Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not a new concept. Companies of all sizes take CSR very seriously, developing systems and programs designed to do good in the world, which in turn increase positive PR, sales, and customer loyalty. But there’s another side of doing good that’s often overlooked by companies—at a drastic cost to the bottom line. A 2013 report from Gallup estimated that employee disengagement, which is at an all-time high since Gallup first began polling employees in 2000, costs U.S. companies an astonishing $450-$550 billion dollars in lost productivity each year. Indeed, only 30% of U.S. workers are actively engaged, enthusiastic, and committed to their workplace. The remaining 70% of employees, who are either not engaged or actively disengaged, feel emotionally disconnected from their workplace and are therefore less productive and more likely to miss work, negatively influence customers and fellow employees, and even steal from their company. For business owners, these data are sobering. With Americans now working an average of 47 hours per week, it’s disheartening to think about how much of that time is spent working against profitability.

A 2013 study on employee engagement (Anik, et al) offers a ray of hope. Prosocial bonuses—incentives with a shifted focus from self to others—are shown to produce measurable benefits for employees and organizations.

In order to test the effects of prosocial bonuses, employees in several different experiments were given money and instructed to spend it either on themselves or on a teammate. Following reported monthly sales as an indication of performance, the researchers discovered that for every $10.00 an employee spend on his or herself, the company received $3.00 back. For every $10.00 an employee spent to benefit a teammate, the company received $52.00 in return.

In another experiment, the researchers gave bank employees charity vouchers ranging in value between $25.00 and $50.00. The employees that received the higher value vouchers to donate to charity later reported greater happiness and job satisfaction than those who received a lower amount or who did not receive a voucher at all in the control group.

“In almost every country in the world,” said one of the study authors during a TEDx talk on the subject of money and happiness, “people who give money to charity are happier than people who don’t give money to charity.” And happier employees, it turns out, are more likely to come up with new ideas, solve complex problems, and feel more actively engaged in the workplace.

So how can companies use this information to increase employee satisfaction, engagement, and company profit margins? Keep the following tips in mind:

1. Go slow. If company bonuses or rewards have previously come in the form of cash or material goods, a sudden change to a prosocial bonus may be jarring—even downright disagreeable—to employees. Instead, begin weaving prosocial alternatives in to the company’s existing bonus structure.
2. Choose your words. Messaging is important. Communicating to employees that the company cares about what they care about, and wants to support them in making a difference, will help employees feel valued and empowered.
3. Make it personal. Rather than making a company-wide policy to donate to a specific charity or cause, ask employees what matters to them and how they want to get involved. Giving workers a chance to make an impact in an area they feel passionate about will allow them to connect more deeply with the experience and with the company for providing the opportunity.

Read the earlier posts in the Science of Giving series:
#1: What we talk about when we talk about altruism
#2: Why elevation changes your behavior
#3: Transforming the classroom through generosity
#4: The secret to raising a generous child
#5: How giving can improve your health

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Science of Giving #1: What We Talk About When We Talk About Altruism. The six-month series kicks off with a blog post that explains the definition of altruism, where altruistic decisions originate in the brain, and how our brains reward us for acting generously. The post also highlights some of the heroic efforts made by Carlos Arrendondo in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013 as an example of altruism in action. >>Click to read

Science of Giving #2: Why Elevation Changes Your Behavior.  Research documents an important link between elevation, also known as the “warm glow effect,” and a person’s willingness to help someone else. This link has compelling implications for everything from family relationships to philanthropic behavior, which we explore in this Science of Giving article. >>Click to read

Science of Giving #3: Transforming the Classroom Through Generosity. In this post we uncover a surprising connection between student well-being and generosity, and present resources for parents and teachers to learn more about bringing generosity and altruism into the classroom. >>Click to read

Science of Giving #4: The Secret to Raising a Generous Child. This article explores new scientific discoveries about the role of generosity in promoting childhood health and well being, as well as research-based techniques for encouraging this behavior in children. >>Click to read

