If you want to make a difference in the lives of others and the world around you, now is the time! The Tuesday after Thanksgiving is known as Giving Tuesday. Since its inception in 2012, Giving Tuesday has been a movement that emphasizes philanthropy and encourages people to think charitably during the holiday season.
If you’re looking for a way to give back or to teach your kids the importance of charity, we’ve made a list of things you can do and places you can donate. Take a look below, and be sure to check out what’s happening in your area this December 2.
New Jersey-based
Community Food Bank of New Jersey
CFBNJ provides more than 85 million meals to those in need each year, and by donating, you can help fight hunger in New Jersey.
Trinitas Health Foundation
Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth operates one of the most comprehensive Departments of Behavioral Health and Psychiatry in New Jersey. Most patients are low-income, and among the most common illnesses treated are major depression disorder, psychoactive substance abuse, schizophrenic disorders, ADHD and bipolar disorder.
ArtPride New Jersey
ArtPride successfully advocated for $161.3 million in relief funding for New Jersey’s arts and culture community. Those funds don’t go directly to ArtPride, but they help fuel hundreds of your favorite arts organizations, institutions and education programs throughout the state. You can empower thousands of individuals who create, produce, teach and share the power of the arts year-round.
Rutgers University Foundation
If you want to help children with cancer, mentor emerging business leaders, enhance career prospects for girls, or share your talents and resources in other ways, it’s time to join forces with one or all of these groups.
More Than Bootstraps
Support first-generation college students so they can feel empowered and succeed in higher education.
American Hungarian Foundation
Based in New Brunswick, the organization seeks to collect, preserve and share the legacy of Hungarian Americans through artifacts, documents, stories, exhibits and festivals. A contribution will support the digitization and preservation of the collections, educational programs like workshops and lectures, and enhancements to rheir museum and library facilities.
Pillar Care Continuum
Formerly Cerebral Palsy of North Jersey, this organization provides a wide range of services to infants, children and adults with more than 100 different disabilities/diagnoses. It’s dedicated to enhancing the lives of people with disabilities and other special needs by supporting personal growth, independence and participation in the community.
NJ Humane Society
Protect, rescue and/or adopt a new family pet, either by donating money or by buying items off of their Amazon Smile wishlist.
JCC MetroWest
HINENI is a meaningful biblical word that calls on us to stand and be counted when the moment is critical and the Jewish community is in its moments of greatest need. JCC MetroWest stands humble and ready for your helping hands so it can continue to serve its community, no matter what the future holds.
SAVE
Donations support homeless animals that arrive at SAVE every day in need of love, medical care and a second chance.
New Jersey Audubon
Support local conservation and education efforts by donating to New Jersey Audubon to help wildlife.
NJ Symphony Orchestra
Music lovers can take this opportunity to donate to the state’s symphony orchestra so that more than 140,000 New Jerseyans can experience live music each year.
NJ Sharing Network
Register to be an organ and tissue donor and share on social media to spread the word. Or you can make a financial donation.
Camp Quality USA New Jersey
This organization’s mission is to help children with cancer be kids again throughout its week-long summer camp program, as well as year-round events.
Alzheimer’s New Jersey
Support New Jersey’s fight against Alzheimer’s by making a donation that’ll go toward services for the more than 600,000 NJ residents who suffer from Alzheimer’s, training for police officers who assist people with Alzheimer’s disease, expanding education programs to help families learn caregiving strategies and more.
Dress For Success Central New Jersey
Unemployed and underemployed women in seven NJ counties achieve economic independence through no-fee programs, development tools and professional attire so they can thrive in work and in life.
EarthShare New Jersey
Help EarthShare’s dedication to preserving a healthy environment in New Jersey.
Autism New Jersey
Help those on the autism spectrum connect to necessary resources and achieve their full potential.
NJ Friends of Clearwater
Donations for this organization go toward helping to educate, advocate and clean up the environment.
Rami’s Heart COVID-19 Memorial
This memorial now has a permanent home at Allaire Community Farm in Wall Twp., so donations go toward landscaping services, the stepping stone path, accounting fees, website maintenance, storage space and events.
McCarter Theatre Center
Princeton’s professional theater company collects donations in order to provide first-rate performances and arts education to audiences of all ages.
After-School All-Stars New JerseyÂ
ASAS NJ works to make sure its All-Stars are safe and healthy, graduate from high school and college, find careers they love and then give back to their communities. Based in Newark, ASAS NJ provides comprehensive afterschool programs that keep children safe and help them succeed in school and life.Â
The Blue Bears Special Meals
Located in Princeton, the restaurant employs youngsters with different abilities, since 80% of people with IDD are unemployed in the U.S., and 28% have never had a job.
Popcorn Park Animal Refuge
Popcorn Park in Forked River is a sanctuary for animals who faced desperate circumstances and/or death, a permanent home to exotics, wildlife, farm animals and birds who suffered abandonment, cruelty, injury, illness, handicap, exploitation, old age, inappropriate ownership or who could not be safely returned to the wild.
The Raptor Trust
Just about every raptor native to NJ — barred owls, screech owls, a merlin, peregrine falcons, a Bald Eagle — live at the refuge, receiving care for their varied injuries, many of which have been caused by humans.
Share My Meals
The organization fights food insecurity as well as food waste, by picking up extra food from restaurants, organizations, colleges and companies in the community and delivering them to those in need.
Make-A-Wish New Jersey
Donate to have an impact on children with serious or life-threatening illnesses to help have a wish of theirs fulfilled.
