We’ve had Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, all aimed at encouraging holiday spending.

Now comes a different day making a pitch to part you from your money. But this gift is not for family, or even yourself. In fact, you might never know exactly who benefited from your participation in #Giving Tuesday.

That doesn’t mean it won’t feel good to give.

Today is Giving Tuesday, which annually takes place on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving. It has blossomed since it started in 2012, and reportedly drew $3.1 billion in donations in the United States in 2023, up 0.6% from the previous year, with 34 million adults participating.

Like the two major shopping days before it, #GivingTuesday offers some definite good reasons — beyond the simple thought of helping some charity or cause achieve their goals — for participating on that day. Some organizations, for example, will provide matching funds.

You can go international — all of the recommendations at www.givewell.org are outside the U.S. due to the level of help that can be achieved for every dollar — or find a worthy group in the U.S. as well.

Or perhaps you’d like to keep the money in the community. At least three area non-profits are listed on give906.org’s Giving Gift Guide 2024, the Upper Peninsula’s #GivingTuesday portal:

— Iron County 4-H, a program that “provides positive youth development opportunities.” To donate, make checks payable to Iron County 4-H Council and mail to 2 S. Sixth St., Suite 14, Crystal Falls, Michigan 49920.

— Dickinson Iron Community Services Agency, which has kicked off its Feed A Senior-Feed A Heart campaign to deliver hot meals to homebound seniors. The minimum donation is $10 — which covers one meal, including delivery costs, etc. — but there is no max. All donations can be made online at https://www.dicsami.org/.

— Crystal Falls Contemporary Center, which has a $500 goal to help the group “continue the work we do to enrich, inspire and create in the Crystal Falls community. https://www.cfcontemporarycenter.com/donate.

The #give906 site, at https://glcyd.org/programs/giving-tuesday/, has more than 40 U.P. organizations seeking donations and a link to donate or to learn more about getting involved. The guide is coordinated by Grow & Lead: Community and Youth Development.

A little advice for #GivingTuesday or any other time considering a donation: do some research on how the money is used and how much goes to the cause rather than administration, stay away from businesses trying to tap into trends as a marketing tool, beware of scammers and be certain the site used is legitimate.

Otherwise, Giving Tuesday is a great excuse to join a growing global movement and help some great causes.