Science of Giving #5: How Giving Can Improve Your Health. Learn about the physical health benefits of financial giving and volunteering, such as a longer life span, fewer aches and pains, and better overall physical and mental well-being. >>Click to read

Science of Giving #6: How Giving Can Benefit Your Business. Discover how employee engagement affects the bottom line–and how engaging workers in charitable giving can increase productivity and profits. >>Click to read

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“[This should be a] wake-up call to parents,” says child psychologist and author Michele Borba. “We need to reprioritize our parenting agendas ASAP. The science reveals the irony of the situation: happier and more successful kids care about others, they are able to relate, be concerned, and respect differences, and a lack of empathy makes kids less successful, and less happy.”
This dilemma, which authors of The Children We Mean to Raise dub the rhetoric/reality gap, presents parents with an unforeseen challenge. Yes, we want our children to be kind, compassionate, and generous human beings. We probably even talk to them about the importance of these qualities. But how can we ensure these messages aren’t being drowned out by a louder, more persistent focus on achievement, happiness, and other forms of personal success?

An innate desire to share
Focusing on generosity may be the perfect place to start. From a holistic perspective, generosity in children means more than simply sharing a toy with a friend or sibling. When we think about raising generous kids, what we’re hoping for is that they will thrive in all sorts of relationships by being willing to give and share. We want them to learn to appreciate making a positive contribution to their community and develop a healthy sense of self that recognizes their individual capacity to create change as well as their fundamental connectedness to the world around them.
From an early age, children demonstrate an incredible capacity to behave generously. Even without parental encouragement, young toddlers will spontaneously assist a stranger or share their much-loved treats. Studies on this seemingly innate motivation to be generous challenge the prevailing belief that children must be taught how to give. Indeed, not only do children seem to instinctively understand how and why they should be generous, studies indicate that they find this helping behavior to be intrinsically rewarding. Being generous just makes kids happier.

A foundation for personal success
Prosocial behavior—behaviors intended to help other people, such as empathy, altruism and generosity—appears to directly connect to a number of factors important for our children’s personal success. Early demonstrations of prosocial behavior help boost later academic achievement, as well as contribute to stronger peer relationships. Children who give are happier, physically healthier, and more socially connected than their less generous counterparts. In short, The Children We Mean to Raise study claims we are focusing too much on the importance of achievement and happiness, rather than helping our children actually achieve such personal success by focusing instead on generosity.

Getting results
With this new understanding about the intrinsic nature of generosity, the burden has shifted for parents. Rather than preaching about the moral and ethical reasons for being generous, we can focus instead on providing our children with the guidance and tools they need to build on what they already know. The secret to raising generous children simply lies in consistently building on their innate capacity to give.

Here are a few suggestions for putting this into practice at home:

1. Keep generosity at the forefront of conversations. “Did you finish your homework?” and “How did you do on that test?” are questions we ask our kids on a regular basis, placing an unintentional emphasis on the value of achievement. Consider adding some new questions to your after-school conversations, such as “What was the kindest thing you saw someone do today?”
2. Turn giving into a family project. Picking charitable or volunteer projects to do together helps solidify generosity as a family value. Try spending one evening a month doing something generous as a family, such as spending time at a food bank or picking up trash in your neighborhood.
3. Ask questions that spark critical thinking and creativity. In The Children We Mean to Raise, study authors recommend that parents help children “zoom in” on issues affecting their close community, and “zoom out” on issues affecting the wider world. Discussing these issues (appropriately) with children helps develop empathy by practicing taking the perspectives of those affected, and gets the creative juices flowing about how to make a difference. Rather than telling your child that your elderly neighbor’s wife passed away and that you’ll be sending over a casserole, engage your child in a discussion about the situation. “Here’s what happened… what do you think we could do to help?”
4. Create a new tradition. Turn an existing tradition such as birthdays or holidays into an opportunity to practice generosity by including a charity gift card in your Christmas stockings or collecting donations of canned food along with birthday presents. Alternatively, try creating a new “holiday” by picking a date to be your annual Family Giving Day, and plan on using that day to give back each year.
5. Celebrate positive steps. Experts recommend against rewarding prosocial behavior, but finding other ways to celebrate acts of kindness or generosity can help reinforce your child’s intrinsic motivations to give. Telling your child how much you appreciate their contribution when they do extra chores or sharing stories about each other’s generous moments will help children feel valued, and further weave the importance of generosity into the fabric of your family.

