Foundation Urges Donors to Think Local on Giving Tuesday

Giving Tuesday is coming up on Nov. 27, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, and people everywhere are probably planning to give in to their generous impulses by making donations to their favorite charities on that day.

But leaders of the Brooklyn Community Foundation are urging the borough’s residents to think local on Giving Tuesday and donate their hard-earned money to Brooklyn-based charities.

Two years ago, the foundation launched a #BrooklynGives campaign aimed at spreading the word about the importance of helping do-gooders close to home on Giving Tuesday.

The campaign is still going strong, according to the foundation, which has set a goal of raising more than $1 million for community-based non-profit organizations in Brooklyn on #GivingTuesday.

And the foundation is putting its money where its mouth is.

The foundation and its #BrooklynGives sponsors (National Grid, Santander Bank, Sugar in the Raw, Kirkland Ellis, Cleary Gottlieb and Industry City) will underwrite additional donations throughout the day.

Donations must be made on the campaign’s website at www.BrooklynGives.org between midnight and 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 27. The fundraising campaign is open to any Brooklyn-based 501c3 non-profit organization. To date, more than 150 organizations have registered to be featured on the campaign’s website, according to the foundation.

Donations of any amount are welcome, foundation leaders said.

Cecilia Clarke, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Community Foundation, said #BrooklynGives is on track to becoming “the most charitable 24 hours in Brooklyn thanks to the incredible generosity of all those who care deeply about Brooklyn’s communities and the nonprofits that make our borough great.”

The campaign is valuable for another reason, according to Clarke, who said it can help Brooklyn residents become better acquainted with the charities within their midst.

“This campaign makes it easy to discover and support effective and inspiring organizations right in our own backyards, while participating in the largest single day of giving in the world, Giving Tuesday,” Clarke said.

Giving Tuesday was founded in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan as an answer to major post-Thanksgiving shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. People were encouraged to take a few minutes out of their day to donate to worthy causes.

In 2017, nonprofit organizations raised over $300 million online on Giving Tuesday, according to the Brooklyn Community Foundation.

The foundation’s Giving Tuesday efforts will also include a $100,000 match program for the 20 organizations that wind up as finalists for the annual Spark Prize, a program honoring Brooklyn’s leading nonprofits.

Founded in 2009, the foundation and its donors have provided over $35 million in grants to more than 300 non-profit organizations.

Giving Tuesday will start with a bang on Nov. 27 as the foundation hosts an official #BrooklynGives Kickoff Celebration in National Grid’s Auditorium, at 1 Metro Tech, starting at 8 a.m.

The kickoff, which is free, will feature panel discussions moderated by Errol Louis, host of Spectrum News NY1’s “Inside City Hall,” Heather McGhee, a nationally known progressive activist and David Belt, founder of New Lab at the Brooklyn Navy Yard).

“The collaborative effort of #BrooklynGives supports local organizations that have a shared commitment to making the Brooklyn community stronger. We are pleased to help lead the Brooklyn Community Foundation’s effort to celebrate and encourage Brooklyn’s change-makers,” said Rudy Wynter, president and COO of National Grid Transmission, Generation and Energy Procurement.

Meanwhile, non-profit groups all over the borough are gearing up for Giving Tuesday, hoping that their fellow Brooklynites open their hearts and wallets.

Karen Tadross, president of Bay Ridge Cares, said her group is looking forward to accepting donations.

“One of the benefits of donating to an organization like Bay Ridge Cares is that your contribution is used to help your neighbors. We do not spend money on rent. We work out of our homes and we have no overhead, so 100 percent of donations that come in go directly into helping people in crisis locally,” Tadross told this newspaper via email.

Bay Ridge Cares, which was founded in 2012 by a group of local residents that included Councilmember Justin Brannan, prepared and delivered tens of thousands of hot meals to Superstorm Sandy survivors. The group also delivers turkey dinners to the frail elderly and the disabled every Thanksgiving.

For information on making a donation to Bay Ridge Cares, visit: https://www.bayridgecares.com.