deliver your gift.
Please give generously and don’t forget to take photos as your drop off your donation! On behalf of the non-profit community serving Grundy County — thank you!!
My second idea this month is a little holiday philanthropy experiment: Do your children and grandchildren have charitable thoughts? Does philanthropy come easy for them? One way to help teach charity is through practice.
What if…you gave each child/grandchild money at Thanksgiving ($25, $50, $100?) and instructed them to give it away? Then at Christmas dinner, lead a discussion about where they gave it and why. What did you discover about their passions? Are those passions local, national, or international?
What matters to your family? How does their philanthropy differ from yours? Will you change your giving as a result? Will you consider a donor-designed fund to make sure your family leaves a legacy? If so, please contact us at 941-0852. We have many styles of funds to help families be strategic in their philanthropy and to leave a legacy for generations to come.
Regardless of how your celebrate your holidays, please remember your favorite charities in your year-end giving, whether it’s a monetary gift or a gift of your volunteer time or a gift of your talent to bake pies for the hungry or knit hats for kids. We all have our own traditions to keep but may I encourage you to adopt two more?
Happy Thanksgiving!!