Give Back on Giving Tuesday (and Beyond)

The Rappahannock United Way will join hundreds of nonprofits on Dec. 3 in Giving Tuesday, a national effort the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to encourage philanthropy.

"Nonprofits across the nation are committed to making #GivingTuesday a yearly tradition as big for charitable organizations as Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday are for businesses," said Janel Donohue, president of Rappahannock United Way.

Giving Tuesday originated in 2012, the brainchild of the 92nd Street Y, a nonprofit cultural and community center in New York. 

"I mean this is just brilliant, to just give everyone time to pause and think about what's most important at the holiday season," Jyl Johnson Pattee, the founder of Mom It Forward, told NPR.

The goal is to motivate existing donors and encourage new donors not only to give, but to become more involved in a cause about which they can be passionate.

Donohue is excited about the opportunity Giving Tuesday presents for people to support the Rappahannock United Way.  "We provide more than 33 programs throughout the city of Fredericksburg, and the counties of Stafford, Caroline, King George and Spotsylvania," Donohue said. These include:

• The FamilyWize prescription assistance, saving the community over $500,000 in prescription costs over the last four years. 
• The Free Tax Service program, saving our community $215,000 by providing free Tax services and returning $1.7 million to our local economy. 
• The Annual Days of Caring, providing $70,300 worth of volunteer hours and service to our community.