Helping our children establish a strong, well-rounded value system is something we all hope to achieve as parents. However, the daily worries about grades, friendships, schedules, and other day-to-day details of parenting can sometimes color the overall message we send to our kids; we tend to talk most about what worries us most. Simply redirecting the focus of our daily conversations and family activities can completely change our children’s perception of what we value most. Focusing on generosity over personal achievement will not only help them succeed more in the long run, but they’ll be happier, more connected, and more deeply fulfilled along the way.
Read the earlier posts in the Science of Giving series:

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I needn’t have worried. From the opening group brainstorming session on examples of philanthropy (which we defined as “sharing time, talent or treasure to create positive change”) to the final enrichment vocabulary activity, the students were taking things very seriously. There was, after all, real money involved: each student received a TisBest Charity Gift Card worth $1.00 to donate towards a cause they felt passionate about. For many of the students, this was the first time anyone—much less an adult—sat down with them and asked them what they care about, and how they think they can help.

The charity gift card activity moved us to the computer lab, where one particularly quiet boy named Vincent caught my eye. As his classmates peppered me with questions about donating their gift card dollars, Vincent sat quietly in front of the screen, methodically scanning each category of charities. Finally, he motioned me over.

“Excuse me,” he said in a softly accented whisper. “My family is from Peru. Are there any charities that help people in Peru?”
“Let’s take a look,” I said, and a smile spread across his face. Later, as I was combing through my notes from the lesson, I noticed that Vincent had chosen to donate his dollar to Children’s Hunger Fund. During the donation process, students are asked to write a note to their teacher explaining why they donated to the charity they chose to support. I looked up Vincent’s note.
I gave to this charity because I think it is good that they fight hunger all over the world, Vincent wrote. I knew that in his heart, he made the donation for the children of Peru. 

A ripple effect
Recent research has shown that generosity is contagious, affecting others up to three degrees in human interactions: from person to person to person to person.  A study out of Harvard Medical School tracked the generous behavior of participants, which eventually tripled by the end of the intervention. One possibility? The powerful influence of elevation (that warm, fuzzy feeling we get when we see someone perform a good deed). By triggering the elevation response, one person’s good deed begins to travel quickly within a social network, influencing the decisions and behavior of others. Within the incubated setting of a classroom, the results of such a shift in attitude and behavior can be immediate and long-lasting.

The emotional effects of generosity and elevation are of growing interest to researchers. In children as young as 2 years old, studies have demonstrated a remarkable link between giving and happiness, indicating that from a very early age human brains are designed to find giving intrinsically rewarding. This link persists into adulthood and across cultures all over the world. Studies have also documented the benefits to those who are “elevated” by witnessing an act of generosity or compassion, showing that students who experience elevation have a decrease in anxiety, stress and depression, and an increase in levels of compassion and psychological flourishing.

For any teacher struggling to turn around a negative classroom atmosphere, these studies offer a welcome—and stunningly simple—solution.

