Courtesy Photo Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan was awarded Grant the Giving Tuesday Golden Goose for garnering the most donations on Giving Tuesday.

ALPENA — On the heels of the popular shopping days of Black Friday and Cyber Monday comes Giving Tuesday today.

The Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan is helping to raise awareness and support for many local nonprofits.

“We look forward to Giving Tuesday every year. With its camaraderie, light-heartedness, and the incredible support shown for our local nonprofits, it is such a positive and uplifting community event,” said CFNEM Executive Director Patrick Heraghty. “Last year, over $365,000 was raised in 24 hours. There is never a way to know what each year will bring, but we hope the community will show up (today) to make this year another successful year for the nonprofits in our area.”

This year marks the Community Foundation’s eighth year leading a local event here in Northeast Michigan. Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving meant to harness the collective power of individuals, communities, and organizations to celebrate generosity worldwide. The 24-hour giving event is held annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) to kick off the holiday giving season. The hope is that people will set aside a few minutes from holiday shopping to give back to their community through the charities and causes they support.

To help the 62 participating local nonprofits take part in Giving Tuesday, CFNEM will provide the technical infrastructure through its website and social media to showcase and manage donations, all at no cost to the participating organizations. One hundred percent of every donation will go to the nonprofit of the donors’ choice. Donors can visit cfnem.org today and make donations to any, some, or all of these nonprofits.

Heraghty also noted that, in addition to the participating organizations, donors may also make donations to any fund at CFNEM or its affiliate foundations as a Giving Tuesday gift.

“While we have many organizations participating in the campaign, CFNEM also holds 500 different charitable funds that support so many different causes and organizations,” said Heraghty. “Donations to those funds will be counted on November 29 as Giving Tuesday gifts, as well.”

Five years ago, Grant the Giving Tuesday Golden Goose was introduced as a fun way to bolster some friendly competition between nonprofits. Grant is awarded to the nonprofit raising the most money on Giving Tuesday and went last year to the Alpena Community College Foundation. After spending nearly a year at ACC, Grant has migrated back to the Community Foundation to await word on his 2022-23 residency.

In addition to the four-county area that CFNEM serves, it also is the administrative arm for three affiliate foundations covering a five-county area. Each affiliate has nonprofits in their communities participating, as well.

Giving Tuesday Northeast Michigan began at midnight and continues to 11:59 p.m. The public will be able to make donations for a full 24 hours, and monitor the total amount donated online throughout the day. The total amount donated to each organization will be announced at an online live event after Giving Tuesday.

While Giving Tuesday Northeast Michigan is primarily an online giving event, donors are welcome to drop off checks at the CFNEM offices at 100 N. Ripley, Suite F, in Alpena. Checks must be dropped off today to be counted as a Giving Tuesday donation.