The birth of Giving Tuesday goes back to Nov. 27, 2012. A team of innovators at the Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact in New York City sought to create a movement that harnessed the power of social media and technology to promote charitable giving.

They wanted to establish a giving day that reminded everyone of the true meaning of the holiday season, encouraging people to think beyond materialistic pursuits and contribute to meaningful causes that positively impact society.

The team rallied nonprofits, businesses, and influencers to spread the message and inspire others to get involved in acts of giving. Hashtags like #GivingTuesday amplified the movement’s reach, making it a viral sensation across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s why Giving Tuesday matters today:

• Fostering generosity – Giving Tuesday dedicates a day to radical generosity, encouraging individuals to cultivate a culture of philanthropy and altruism. It reminds people of the joy and fulfillment of helping others and contributing to charitable causes that resonate with their values.
• Creating positive change – Giving Tuesday provides a unique opportunity for individuals and organizations to support various causes, from education and healthcare to environmental conservation and social justice. It can drive substantial resources toward addressing pressing global challenges as a collective force.
• Promoting global impact – Giving Tuesday has become a global day, celebrated in numerous countries worldwide since its birth. It transcends cultural and geographical boundaries, promoting global unity and compassion.
• Empowering nonprofits – Giving Tuesday is a crucial fundraising event for nonprofits and charitable organizations. It allows them to gain visibility, attract new donors, and engage with supporters interested in making a greater social impact.
• Building community – Giving Tuesday unites people, businesses, and communities around a shared purpose. It cultivates a sense of togetherness, reminding us that we can make positive changes when we work together.

There’s no best organization to support this Giving Tuesday. It’s all about nonprofits, individuals, and organizations around the world doing good and giving back to communities.

Not sure where to start? Here are some diverse and impactful options that StorageGives supports year-round:

• Shriners Childrens – Shriners provides specialized pediatric care for children with over 1.4 million patients treated. Their treatment ranges include burn care, cleft palate, and spinal cord injuries.
• Kure It Cancer Research – Kure It continues its quest to raise awareness and fight cancer. By utilizing impactful events and groundbreaking initiatives, Kure It grows its community partnerships, fosters donor relations, and provides funds for vital research grants. Funds from Kure It begin the cancer research cycle that can lead to new discoveries, clinical trials, and breakthroughs in cancer detection, prevention, and treatments.
• Home for Our Troops – Homes For Our Troops is a publicly funded nonprofit organization that builds and donates specially adapted custom homes nationwide for severely injured post-9/11 veterans to enable them to rebuild their lives.
• Mission Feeding – Mission Feeding outreach has been a proven answer to the nutritional needs of starving and malnourished children. Each bowl of food contains vitamins and nutrients needed to stop the vicious cycle of malnutrition and death. Currently, Mission Feeding feeds over 350,000 children in villages across Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Alzheimer’s Association – The Alzheimer’s Association leads the way to end Alzheimer’s and all other dementia by accelerating global research, driving risk reduction and early detection, and maximizing quality care and support.
• Autism Speaks – Autism Speaks is dedicated to creating an inclusive world for all individuals with autism throughout their lifespan. They do this through advocacy, services, support, research and innovation, and advances in care for autistic individuals and their families.
• Breast Cancer Research Foundation – The Breast Cancer Research Foundation is dedicated to ending breast cancer by advancing the world’s most promising research. This year, BCRF is the largest private funder of breast cancer research and metastatic breast cancer research worldwide and is the highest-rated breast cancer research organization in the country.
• Water for Life – Water for LIFE began in 2000 and has helped provide more than 6,500 water wells so far in Sub-Saharan Africa. They have a goal of 350 new wells this year to combat the 844 million people lacking access to safe drinking water.
• Joy International – JOY INTERNATIONAL is dedicated to the prevention of child trafficking and to the freedom, healing, and empowerment of trafficked children, teens, and young adults worldwide.

StorageGives, a philanthropic, non-profit organization that connects the self-storage industry with vetted charities across the globe, announced monumental growth in charitable contributions for 2022. Through various giving formats, the self-storage community joined forces to produce a nearly eight-fold increase in contributions in 2022, and that number is growing.

Donations in 2022 increased 900 percent, through both small and large contributions from the over 600 self-storage vendors and brands that have partnered with StorageGives. Collectively, the self-storage community was able to double the number of children fed through Mission Feeding, an organization that provides meals for malnourished children in villages across Sub-Saharan Africa. Every 50 cents feeds four children, proving that each small donation has a big impact. The number of meals provided through StorageGives contributions doubled in 2022, equaling over 500,000 meals served.

Not only did StorageGives distribute over $150,000 in grants in 2022, but it grew its footprint by joining four state self-storage associations, including the Arizona, Tennessee, Louisiana, and North Carolina associations. Partnering with these and other associations allows StorageGives to expand its network of self-storage partners.

Partnering with StorageGives is simple. Operators who utilize StorageAuctions.com as their online auction vendor can choose to donate a portion of their auction proceeds to StorageGives. Vendors and other industry partners can also make a direct donation to the organization. For more information about joining the hundreds of industry partners who are making a change, visit StorageGives.org.