Why #GivingTuesday is not?Enough

In light of current events it is becoming more important than ever to give and stand together. But how we do it matters.

“Today I am giving to my favorite charities X Y Z” … “Delta gives $XXXX to [insert multinational NGO here]”… “Paypal donates blablabla… .”

The truth is, we don’t care who’s your favorite charities, and the fact that you are announcing your giving on social media speaks volumes about your true intentions. Instead, I encourage businesses and individuals to immerse themselves, and engage in empathetic acts on a daily basis rather than one day a year.

Now, it’s true that giving to struggling charities could help in certain scenarios; however, it fails to change attitudes or create changes in our behaviors as a collective society and thus fails to effect the desired change in our systems.

Changing our community ought to start at the individual level. Instead, Executives must involve their employees in empathetic acts in the office. Similarly, families at home need to engage in volunteering experiences that enrich their morale and strengthen their ties to the community.

#GivingTuesday and similar trends are not effective. They merely give businesses and corporations the opportunity to check the PR box without leaving any lasting benefit to the donor and perhaps neither the recipient.

This also adds more responsibility to nonprofits. They should invest more in engaging their donors or partners in these giving acts instead of just receiving their money. For example, make your donors proactive about their giving. Let them physically experience what it means to give meals or be responsible for packaging food for the homeless.

Bottom line is engage in empathetic practices daily at home or at work instead of a one day hashtag. Only then we can influence others to do the same, maintain a stronger community and see the change that we all want in this world.