Stanczykiewicz: Giving Tuesday ‘Spans The Generations’

The director of The Fund Raising School at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy in Indianapolis says, if the upward trend continues, Giving Tuesday could net charities and nonprofits throughout the nation $200 million. Bill Stanczykiewicz calls the campaign, which started six years ago, "a significant net positive to charitable giving" and engages new donors worldwide at a time of year when philanthropic giving is traditionally high. Stanczykiewicz says his school’s research shows charitable giving tends to increase as donors reach their 40s and 50s, but Giving Tuesday has become a way to draw in younger people with campaigns often conducted online.

Stanczykiewicz tells Inside INdiana Business Multimedia Journalist Mary-Rachel Redman Giving Tuesday is a significant contributor to what are record-breaking times for charitable giving. "According to our Giving USA Report, we’ve had nearly $400 billion in charitable giving in the most recent year. That is a record amount," he said. "There are nine subsectors of the nonprofit sector that are measured — each of those subsectors has seen record amounts of charitable giving."

He says Giving Tuesday "spans the generations," engaging younger demographics like Millennials who are more comfortable giving online than generations that are older. The top recipients of charitable giving, Stanczykiewicz says, are religious affiliates, followed by education and human services-related institutions, groups and organizations. Economic indicators, he says, show "it’s a good time for charitable giving."