The inspiring story of #GivingTuesday

One of the best things about the Twitter platform is its ability to mobilize and unite millions of people across the world for good causes. One example: the #GivingTuesday movement, started three years ago by Henry Timms (@htimms). It’s a global day of personal giving that takes place on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

#GivingTuesday has a very simple but powerful purpose: “to celebrate generosity and to give.” Created on Twitter, in just three years this movement has managed to acquire more than 10,000 partners and increase online giving by 90 percent. Last November, #GivingTuesday raised more than $100 million for charitable organizations in just one day!

We were honored to host Henry at our HQ in San Francisco last week. Henry talked about how the world is shifting from an old power model to what he calls “new power”, and what challenges and opportunities this new power brings to organizations. This shift is happening very quickly: as he noted, “Three years ago when we started #GivingTuesday, we were not sure if people would know what a hashtag is… but today, four out of ten Americans know about #GivingTuesday.”

We’re so proud knowing that Henry and his team chose Twitter to launch this noteworthy movement, because this is what Twitter is for: to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers. And we’re never happier than when it’s used for such a good, and global, cause.