Nonprofits offer balance to holiday buying

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - From Black Friday to Cyber Monday—It's all about how much you can get. Instead, the latest holiday shopping trend tapping into Albuquerque is focused on how much you can give.

It is called Giving Tuesday—a day devoted to giving to nonprofit organizations.

GivingTuesday.org is counting down to Nov. 27 promoting more than 2,000 organizations from across the country.

“If we are going to have Black Friday, Cyber Monday, I think Giving Tuesday is a perfect way to balance that out so we're thinking not only about buying things but also giving back to our communities,” Sarah Wilkinson says.

Wilkinson is the founder and executive director of Project PeacePal—one of four New Mexico-based nonprofits participating online.

It is a pen-pal organization connecting classrooms in Albuquerque with classrooms across the world.

Students send and receive letters as far as Ghana and Afghanistan.

Wilkinson says donations would go to the group's international partners.

“The schools need help,” she says. “Facilitators need help. We pay for postage, paper and pens for the schools.”

That is why Wilkinson and other nonprofit directors are hoping Giving Tuesday catches on as a new way to bring the spirit of giving back to the holidays.

Wilkinson herself had only heard about Giving Tuesday a few weeks ago.

She says next year, she's hoping to promote it in the weeks and months leading up to it and maybe even partner with other local organizations.