After shopping online on Cyber Monday, December 2nd, members of the New Bern community will be able to make gifts online to some of their favorite charities during GivingTuesday on December 3rd. GivingTuesday is a national initiative begun in 2012 by the 92nd Street YMCA and the United Nations Foundation both of which are located in New York, New York. The giving initiative helps us reflect on the spirit of the season and unite in a national day of giving to others.
In 2012, hundreds of charities across the United States became partners in GivingTuesday. This year, New Bern area nonprofits who are members of the New Bern Area Chamber of Commerce Nonprofit Council are joining several thousand nonprofit organizations as partners of GivingTuesday. These partners will ask for financial support of their operations during this season of giving to others as they work to improve the community and enhance its quality of life. Becoming a partner of GivingTuesday is free and businesses are welcome to support the initiative by issuing financial challenges to other businesses and encouraging their employees to support GivingTuesday with matching gifts, etc. For example, CVS Caremark Foundation will award $25,000 in grants nationally to organizations participating in GivingTuesday. GivingTuesday also suggests that major retailers contribute a percentage of their sales on Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday to partner organizations of GivingTuesday. For more information on how your business can be involved with GivingTuesday, contact Margaret Shields of Fund Development at 252-670-2588.
These New Bern nonprofits are GivingTuesday Partners. To support one or all of these nonprofit organizations, go to givingtuesday.org or, visit each organization’s individual website and make a gift online:
Craven Literacy Council – www.cravenliteracy.org
Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina – www.foodbankcenc.org
Habitat – newbernhabitat.org
Interfaith Refugee Ministry – www.helpingrefugees.org
Mediation Center of Eastern Carolina – mceconline.org
MERCI Clinic – merciclinic.org
MONARCH – www.monarchnc.org
Promise Place- sexualassaultresources.com
Neuse River Community Development Corporation – www.nrcdc.com
New Bern Firemen’s Museum – newbernfiremuseum.com
New Bern Preservation Foundation – info@newbernpf.org
Religious Community Services – www.rcsnewbern.com
United Way of Coastal Carolina – unitedwaycoastalnc.org
Help all of these organizations make this holiday season, a giving season. For more information on how you can participate in GivingTuesday, contact the New Bern Area Chamber of Commerce at 252-637-3111.
Submitted by: Margaret Shields