The Tuesday after Thanksgiving is a bright day for the team at the Westmoreland Food Bank.

Leaders at the center, which serves upward of 7,000 families in the Westmoreland region, look forward to the day as a kickoff to a wintertime season of giving.

“You think about the holidays, and you think about how expensive things are under normal circumstances, let alone during a time of inflation. Everything is more expensive, and you’re buying more, and every parent wants to make sure that there are good Christmases and they have a turkey on their table,” said Jennifer Miller, CEO of Westmoreland Food Bank. “It really is a wonderful day to bring giving to the forefront of people’s minds for the holidays.”

After the rush of Black Friday and Cyber Monday comes Giving Tuesday, an annual commemoration of giving that has been celebrated across the country since its founding in 2012. The event, which falls on Nov. 29 this year, is an opportunity to spotlight giving to nonprofits.

In Western Pennsylvania, some donations are funneled through Pittsburgh Magazine’s Give Big Pittsburgh program, which provides a single website through which donors can give to organizations across the region. According to the Give Big Pittsburgh website, the initiative has raised $7.7 million for “hundreds of nonprofits” since 2017, and marked a record-­breaking year in 2020, raising over $2.8 million.

A boost in funding

For nonprofits, Giving Tuesday can provide needed additional dollars towards their mission. Many organizations go all-out with active social media and outreach campaigns in the days leading up to the event.

Giving Tuesday brought in over $50,000 for the Westmoreland Food Bank last year, Miller said.

“We really started back in 2012, and (Giving Tuesday) was a fledgling back then, something new,” Miller said. “We got into it with the hopes of the community rallying around after they spent all their money on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, that they would have a little bit left over to give to their local charities. Giving Tuesday just continued to grow, grow and grow.”

The first year of the pandemic was a high-water mark for donations at the food bank, Miller said, as people were more likely to give when they knew others were struggling.

“We know that everybody was trying to help in some way shape or form, to help keep people fed and (keep) their best interests in mind. 2020 was really a phenomenal year for nonprofits, especially food banks,” she said. “The people in Westmoreland County are so generous, and they really make sure they take care of their own. We have not seen overall giving go down at this point. When looking at Giving Tuesday, it’s down from 2020, but still up from 2019.”

With inflation, high gas prices and recession fears on the horizon, Miller hopes donations can maintain their momentum.

“We really don’t know what to expect. We’re hoping for the same as last year if not better, but we’re also very understanding that it’s hard for everybody right now, and it’s even harder for those who don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” she said. “We’re hoping that those who are able to (give) still do, and those who can’t, maybe they will another time.”

Varying impacts

At the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, regional vice president Amy Franz explained, fundraising campaign season runs from September through April.

“Much of what we do is either midway or wrapping up. But we do recognize that a lot of people take Giving Tuesday as their annual reminder to make their gift,” Franz said. “For United Way, we have a fairly structured fundraising model, but for other organizations, they find this a way to get everybody to focus on a single day and possibly access matching money or some other type of momentum to wrap up their year-end campaign, or achieve a certain goal.”

Even after Giving Tuesday has passed, the holiday season sees a rise in community members opening their wallets to give, said Shelley Radebach, executive assistant at the Alle-Kiski Area HOPE Center.

“This time of year, people are very giving, not just (Tuesday), but for the next couple weeks, people will be dropping off new items, toiletries, cleaning products, gloves and toys for kids,” she said. “Through the holidays, especially, people just seem to be very giving at this time of year in general.”

Suzanne Thinnes, communication manager at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, said total fundraising from the public made up 4.6%, or a little over $1.5 million, of the library system’s annual operating budget in 2021.

“We hope to raise $50,000 (on Tuesday), which is a little more than what we raised in 2021,” Thinnes said. “Our fundraising for Giving Tuesday (last year) was about $47,000, and that equated to 497 donors. Without our donors, we would not be able to do what we do.“

Giving Tuesday donations can help with areas of need that aren’t as frequently covered by other funding sources, said Carol Palcic, executive director of the YWCA of Westmoreland County.

“A lot of the grants cover our programs, but like every nonprofit, the operational money, you don’t get as much grant support as you’d like to fund the operation side of it. We rely heavily on donors and initiatives like Giving Tuesday to get money coming in to help with the operation side,” Palcic said. “It helps pay salaries and the day-to-day operations of the organization.”

A big difference

At the Wilkinsburg community makerspace, workshop and design and fabrication school Protohaven, executive director Amber Epps described Giving Tuesday as “huge.”

“We take it very seriously, because we’re a very small nonprofit,” she said. “All of our revenue, for the most part, comes from memberships, folks who are paying for classes and grant funding, but things like Giving Tuesday help us with things like maintenance on our equipment, and help us supplement our income-based rates program, the Access to Making Program.”

Donations brought in from Giving Tuesday last year hit the organizations’ goal of $5,000 raised, and this year, Protohaven hopes to raise the same amount or more. Contributions have come from both regular community contributors as well as new donors, she said.

“This year, we’ve been making a more concerted effort to do more community engagement, and we have a new part-time staff person who’s really helping us go hard with our social media and spreading the word about what we do in general,” she said. “After Tuesday, we’re excited to take a look at donations, are they coming in from people who have donated before, is it the usual crew, and how many new donations are we getting?”

Giving Tuesday comes with a unique twist for Protohaven, she added— members and volunteers are also invited to come to the organization’s Wilkinsburg location and help with cleaning or maintenance around the shop.

“People know that this day is coming, there’s such a build up to it and there are so many different organizations that are involved. With the good work that we and all of these other nonprofits do, I really think people see it as an important time of year to donate,” Epps said. “I think that that’s what makes Giving Tuesday such a big and exciting thing across the nonprofit spectrum.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)