GivingTuesday 2024: A Day to Give To Others After a Weekend of Getting

For over a decade, I have dedicated the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to GivingTuesday. GivingTuesday reimagines a world built upon shared humanity and generosity. This weekend was about shopping and getting yourself the best deals. Today is a time to give to others: your money, your time, your talents, your platform, and whatever you can do in your ability to benefit others.

GivingTuesday 2024 and Wardrobe Oxygen

Each GivingTuesday, I donate a percentage of the profits from Wardrobe Oxygen to a deserving charity or organization. Sometimes, it is a lump sum, and sometimes, it is a monthly donation, but it adds up to 10% of what Wardrobe Oxygen earns in a year.

What is GivingTuesday?

GivingTuesday was created by Henry Timms and the 92nd Street Y. Cofounded by the United Nations Foundation, GivingTuesday started in 2012 as a way for people to do good within their capacity.

Growing up, Black Friday was a single day. Now in 2024, with the internet and the ease of online shopping, it has become Cyber Week with deals starting days before Thanksgiving and going into this week. But what if we all took one day of buying and spent a day giving back? GivingTuesday was created to do just that.

Once I heard about GivingTuesday I was all in. I decided to dedicate the first Tuesday after the Black Friday weekend to it, not to show off what money I sent where and what volunteering I did but to be a moment in your feed of buy buy buy to read about some special organizations and think about ways you too can give to and support others.

Organizations Wardrobe Oxygen Supported in 2024 and for GivingTuesday

While I usually choose the orginization/s at the start of the year, I am known to switch directions or add on charities based on what is going on in the world and our country. With all that happened in 2024 and will continue into 2025, Wardrobe Oxygen donated to several organizations throughout the year. And with that, the organizations supported by Wardrobe Oxygen for GivingTuesday and every day in 2025:

CMMP: A Consistent Money Moving Project

In 2020, I first learned about Mutual Aid and how it can benefit those who may be overlooked by bigger charities. By giving money directly to those in need without big budgets for staff and marketing, Mutual Aid can make a radical difference right in your neighborhood. Since then, I have been donating $5 a week to a Mutual Aid program; this year, it is CMMP, AKA a Consistent Money Moving Project for the Washington, D.C. area.

CMMP came out of a realization that consistency and certainty in transferring small amounts regularly has a lot of value to many people dealing with poverty and that a project structured around such transfers could also make for a relatively light lift for those contributing to the pot for distribution.

Since the project’s inception, CMMP has grown from moving money to a few individuals to over twenty. Most recipients are Black, long-time Washingtonians. Many are parents of young children. Some are not securely housed, and at least two recipients have recently re-entered society after incarceration.

In its fifteenth season, CMMP receives weekly pledges from over 200 people totaling $3,085 weekly. CMMP currently pays out money to 18 recipients in weekly amounts between $155 and $175 (depending on household size) and to one additional recipient, receiving $100 a week. That may seem like a small amount to some, but that money can put gas in the car to get to work, put food on the table daily, buy kids clothes and school uniforms, and pay bills for housing and utilities.

If you wish to learn more or get involved in organizing, the CMMP website and the CMMP Basics doc provide information on the program's core values, how it operates, and how to participate. You can also follow CMMP on Instagram.

National Network of Abortion Funds

The year, each time I read another article about a person dying due to lack of abortion access, each time I had a person use their religion to justify the government controlling women's healthcare, and each time I heard of another ban or law preventing access, I donated to NNAF.

The National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) is determined to build a world where all reproductive options are valued, accessible, and stigma-free. NNAF is a network of nearly 100 abortion funds across our country. Abortion funds are grassroots organizations that support people seeking abortion access. NNAF receives a 100% Four-Star Charity rating from Charity Navigator.

NNAF believes all people know how to best care for their own bodies and build their own families. And NNAF is committed to ensuring the conversation about racial, economic, and reproductive justice includes the people most affected by the barriers to abortion access. NNAF supports member abortion funds by providing grants, leadership development, infrastructure support, and technical assistance. And Wardrobe Oxygen supports NNAF on GivingTuesday and every day.

