Giving Tuesday sparks reminder to give year-round

The intentions behind the online charitable campaignGiving Tuesday may bepositive, but critics say its efforts are misplaced.

#GivingTuesday,or #GivingTuesdayCa in Canada,comes on the heels of Black Friday and Cyber Monday andencourages people to think about donating their time and money.

Brady Josephsonworks with charities on their marketing efforts and sees two key concernswith the campaign.

When itfirst emerged, he saw charities defaulting to just tweeting and emailingto askfor donations.

"It became less about why people shouldcare aboutthese issues, or why they shouldsupport your organization," said Josephson. "It became about 'You should give us money because it's Tuesday."

Three years later, he believes charities have done better by implementingmore creativeideas such asdonation-matching campaigns.

However, he still takes issue with the campaign'stiming.

"December is already a very rich month of giving. About 30per cent of all online donations come inthatmonth 12 to 15 per cent in the last three days alone," he said.

Josephsonsays spring and summer,when contributions typically dip, is also a good time to donate.

Lys Hugessen, the co-founder of Giving Tuesday Canada, responded to the criticism by saying their campaign is no reason to be "cynical."

"It's good to have this reminder to think about others andthink about the community," she said. "We do call this the opening day of the giving season, although it's a one-day celebration."

Josephsonagrees. He says any opportunityto encourage community contributionsis always good.

But he also hopes the many corporations that have jumped on the Giving Tuesday bandwagon will take the campaign as just an entry point to further their involvement.