What Is Giving Tuesday?
GivingTuesday is a global movement that was started in 2012 with a simple mission: create a day that encourages people to do good. There are several ways to “do good” on GivingTuesday. Whether you write a note of “thanks” to your coach, donate your time to a worthwhile organization, or donate money to a nonprofit that is doing good things, there’s no right or wrong way to contribute to the day.
Below are five nonprofits that are doing great things in sports and education. Please consider donating your time, voice, advocacy, or money to these organizations or any others you feel passionate about.
1. ZGiRLS - https://www.zgirls.org/
Mission - Teaching girls to live without limitations of self doubt.
7 of 10 girls believe they aren’t good enough and ZGiRLS is on a mission to teach girls how to build their confidence despite how easy it is to fall into a spiral of negative self talk. In their group of champions, a group ZGiRLS has created to help young female athletes embody their confidence, who include Sue Bird, Brianna Decker and Missy Franklin are just a few among the list of all-star women.
2. Play It Forward - https://www.playitforwardsport.org/what-we-do
Mission - Advance gender equality by creating opportunities and sharing inspiration of women’s sports.
Play it Forward educates girls and turns around gender biases that stop women from being the leaders who they truly are. Creators of the HERstory virtual museum which is committed to highlighting all women in sports and their accomplishments which also serves to inspire athletes of the future. They look to use sports as a basis of empowering women in all aspects of their lives in the future.
3. RISE - https://risetowin.org/who-we-are/index.html#mission
Mission - Eliminating racial discrimination, championing social justice and boosting race relations within sports and through educating the sports community.
RISE is educating, empowering and engaging athletes to become aware of racism and creating advocates for social change. They have a series of ten modules to help teams learn about diversity which can either be taken digitally or in person. RISE has partnered with companies such as the NCAA, Pepsi and the NFL to create a change in 41 of the 48 continental United States and Canada.
4. Voice In Sport - https://www.voiceinsport.com/about
Mission - Voice in Sport (VIS) was founded in the goal of bringing more visibility to women in sports and helping elevate their voice.
VIS creates a safe space for women in sports through content created to help drive a change in women’s sports. They provide mentors for girls in sports which include college and professional athletes, like Lia Neal. VIS creates a platform where female athletes can be safe and feel comfortable reaching out for help and learning about differences and challenges that girls in sports face on a daily basis.
5. Fast and Female - https://fastandfemale.com/about/
Mission - To keep girls healthy and active in sports.
Fast and Female is looking to keep girls involved in sports through three main calls to action. One being creating a space in sports where girls feel like they belong and they are accepted through calling on everyone involved in sports to encourage this mindset. Fast and Female knows that when girls are all around healthy, they are more likely to stay involved in sports and educate those directly involved in sports, either as a parent, coach or athlete how to stay healthy mentally and physically. They also promote female role models with the popular belief that when you see someone like you, you are more likely to believe in yourself. Their role models are an A+ group of sports experts, Olympians and Paralympians who believe in everything that Fast and Female does.
