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Find out how families giving back on Giving Tuesday can foster compassion and build stronger bonds.

How Families Giving Back Brings Them Closer: 5 Ways to Make a Difference Together

Introduction

Giving Tuesday, founded in 2012 as a day to do good, is the perfect occasion to encourage families to gather and give back together. Created in response to Black Friday and the consumerism it represents, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving is a day to pause during the busy holiday seasons and give in whatever way makes sense to organizations that need it the most. While many nonprofits use the holiday as a cornerstone for fundraising strategies throughout the year, families can take a variety of approaches to make a difference for causes that are close to their hearts. 

It’s important for families to take time to give back to their community. The act of volunteering or donating to a cause that makes a difference in their local area helps foster a sense of compassion and connection that reaches beyond their family unit.

To help families in your care get started, here are our top five tips on how to give back on Giving Tuesday: 

Tip One: Volunteer Together as a Family

Volunteering as a family can be a fun way to spend a day together, helping those in your community firsthand. To ensure everyone has a good time, make sure there are age-appropriate options so the whole family feels involved. 

Local organizations that are open to family support include food banks, shelters for people experiencing homelessness, and community clean-ups. If the families you serve live in areas where local organizations are hard to come by, a neighborhood clean-up is a simple, low-lift option to make their block a little nicer –– all it takes is some gloves and a trash bag to pick up litter along their street. 

Tip Two: Host a Family Fundraiser

Organizations need more than manpower to get their mission accomplished. Donations of any size can mean a great deal to local charities that are doing meaningful work in the community. 

To get the whole family involved, you can suggest they host a bake sale or garage sale where the proceeds go to their favorite local nonprofit. Get the kids involved in planning the menu, or in going through items they no longer want or need. The emphasis should be on the teamwork it takes to make an event like this happen.

Tip Three: Donate as a Family

Another way to give back as a family around Giving Tuesday is to participate in a clothing, canned food, or toy drive. Going shopping as a family and encouraging kids to help select the items getting gifted, thinking about how the person receiving it might feel, creates a more personal, thoughtful experience and builds empathy. If the kids get an allowance, encouraging them to purchase some of the smaller items to feel more invested in the process can also help them feel more connected to the act of giving back.

Tip Four: Create Care Packages

Another way for families you work with to create an impact in the local area is by creating care packages for shelters, hospitals, or families in need. Some nonprofits will help you with lists of things that can be assembled into care packages for the populations they serve, for example, the Portland Rescue Mission has a checklist for care packages for people experiencing homelessness that includes things you might not think about immediately, like notes of encouragement.

There are plenty of online retailers where families can purchase care packages, but encourage your families to refrain from going the quick way. The goal is to come together to shop for individual items and reflect on what else they might want if they were in a similar situation. Spending an evening packaging up the care packages while listening to a family playlist and delivering them together, seeing the gratitude from the nonprofit or folks in need of support, helps everyone feel connected to the cause. 

Tip Five: Share Stories of Gratitude

Our last tip for this giving season is to develop a family practice of gratitude. Encourage families to share one thing they’re grateful for at dinner or before they go to bed. Another option is sending letters to folks they’re grateful for –– maybe that’s a teacher, a neighbor, or a grandparent, thanking them for their time and presence in the family’s life. 

Parents can offer kids prompts to dive deeper into their gratitude practice, inquiring why they chose a person, or why what they did mattered. Along with the other steps outlined in this blog, kids can also reflect on how the people receiving their kind deeds might feel grateful for them –– a person experiencing homelessness might have a warmer night’s sleep because of their new socks, or a dog in a shelter might have a better day because of a new toy they received all because of their hard work. 

This deep feeling of appreciation helps kids understand the value of giving back and inspires the families to make this an annual tradition.

Conclusion

Whether you nudge your families to volunteer, host a bake sale, give directly, make care packages, or just express more gratitude in their day-to-day lives, it can go a long way in helping their communities become stronger, safer, happier places to grow. The small acts of giving can strengthen family bonds and create a ripple effect of goodwill that spreads beyond the home. 

See if you can encourage families in your care to try just one of these things this holiday season and see how they can bring a little more holiday magic to their lives. 

Call to Action

Parenting Journey is one of the organizations that couldn’t operate without the kindness of donors. This Giving Tuesday, explore the various ways you can contribute, allowing more families to experience the benefits of Parenting Journey programming. Please consider donating to Parenting Journey this Giving Tuesday Season.