The Franklin College football team celebrates its Homecoming win over Bluffton College by serenading fans with the fight song. The college is hosting its #GRIZTuesday giving event on Tuesday, asking supporters to donate money to benefit the athletics department.
SUBMITTED PHOTO BY CHAD WILLIAMS
The Black Friday bargains have come and gone.
People have gone out to their local shops for Small Business Saturday, and crossed items off their holiday shopping lists on Cyber Monday.
Now it’s time to focus your spending power on helping others.
GivingTuesday kicks off today, focusing and amplifying donations for organizations to maximize the benefit. Groups throughout Johnson County have been gearing up to reach supporters new and old on a day set aside specifically for supporting the community.
From ensuring girls can take part in special programming to supporting student-athletes at Franklin College, the goal is to start the holiday season with the spirit of generosity.
“GivingTuesday is a really good nationally branded platform, so it’s easy for our nonprofits to take advantage of that mindset to get people giving,” said Kim Kasting, executive director of the Johnson County Community Foundation. “Now is a good time to do that, since we’re all in the giving time of the year.”
GivingTuesday coalesced in 2012 around a simple concept — creating a day that encourages people to do good. Since it was founded, the idea has spread all over the globe. Official GivingTuesday movements are organized in 80 countries, including 300 community campaigns in the United States rallying thousands of nonprofits, foundations, grassroots organizations, small businesses, and generous individuals to give back.
The movement continues to grow in impact. In 2022, an estimated $3.1 billion was donated in 24 hours in the U.S. alone, a 15% increase over the prior year and a 25% increase since 2020.
“The most magical part of GivingTuesday, the special and unique characteristic that drives this generosity movement, is that this remarkable day of giving is made possible by the many and not the few; everyday people’s kindness, acts of generosity, and commitment to a better world fueled this day of good,” said Asha Curran, CEO of GivingTuesday, in a release following the 2022 event. “This swell of generosity was possible only because people showed up for each other and with each other. We know this is just a preview of the continued good that will happen throughout the rest of this year and the year to come.”
Every organization takes a different approach to GivingTuesday. At Franklin College, the campaign has resulted in #GRIZTuesday.
Four years ago, the college decided to rebrand its November day of giving with the GRIZTuesday moniker, with the idea to donate all funds raised during the November give-a-thon to its athletic programs.
“We used to have our annual golf outing every year for the athletic department. During the pandemic, a lot of colleges and universities canceled things like that, as did we,” said Andrew Hendricks, vice president of enrollment and marketing at Franklin College. “We talked about dedicating GivingTuesday to some cause with athletics.”
The fundraising drive offers Franklin College supporters, as well as friends and family, to help the school’s athletes — going so far as to dedicate their funds to specific teams. Money raised helps those teams purchase equipment they might need, as well as pay for travel and more of the day-to-day costs of athletics, said Hendricks, who is also the swimming and diving coach.
“Really, we try to let this be an opportunity for the kids to raise the money so that they can go after some of the needs they have for their teams, rather than the wants,” he said.
The GRIZTuesday campaign is focused around the school’s social media, particularly Facebook, X and Instagram. Individual teams have been creating content in anticipation of the event, and organizers plan to use email and other college-owned communication channels to reach supporters.
The website link to be accessed for giving will be released on the college’s social media platforms beginning at 12:01 a.m., on Nov. 28. Donors may direct their gift to their favorite team or the general athletic fund. The giving website will display a real-time running tally of the number of donors and dollars raised for each team, as well as an overall total.
“This is really the difference between being able to give the student-athletes the opportunities they deserve vs. just being a run-of-the-mill athletics department. This is a big deal for us,” Hendricks said.
For Girls Inc. of Johnson County, GivingTuesday is an opportunity to focus attention on the work they do for girls and young women in the community, while generating some funding to help with general programming and other costs.
“Hopefully, its an opportunity for donors, and maybe the community at large who doesn’t really think about at other times making a gift, to think about us,” said Sonya Ware-Meguiar, CEO of Girls Inc. of Johnson County. “This is the time of year when people do think about giving back, so hopefully people can think how to do that.”
One important area where GivingTuesday funds help is helping cover costs for participants who otherwise couldn’t pay for the Girls Inc. program. The organization prides itself on making sure everybody can take part in their offerings, even when money might be tight and extenuating circumstances make it impossible to pay to take part.
Girls Inc. doesn’t have a dedicated fund for those scholarship costs; making a gift ensures that the group doesn’t have to pull money from other areas to cover those scholarships.
“We never turn a girl away, even if they have an inability to pay,” Ware-Meguiar said. “We always work with the family to figure that out.”
The Johnson County Public Library Foundation has participated in GivingTuesday since 2017 — both through an employee campaign and a public outreach through Facebook. The event aligns perfectly with the foundation’s annual fund appeal, which also happens around this time each year.
People can give by making a credit card gift at the JCPL Foundation website at www.jcplf.org, or by dropping off a check at any library branch. Checks can also be mailed to JCPL Foundation, 49 E. Monroe St., Franklin, IN 46131. A Facebook campaign will unfold all day Tuesday.
All gifts received through GivingTuesday will support library programs in 2024. Those programs include the library’s Cultural Fair, Celebrate Día, an international literacy festival for children, and the teen pop culture program Random Fandom.
Funds raised will also go to the Library on the Prairie, which explores pioneer life; kindergarten readiness bags; a teen film festival, and program support leading up to the total solar eclipse in April 2024.
“We believe every gift dollar makes a difference in providing outstanding and innovative programs and resources at JCPL that support our residents’ learning from birth through retirement,” said Lisa Lintner, director of the library system.
AT A GLANCE
GivingTuesday
What: A worldwide day of giving that encourages people to do good. Organizers rally thousands of nonprofits, foundations, grassroots organizations, small businesses, and generous individuals to give back.
When: Tuesday, Nov. 28
How to help: Participating nonprofits use social media to gain attention during GivingTuesday. Check out your favorite organization’s Facebook, X or Instagram for details on how to help.
