It's #GivingTuesday!

Welp, Thanksgiving 2012 has come and gone and prayerfully, your waistline will not tell the tale of it.If your waistline doesn't, I am wondering if your wallet will. It appears we have fallen for the okey-doke yet again this year, damn-near killing each other to get our hands on the latest gadgets and gizmos. Early reports show that U.S. consumers spent a record $1.042 billion online on Black Friday 2012, a 26% increase over the same day last year, according to new figures from comScore, an Internet analytics firm.Shoppers also found time between the cooking, eating and watching football to spend an additional $633 million on Thanksgiving Day, a 32% jump from the year before.*sigh*If buyers' remorse now has you poised to do something good, I ask you to consider #GivingTuesday. 

Happening today, the new initiative, spearheaded by the 92nd Street Y in New York in partnership with several national nonprofits, aims to establish a national day of charitable giving. The idea is to tap into the holiday season urge to donate to favored charities and causes, focus it, and grow it. It  has sparked interest on social media and on YouTube, where a video from Charity Navigator provides tips on selecting charities that will make good use of your money.At the #GivingTuesday website, you can sort participating agencies by state, then click on those you like to go to individual websites, many of which make donating just a click away and provide ways to become involved as a volunteer.So, will you rock with #GivingTuesday? If so, who will you support?