Special Olympics New Jersey
SONJ supports athletes, coaches, volunteers and supporters, providing athletic options for those with physical disabilities.
American Red Cross New Jersey
If you aren’t able to donate blood or plasma, consider making a monetary donation to support Red Cross responders who assist in a disaster and otherwise.
The Stephanie Nicole Parze Foundation For Domestic Violence and Missing Persons Support
The foundation’s mission is to provide education, intervention and support to families and individuals dealing with domestic violence, sexual abuse and missing loved ones. The donation you make today or any other day will allow the organization to move forward with the programs already established, as well as new programs to continue to help affected families.
Morven Museum & GardenÂ
The mansion is the former home of Richard Stockton (a signer of the Declaration of Independence) and is a former New Jersey governor’s residence. Through donations and purchases at the gift shop, you can support its mission to preserve New Jersey’s Revolutionary history, including the annual Festival of Trees.
ITIAH Angels
Headquartered in Robbinsville, this nonprofit sponsors girls’ education in Haiti through school supplies, uniforms, safe schools, empowerment, and the ability to break the cycle of poverty.
Monmouth County SPCA
Lifesaving pet rescue has been taking place since 1945. You can contribute by making a financial donation, dropping off blankets and sheets, or adopting a pet of your own.
Big Brothers Big Sisters State Association of New Jersey
Kids and teens are matched with an older teen or adult who helps them navigate life through talking, mentoring and participating in fun events.
The S.M.A.R.T Foundation
The non-profit supports single mothers and their children, and benefit from resources such as food, clothing, and other necessities to single moms facing challenges.
Embrace Relief Foundation
The organization, based in Fairfield, delivers humanitarian aid and disaster relief to vulnerable communities around the world via financial, emotional and physical support in the forms of clean water, hunger relief, orphan care, refugee relief, women’s empowerment, health and education efforts.
Tenafly Nature Center
The End-of-Year Appeal goes through December 31, giving you plenty of time to make a direct impact on trails, wildlife ambassadors, habitats, and educational programs – however, on December 2, all donations will be matched by an anonymous donor, dollar-for-dollar, up to $2,500. You can text “GIVETNC” to 44-321.
Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company
The Board announced a $5,000 matching fund to help the dance company meet its $10,000 goal in empowering Asian American artists, funding educational programs in underserved communities, and bringing cross-cultural choreography to stages around the world.
Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum
Support for the hallowed grounds in Cape May goes toward restoring Hangar No. 1, educating the public, and memorializing the 42 aviators who died in the area.
New York-based
Broadway Cares
This non-profit provides groceries and medication, health care and hope to those in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., affected by HIV/AIDS, and other life-threatening illnesses.
Intrepid Museum
Inspiring students of all ages, this museum brings to life the experiences of the 50,000 veterans who served on the Intrepid and Growler when they were in service. Help fund the programs that inspire more than one million visitors the Intrepid Museum receives each year.
National
James Beard Foundation
This foundation, named after the legendary food writer, started the Open for Good campaign to support the recovery and rebuilding of independent, locally-owned restaurants.
FOURWARD Fund
4-H’s FOURWARD Fund supports youth across all communities, with or without internet access, by ensuring all kids have access to the necessary resources.
FoodCorps
Your donation will help school districts ensure school meal sites can feed students who are out of school as well as their families.
CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort)
CORE is always on the ground, responding to devastating crises, and the organization stays until communities are built back on their feet to prepare populations for future disasters.Â
The YMCA
Consider supporting your local Y, which provides both free and fee-based wellness programs to communities, from cultural events to training sessions and swim lessons to college prep programs.
St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital
Help St. Jude’s kids fight life-threatening diseases. No family ever receives a bill from St. Jude’s, and its research is shared freely with doctors and scientists around the world.
The United Way
This nonprofit raises money for local programs that help residents with education, health and financial stability. Your donation can help them identify and address critical needs in the community.
UNICEF
UNICEF helps support children in crisis around the globe with health care, immunization, safe water, necessities and more.
Blue Line Bears
Blue Line Bears is a nonprofit organization that helps the children of fallen law enforcement officers cope with the devastating loss of a parent.
Angel Tree
Prison Fellowship equips churches to strengthen relationships between incarcerated parents and children through camping, sports camps and Christmas gifts.
ConceiveAbilities
If you are a lactating woman, you can join a movement to donate breast milk to babies in need through the #MilkBankChallenge. To help, you can donate milk, make a financial donation or share the message on social media.
Children’s Tumor Foundation
Help NF Heroes waiting for effective treatments, researchers on the brink of discovery and young parents holding their newly diagnosed children. Donations help speed NF research toward better treatments, more options, and improved lives for every person living with neurofibromatosis, tumors that grow on the nerves of the body.
International
Unbound
This international nonprofit delivers more than $100 million in personalized support annually for children, elders and their families living in poverty in Latin America, Asia and Africa. Donors can opt to sign on to walk with an elder or child on a monthly basis as a sponsor, or make a single-time donation to the Critical Needs Fund or Scholarship Program.
World Central Kitchen
Chef Jose Andres and his crew deliver fresh meals to areas of crisis, often putting themselves in harm’s way. They have served more than 400,000 chef-prepared meals around the globe in communities impacted by natural disasters and humanitarian crises.
- Amanda Clark contributed to this story.
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Read More:
Ideas to Inspire Volunteering as a Family This Holiday Season
Ways Your Family Can Give Back During The Holidays (And Beyond)
