Northwest Iowa — With Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday behind us, it’s time to look at giving back with #GivingTuesday, which is the Tuesday following Thanksgiving each year. (This year, it’s Tuesday, November 27th.
The goal of #GivingTuesday is to give back to others, whether it is financially or by donating time or resources to your favorite charity. #GivingTuesday is fueled by the power of social media, but that’s not the only method that can be used to give back or to educate others about the needs of the charity.
#GivingTuesday started in 2012, and is now a global movement. While all charities would be happy to receive your donation, from Mid-Sioux or Upper Des Moines Opportunity to churches and church organizations, some charities are going out of their way to ask for your donations on #GivingTuesday.
Inspiration Hills is a Christian camp and retreat center providing an environment in which they hope people will come to know and grow in Christ and be challenged for life in God’s Kingdom. They invite you to prayerfully consider a donation specifically to Inspiration Hills. They also want to make sure you know you can donate online to Inspiration Hills. They ask you to please write “#GivingTuesday” in the comments section of their donation page so they can better track the donations. Inspiration Hills also reminds folks to check with their employer to see if they will match your donation. If you have questions you can contact Dave Heilman at 712-986-5193 or dave@inspirationhills.org.
You can also give to help victims of sexual assault by giving on #GivingTuesday to CAASA — The Centers Against Abuse and Sexual Assault, with offices across northwest Iowa. They tell us that you can give while buying presents online. They say you can go to smile.amazon and select CAASA as your charitable organization. Then you shop and buy your items — and at no extra cost to you — Amazon donates to CAASA. CAASA officials also say that Facebook and PayPal are matching a total of up to $7 million in donations on Facebook. Donations can be matched per personal fundraiser or $50K per nonprofit. They say you can create a personal fundraiser and then share it with your friends this Tuesday. You can also donate via www.caasaonline.org by clicking on the donate tab.
Katie Ping with the Seasons Center for Behavioral Health in Spencer says if you want to help children in northwest Iowa, a great #GivingTuesday opportunity would be giving for Camp Autumn.
Again, that’s seasonscenter.org. She says you can also donate at any of their offices or by calling 800-242-5101, and she says they’re grateful for your support.
The Northwest Iowa Community College Foundation is also participating in #GivingTuesday. Morgan Granstra with the foundation tells us more.
She says you can give online at www.nwicc.edu. When you get there, just click on donate. She says all unrestricted gifts on #GivingTuesday will go to the Student Emergency Fund.
Granstra says if you’d rather, you can also mail your gift to the NCC Foundation at 603 West Park Street, Sheldon, Iowa, 51201. You can also drop off your donation in person at the NCC Foundation office, located in Building D of NCC’s campus.
