Worcesteria: Drowning in options on Giving Tuesday

The Greater Worcester Land Trust's “Giving Tuesday” campaign asks a question guaranteed to cut straight to the heart of most Worcesterites: “Does this pothole look welcoming to you?” The campaign is “to fill the trailhead potholes at the Donker Farm parking area,” but let's face it: a sense of humor helps sell these things, especially here in Worcester, and potholes are a Worcesterite's natural enemy in the wild. (In the interest of disclosure, my wife works part time for GWLT.)

“Giving Tuesday” is one of those things that popped up online a few years ago and has embedded itself in the culture, an altruistic antidote to Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. That it jibes with end of the year tax write-off donations doesn't hurt, either. The problem, of course, is that most of the campaigns start on Giving Tuesday, and thus both social and professional media struggle to keep up. Everyone's Twitter feeds are logjammed with #GivingTuesday tweets, and reporters can't really get a handle on what's happening until the day's mostly over. Never mind print! Thankfully, most nonprofits are smart enough to keep their campaigns open for a week or even a month.

While some nonprofits are taking a jocular approach to grab donor attention, others are laying out exactly what your donation will accomplish. Abby's House, for example, is trying to raise $15,000 for its food and nutrition program, helping more than 60 women in need with two food pantry distributions a month, two hot meals every week, eight community meals each month and holiday meals. That's a persuasive argument while food insecurity remains a major issue.

A quick scan of Twitter and Facebook shows a wide variety of efforts and organizations in need: WICN, Worcester's only NPR affiliate, is taking the tried-and-true public radio tactic of all donations Tuesday up to $5,000 being doubled. The Worcester Cultural Commission has an online guide up to its member organizations that allows you to donate to any of the organizations from right there on the website. Main IDEA Youth & Arts is offering two ways to support its free after-school art clubs: Sponsoring a $14 cookie kit through The Cookie Lady's Daughter and various levels of art supplies and art kits through CC Lowell. The Worcester Animal Rescue League is brazenly resorting to emotional blackmail with photos of adorable kittens they've just taken in, and even as I type this I am only saved from adopting them all by my wife's allergy to cats.

This is only scratching the surface. Just about any nonprofit you can think of, both in the region and nationally, currently has a campaign running, and let's be honest: Most of them can use a little help year-round, not just on a designated Tuesday after Thanksgiving. But there is something particularly rewarding about supporting nonprofits close to home: A sense that your dollars are having an immediate effect on the world around you, that you can be affecting the lives of people you pass in the street, that you can cuddle those adorable kittens right this second, and of course, that you can help repair potholes that are preventing you from easily accessing one of the city's great nature trails, on the grounds of the city's only working farm. The urge to defeat potholes anywhere in the city is powerful, but honestly, just about any of these causes is worth your time and generosity.