Success in Style

As a style influencer and content creator, it is disgusting how much free clothing my peers and I receive on the daily, while many struggle to have clothing to wear with confidence to a job interview. We've all seen the mountains of discarded clothing in other countries, and read the articles about how a lot of donated clothing never reaches a recipient.

Success in Style (SIS) is a Maryland-based organization that offers fashion consults, professional attire, and interview skills to support in-crisis individuals pursuing employment. SIS takes monetary and apparel donations. Donated professional attire and accessories in great condition are added to the closet to job seekers. The other clothing is sold in one of three resale clothing boutiques in Historic Savage Mill. The profits from the sold clothing go back to the SIS employment support program.

Before my mom passed away and life went topsy-turvy, I donated my time to Success in Style. The staff of the Savage Mill boutiques are volunteers and often are looking for those who can work when many are at school or the job place. Each shift, I would bring clothing I received from brands and/or no longer fit in my closet or life.

I really enjoyed the experience working at Charity's Closet and Charity's First Picks. When life made it nearly impossible for me to volunteer my time, I signed up to send a monthly financial donation. The experience really made me curb my clothing shopping and accepting of gifted apparel.

I believe a hardworking closet that brings you comfort and joy is a valuable investment, but walking through the warehouse of clothing at SIS is a harsh reminder that there is enough clothing on this planet, it's just not well-distributed to those who need it. And SIS is trying to do just that here in my home state.

I Support the Girls

In 2015, a neighbor shared on Facebook that she was collecting bras and menstrual products for a friend who would take them to DC shelters. I gathered up items from the back of my intimates drawer and linen closet and added them to the community donation to a woman named Dana Marlowe. 

Little did I know that single Facebook request for donations was what started I Support the Girls. That year, I shared I Support the Girls for Giving Tuesday. Since then, I have been a supporter of I Support the Girls and consider its founder, Dana Marlowe a friend.

It has been thrilling to see how I Support the Girls has grown to be able to help people have access to bras, underwear, and menstrual hygiene products across the globe. I Support the Girls has created a national clearing house to encourage ISTG's 51 affiliates to collect locally and distribute locally in their communities.

Periods don’t stop for homelessness, or domestic violence, or natural disasters, or pandemics, or any other difficult situation. Over 34 million products have been donated since ISTG started in 2015. I have donated to ISTG since 2015 and will continue to do so as I have seen the major impact the organization has here in Maryland and internationally.

I Support the Girls appreciates financial donations, but also is successful thanks to those donating their time. Consider hosting a drive in your community. Have Dana speak at your workplace, event, or organization to increase visibility for those experiencing homelessness and how they lack such necessary items for hygiene and dignity.

Meals on Wheels

Our country does a poor job of caring for its elderly. With so many folks one paycheck away from homelessness, seniors are at the highest risk. Among Americans 60 and older, a quarter of them live alone, 29% have a disability, almost 15% of them are veterans, and 12 million of them are threatened by or experience hunger.

The Meals on Wheels network is comprised of 5,000 community-based programs across the country dedicated to addressing senior hunger and isolation by delivering balanced meals to their residence. Meals on Wheels serves 2.2 million seniors annually and recipients say the program has improved their health, made them feel more secure, and helps them live independently.

I began supporting Meals on Wheels at the end of 2022 when I learned about my local program and the large number of seniors they support right in my zip code. My mom was in the neighborhood Golden Age Club and shared stories of members who struggle to shop for groceries, cook, and even remember to eat on a daily basis and how they benefit from Meals on Wheels.

Follow this link to the Meals on Wheels website where you can enter your zip code and find a local Meals on Wheels program. You can then contact to receive meals for you or another, and also find out how to donate directly.

Supporting Organizations on GivingTuesday

Maybe you haven’t heard of one or more of these organizations I shared and this post opened your eyes, heart, and wallet for one of them. Or maybe you support or run an organization that does good in a community you care about. Do share in the comments the name, the URL/website, and a brief description so we can learn more and give more!

Let’s be honest, you came to Wardrobe Oxygen for shopping advice. Maybe it was how to style something already in your closet but likely if I showed just the right sweater or lip balm, you would click and buy.

Consider taking what you would have spent on that item and donate it to one of these organizations or the organizations in the comments below. In my expert opinion, that is the chicest thing you can do today, it’s also the most beneficial treatment for your complexion!