December 3 was Giving Tuesday, an event described by its organizer, GivingTuesday.org, as “a global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world.”

Now in its seventh year, Giving Tuesday inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate and celebrate generosity. According to GivingTuesday.org, a total of $511,000,000 was raised online in the U.S. The total raised online and offline in the U.S. amounted to $1.97 billion. Included in the total were the funds raised by optical industry organizations to help those in need of eyewear and eyecare.

Classy, a creator of online fundraising software for nonprofits, reported that it broke Giving Tuesday records again this year with $19.4 million raised on the platform, an increase of nearly $4 million over last year's total. The total number of donations on the platform was up 22 percent with more than 173,000 donations processed across more than 6,400 campaigns.

According to Classy, more than 153,000 individual donors made Giving Tuesday contributions, representing a 20 percent increase over last year. Classy predicted this growth in the number of individual donors in the company's Why America Gives 2019 report, released last month, which showed that awareness of Giving Tuesday rose by 10 percent within the past year (from 27 percent in 2018 to 37 percent in 2019). However, while men were more likely than women to have heard of Giving Tuesday in this year's survey (39 percent vs. 35 percent), women made up nearly two-thirds of Giving Tuesday donors on the platform (63 percent).

Furthermore, as nonprofits across the nation aim to grow their recurring and repeat donors—a topic explored extensively in Classy's second annual report, The State of Modern Philanthropy 2019, published this past May—the Classy platform saw a considerable increase in the number of recurring donations made on Giving Tuesday, up 35 percent from last year, which could be indicative of the increase of new recurring donor sign-ups occurring throughout the past 12 months.

"Though we knew that awareness of Giving Tuesday increased this year, we're incredibly inspired to see the substantial growth in the number of donors and donations from across the globe," said Scot Chisholm, Classy CEO and co-founder. "As we head into the holiday season, we're looking forward to seeing this generosity continue and excited for our customers who can use these donations to expand their impact."

The accompanying infographic, created by Classy, provides a detailed look at who contributed to Giving Tuesday contributions, what states they live in, the top 5 categories for giving, and other key statistics.

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