National Day of Giving – Dec. 2, 2026

Expected National Day of Giving Deals

National Day of Giving, also known as Giving Tuesday, shifts focus from commercial deals to charitable giving. While direct sales are not the goal, many brands and organizations participate with donation-matching campaigns and special initiatives. Look for opportunities to amplify your impact with partners like PayPal, which often offers incentives for donations made through its platform. Major retailers like Amazon and Target frequently highlight charities and offer ways to give back through their sites. Non-profits such as United Way, American Red Cross, and Doctors Without Borders run significant year-end campaigns, often partnering with corporate sponsors like Bank of America or Starbucks for matching gifts. Many local businesses also host events or donate a percentage of sales to community causes. We will update this page with confirmed live giving opportunities as December 1 approaches.

History of National Day of Giving

Giving is an act that is as old as human civilization. Since prehistoric times, people have provided for the less-privileged among them in one way or another. One of the earliest records of giving can be traced to 2500 B.C. in ancient Hebrew, where taxes were instituted to help the poor. Hebrews were mandated to give a tenth of their earnings or harvests to benefit the entire community. It is now known as tithing and is widely practiced by Christians.

Also, in 500 B.C., the word ‘philanthropy’ appeared for the first time in a drama by Aeschylus called “Prometheus Bound.” The word was derived from the ancient Greek phrase ‘philanthropia,’ a combination of ‘phil’ (love) and ‘antro’ (man or to love people).

Moving to 1180 A.D. when the Roman emperor Augustus gave public aid to about 200,000 people. This was labeled as one of the earliest displays of philanthropy on a large scale. Likewise, a Jewish physician and philosopher known as Moses Maimonides conceived the Eight Levels of Charity contained in the “Mishneh Torah.” It was written as an ethical obligation and its highest form is to give a gift, loan, or partnership that will result in the recipient becoming self-sufficient instead of living upon others.

During the medieval times and Renaissance, charity activities were led and handled by the Church and a few individuals interested in helping the poor. However, that changed in the 1600s, following the fall of the Catholic Church and the breakdown of the traditional philanthropic structure. In 1601, the British Parliament enacted The Charitable Uses Act of 1601 containing a list of activities that were believed to generally benefit the society. The list also encouraged private contributions.

We witnessed increased voluntary, charitable, and innovative organizations in the act of giving between the 20th and 21st centuries. Nonprofits began leveraging social media as a medium to reach more people and emotionally connect with individuals. In 2010, some of the world’s richest men, including Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, began the Giving Pledge campaign to encourage the world’s wealthiest people to donate a significant portion of their wealth.

Initiated by Henry Timms, in 2012 New York’s 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation came together to create a day for giving. With several organizations from across the world joining the partnership in subsequent years, the day finally evolved into the National Day of Giving.

How Businesses Can Celebrate National Day of Giving