Fermanagh Trust hosts global phenomenon #GivingTuesday

#GivingTuesday is set to hit the UK for the first time on December 2nd, with the Fermanagh Trust being one of the first in Northern Ireland to sign up.

The Fermanagh Trust’s plans throughout the day include a coffee morning at Fermanagh House from 10am. All money raised will go to two locally based charities both doing invaluable work overseas – Livability, whose overseas programmes support the development of rehabilitation services for people with disabilities in Asia and Children in Crossfire who support early childhood development to improve children’s health and education. In the afternoon grants from the Callagheen Wind Farm Fund will be presented.

The grassroots movement which began nearly three years ago provides a charitable antidote to the pre-Christmas consumer boom, falling directly after Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It will ask people to follow two of the big pre-Christmas shopping days with a day of doing good, asking them to do one simple charitable act on the day and it is hoped that #GivingTuesday in Northern Ireland will replicate the successes of the US, where they saw a huge spike in donations on the day. 

Whether it’s making a donation, volunteering your time or just spreading the word at the start of the Christmas shopping season, #GivingTuesday is a call to action for everyone who wants to give something back.

#GivingTuesday has been supported by The White House, Bill Gates, Facebook and Google as well as over 100 celebrity backers. And while it started in the US, this year it is being held in countries across the world including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore.

Online giving on #GivingTuesday 2013 was up 90% on 2012. Part of the success was generated by social media – last year there were 200,634 Tweets sharing everything from fundraising events to offering donations. Two billion impressions were achieved across all social media channels.

Maggie Muldoon from Livability said “We’re really excited that the Fermanagh Trust has brought this inspiring and clever initiative to the county. Hopefully we can capture the imagination of others and permanently establish a day in the calendar to celebrate giving and the fantastic work charities are doing. We would encourage as many people as possible to come along to our coffee morning and help raise funds for these two very worthwhile causes.”