Giving Tuesday 2026 is Tuesday, December 1, and a synagogue, Chabad house or school can plan it in three messages.
It is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, the one day of the year when Americans expect to be asked. On the Jewish calendar it is 21 Kislev 5787, three days before the first Hanukkah candle.
Americans gave $4.0 billion on Giving Tuesday 2025, more than on any Giving Tuesday before it.
38.1 million people took part in the United States that day, and 19.1 million of them gave money, by the GivingTuesday Data Commons. The day was born in 2012 at the 92nd Street Y in New York.
That money goes to the organizations that ask. A congregation with three clear messages and a sponsor's match behind them is ready to ask.
- 2023$3.1 billion
- 2024$3.6 billion
- 2025$4.0 billion
Given in the United States on each Giving Tuesday, as the GivingTuesday Data Commons reported it the next day: 2025, 2024 and 2023.
Three messages carry the whole day, and each one has its own job.
Send them to the people who already know you: the members' email list, the WhatsApp groups, the parents' chat, the Facebook page. On Israel.com, each page's share kit writes all three with your own link, sponsor and figures, and prints a poster with a QR code for the lobby.
1. Tuesday, November 24, any time
Tell them it is coming, and who is matching.
A week ahead, people can still make room for it. Name the sponsor and the cap, and give the link so the early givers can start.
The wordsExampleNext Tuesday is Giving Tuesday. A family in our community will match every gift to our new roof, up to $5,000, until 11:59 PM Eastern on December 1. Give early here: [your page's link]
2. December 1, in the morning
Say that today is the day, and that every gift is doubled.
Send it before people start their working day, by email and on WhatsApp, while the whole day and the whole match are still ahead.
The wordsExampleToday is Giving Tuesday, and every gift to our new roof is doubled until 11:59 PM Eastern, while the $5,000 match lasts. [your page's link]
3. December 1, 6 PM Eastern
Count down the last six hours, with the real numbers.
A real number that people can still change gives them a reason to give tonight. Open your page's dashboard that evening and send what it shows.
The wordsExampleSix hours left of Giving Tuesday. $1,760 of the match is still waiting to double your gift. [your page's link]
A sponsor's match makes more people give, and dollar for dollar works as well as anything bigger.
In the best-known test of it, the economists Dean Karlan and John List sent a charity's appeal to 50,083 past donors. The letters that announced a match made 22% more people give, and raised 19% more money per letter. Matching $2 or $3 for every dollar raised no more than matching $1 for $1.
So ask your sponsor for a dollar-for-dollar match with a higher cap, rather than a bigger ratio.
- A board member, a family or a local business promises an amount, say $5,000, and a deadline.
- You add the match to your page with its cap and its last minute, Tuesday, December 1 at 11:59 PM Eastern.
- The page tells every donor their gift is doubled, and shows how much of the match is left, with a clock counting down.
- After the day, the sponsor pays your organization directly for what was matched, up to the cap. No match money passes through Israel.com.
What donors see on the page
ExampleEvery gift doubled by the Adler family until Tuesday, December 1 at 11:59 PM Eastern.
$3,240 of the $5,000 match used, $1,760 left to double.
A clock under it counts down to the last minute of the match.
Out of every 100 past donors who got the letter, how many gave
- The letter without a match1.8
- The letter that announced a match2.2
Dean Karlan and John List, American Economic Review, 2007: letters to 50,083 past donors of one charity. J-PAL's summary.
A monthly gift started on Giving Tuesday is worth more than the day itself.
Ask for $18 or $36 a month, chai and double chai. A family that gives $36 once has given $36; a family that gives $36 a month has given $432 by next Giving Tuesday, and it arrives every month whether or not anyone sends a message.
On Israel.com, monthly is the first choice in the giving box on every organization's page. A monthly gift started during the campaign keeps going after December 1, every month until the donor stops it.
$36 a month, from one Giving Tuesday to the next
- Dec
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
One gift of $36 is $36. The same gift every month is $432 in its first year, and it does not stop when the year does.
Hanukkah begins three days later, on the evening of Friday, December 4.
That gives the campaign a second chapter: thank your donors on the first night, and tell them what their gifts will do this year. The Hanukkah guide has the eight nights and their dates.
The whole plan fits on one card.
- By Tuesday, November 17Make your page: one photograph, a goal, and one sentence that says what the money does.
- By Friday, November 20Ask a board member, a family or a local business for a match, and put it on the page with its cap.
- On Tuesday, November 24Send the first message, and put the printed poster with its QR code up in the lobby for the week.
- Tuesday, December 1, morningSend the second message, by email and on WhatsApp.
- Tuesday, December 1, 6 PM EasternSend the last one, with the evening's figures from your dashboard.
- Wednesday, December 2Thank everyone who gave, and tell them what the money will do.
Your dashboard sets a Giving Tuesday campaign up in one click: the page ends at Tuesday, December 1 at 11:59 PM Eastern, and a $5,000 match is filled in for you to change. Israel.com charges your organization nothing. The donor pays the card processing fee on top, so the whole gift reaches you, and gifts are paid into your bank account about two business days after each one. Signing up takes two minutes of questions, then 10 to 20 minutes for your bank and identity details.
What people ask about Giving Tuesday 2026
When is Giving Tuesday 2026?+
Giving Tuesday 2026 is Tuesday, December 1, 2026, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. On the Jewish calendar it is 21 Kislev 5787.
When is Giving Tuesday 2027?+
Tuesday, November 30, 2027. It is always the Tuesday after the fourth Thursday of November.
Is Giving Tuesday a Jewish holiday?+
No. It is a day of giving that began in 2012 at the 92nd Street Y in New York, and nonprofits of every kind now keep it. Many synagogues and schools build their year-end campaign around it.
How does a matching gift work on Giving Tuesday?+
A sponsor promises to match the gifts others make, dollar for dollar, up to a cap and until a deadline. The page shows every gift doubled and a clock counting down, and the sponsor pays the organization directly for what was matched.
Does Israel.com take a percentage of what we raise?+
No. Your organization receives every dollar donors give. The donor pays the card processing fee on top, and may add a tip to Israel.com, which is how Israel.com is paid.
What happens to monthly gifts after Giving Tuesday?+
They keep coming. A campaign's end date stops new gifts, never a monthly gift that is already running: it goes on every month until the donor stops it.
Figures from GivingTuesday's 2025 results and 2024 results, and from Karlan and List (2007). Read on 16 October 2026.