Since teaming up with GIV3 to bring GivingTuesday to Canada in 2013 it has been my personal mission, and the mission of CanadaHelps, to help grow the profile of this global day of giving and volunteering. As the unofficial kick-off to the holiday giving season, GivingTuesday is not about raising awareness for any one individual charity or cause, it’s about raising awareness for ‘giving’ itself in order to inspire empathy and generosity in the millions of people who are currently not donating to their capacity.
In order to get this message out to Canadians and increase charitable donations across the country, for the past few years CanadaHelps has been working with the marketing and communications agency High Road. And, today, I’m proud to tell you that our combined efforts have been honoured by the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) with two prestigious awards.
In addition to winning silver for ‘Community Relations Campaign of the Year’ at the 2017 CPRS National Awards of Excellence, our awareness campaign for GivingTuesday was recognized with a Certificate of Merit at the 2017 ACE Awards, which annually celebrate the best public relations work in Canada and the Greater Toronto Area respectively.
While it’s always nice to have your hard work and dedication recognized, I believe the true winners are the thousands of Canadian charities who have seen a tremendous increase in charitable donations. Compared to the same day in 2012 (Nov.29), the year before the initiative launched in Canada, GivingTuesday 2016 saw a 353% increase in donation dollars, 730% growth in number of donations, a 422% increase in number of new donors on the day, a 332% increase in the number of new monthly donations set-up, and a 1,719% increase in dollars donated to charities that actively participate in GivingTuesday.
Even more important than these impressive percentages is the fact that they represent increases of millions upon millions of dollars to Canadian charities in need. CanadaHelps is proud of these results, and even prouder to see that Canadians continue to embrace the spirit of giving, making GivingTuesday a time where we all turn our collective attention to the community and support the charitable organizations of our choice.
Thanks again to the CPRS for honouring our hard work and efforts in this area!
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