Giving Tuesday: 6 Reasons to Give

Every day is Giving Tuesday for buildOn, but the official day is one of our favorites of the year. It’s a day that follows giving thanks and it’s all about giving back.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic making it difficult for all of us to physically give and be in community, buildOn will not stop giving, building and serving. Today, the need for education in uncrowded classrooms is greater than ever. If we stop building now, an entire generation could miss their one opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty. But buildOn communities aren’t giving up, and neither are we. On this Giving Tuesday, spread a little extra kindness. And if you want to help keep the giving going all year long, consider making a gift to buildOn on Giving Tuesday.

Here are six great reasons to give:

1. We can end poverty and illiteracy. But we can’t do it alone.

Today, there are 773 million people worldwide unable to read and write their own names. In the U.S., 34 million people are living below the poverty line. We can end illiteracy and poverty, but it will take every person working together to solve it. By equipping rural villages in the world’s economically poorest countries with the help needed to build their own schools, and empowering young people with the skills needed to serve their underserved cities, we’re breaking this cycle, but we need your help to do it. Donate now.

2. Donations are doubled on Giving Tuesday

Our friends Britta and Denis Nayden are huge supporters of buildOn’s work, and they want you be a part of the movement, too. That’s why they’re matching donations made to buildOn on Giving Tuesday.* Your gift will have twice the impact helping break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations. Give today.

* Up to $100,000 of donations made directly to buildOn. Does not apply to buildOn Community Teams or other individual fundraising projects.

3. Help locally. Give Globally.

You don’t have to choose between helping your neighbors in need and helping people struggling thousands of miles away. buildOn’s global approach — serving underserved communities in the U.S. and rural villages in the developing world — means you can make an impact locally and globally with one gift. Your donation will both help teens serve their communities and help build schools abroad where they’re needed most. Make your gift.

4. Make a sustainable investment

When you give to buildOn, your donation is just the beginning. When a new school is constructed with buildOn, a generation of students is educated increasing their earning power an estimated 10% for each year completed. When a teen serves his community with us, they miss 2 times fewer days of school than his peers him more likely to graduate. That’s why 97% of our U.S. students finish high school in four years and 83% go on to college. This is how we’re breaking the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations. Donate now.

5. Help for every member of the community

From the second-graders our U.S. high school students tutor each week, to the 70-year old women learning to write their names for the first time in our global Adult Literacy Program, buildOn helps every member of the communities we serve — even those who are too often overlooked. So while your gift helps us build schools for kids in developing countries, it’s also helping serve homebound seniors, people with disabilities, individuals experiencing homelessness, and many more here in the U.S. Give today.

6. Our model proven and trusted

We’ve been on the front lines of the fight to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations for more than twenty-five years, empowering U.S. youth to give more than 2 million hours of community service and empowering communities worldwide to give more than 3 million volunteer days building schools. For 16 consecutive years, buildOn has earned a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator. Only 1% of the charities rated have received at least 16 consecutive 4-star evaluations for fiscal responsibility, so you know you’re making a sound investment when you give to buildOn.

Give today at buildon.org/get-involved/donate