In the upcoming weeks, we all have presents to buy, food to prepare, and decorations to hang, but before we get to far into the holiday frenzy, today we’re inviting you to participate in making the world a better place this #GivingTuesday.

#GivingTuesday is a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration. It’s about ordinary people coming together to do extraordinary things.

In fact, last year 700,000 online donors stood up to make a difference, giving a total $117 million. Plus, #GivingTuesday was mentioned more than 1.3 million times on social media, elevating awareness of nonprofits in communities around the world.

Here in Grand Rapids, nonprofits have come together to celebrate generosity under the #GRgives hashtag, opening the opportunity to show that in Kent County we care about giving as much as receiving.

Here are three ways to participate in #GivingTuesday this year:

• SHARE THE LOVE: Start by helping us spread the word across social media about how #GRgives on #GivingTuesday. We wanted to make it easy for you, so we created a collection of Facebook cover photos, profile pictures and other graphics for you to download, available at  http://grgives.com/visualassets/.  
• GIVE: A 2015 study by YouGov showed that Millennials were just as interested in giving as spending, with almost equal numbers of people participating in #GivingTuesday as Cyber Monday and Black Friday. Join the movement to buy less and give more.
• VOLUNTEER: Volunteering is vital for helping nonprofits accomplish their missions, and another way to give is by pledging two hours of your time in the next year to advance a cause in our community. Whether you’d like to plant trees, serve meals or tutor students, there are hundreds of ways for you to plug in. Take a pledge to volunteer your time.

Want to go one step further? Introduce your friends to the nonprofits you love – share a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram post about the nonprofits you support and the great work they are doing in our community. Just remember to use the hashtags #GRGives and #GivingTuesday.   

If you’d like to give to a fund at the Community Foundation, you can donate here. For a full list of participating nonprofits and links to their individual donation pages, click here.  

Thanks for joining us in making our community a better place standing up to demonstrate #GRgives this #GivingTuesday.