Boosting academics
An increasing number of classroom programs focus on practicing prosocial behaviors such as generosity, empathy and compassion. In a classroom setting, a focus on prosocial skills has been shown to increase the level of helping behaviors in students, and decrease levels of aggression and bullying. Studies have also noted an important connection between prosocialness and academic performance, showing a positive correlation between early demonstrations of prosocial behavior and later academic achievement. Students who are helpful and generous with others may also experience stronger and healthier friendships, as well as decreased physical and verbal aggression.
The effects of engaging in service learning projects are equally remarkable. When students share their time or talent in the service of others, the positive benefits read like a laundry list of a parent’s deepest desires: service learning projects correspond with stronger student performance in math, reading, history, social studies and science. These students are more likely to complete high school, and less likely to engage in risky behaviors such as smoking, drugs and early sexual activity.
Programs like DiscoverGiving aren’t just about teaching kids how to donate money or volunteer their time, however worthy those activities may be. By tapping into the intrinsic motivations behind giving and generosity, students can begin to explore one of life’s most important and fundamental questions: What kind of impact do I want to have on the world? For an 8, 10 or 12 year old whose life is a carefully orchestrated series of events, considering what kind of difference they can make in the world can be deeply, powerfully transformative.

For Vincent, whose family traveled almost 5,000 miles away from home and began a new life on a new continent, the ability to give did more than reconnect him to his homeland: it helped him put down roots in his new life. In that tiny computer lab with its beat up old monitors and flickering fluorescent lights, Vincent learned that he matters. He learned that his choices are valued, and that what he cares about is valid and important. Multiply this experience by 24, and you’ve got a class full of students who see the world—and themselves—a little differently now. Academic benefits aside, can you imagine how things might be if every child came home from school having learned how much this world needs them? This, my friends, is an achievable goal. Go out and make it happen for a classroom in your neighborhood.

Resources for parents:

• Raising Happiness blog with Dr. Christine Carter
• Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child, by John Gottman, PhD

Resources for teachers:

• DiscoverGiving, a classroom philanthropy project from TisBest
• Learning to Give lesson plans
• Greater Good Science Center

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Brilliant marketing? Absolutely: within weeks of its debut, the ad had more than 6 million views from all over the world, ultimately landing a spot on TED’s coveted Ads Worth Spreading list. But what’s really going on in this commercial? Why did it resonate so deeply and immediately with each of those 6 million viewers? Watching the ad made me feel… different. I felt lighter, cheerier, and a little more optimistic about the human race. A warm, gooey feeling spread through my chest, and I had an overwhelming desire to hug someone. According to psychologists, the scientific term for this happy gooey feeling is elevation, sometimes referred to as the “warm glow” effect.

Elevation occurs when one person witnesses another person perform a good deed. In other words, if I see you do something nice, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And here’s the clincher: studies have shown that when a person experiences elevation, they are in turn more likely to perform an act of kindness or generosity themselves.

One fascinating study asked participants to watch one of three videos. One group watched a neutral video, a clip from a nature documentary. A second group watched a clip from a British comedy, inducing feelings of mirth. A third group watched a heart-tugging segment from the Oprah Winfrey show, which sparked feelings of elevation. In order to determine whether or not those participants who felt the warm glow were more likely to pay it forward than their neutral or simply happy counterparts, the researchers devised a clever little trick. After participants watched their clip, a research assistant pretended to experience a problem opening up a file that she needed to complete the experiment. Exasperated, she told participants they could leave early, and then as an afterthought, she asked if they would mind filling out a questionnaire for another study. This questionnaire was optional, she explained, and they could leave at any time. Astonishingly, the participants who viewed the elevation clip spent almost twice as long helping the research assistant than those who had watched one of the other two clips. This study indicates that experiencing a feeling of elevation can lead to helping behavior.

Elevation activates the vagus nerve, which is a bundle of nerves in mammals that reach from the top of the spinal cord all the way down to the digestive system. The vagus nerve is responsible for several important physical jobs, such as neck movement, vocalization, and digestion. It is also closely connected to oxytocin networks and responses to stimuli such as images of suffering or inspiring stories. When the vagus nerve fires, we experience a stronger feeling of connection to humanity. This “self-other similarity” helps us become more willing to help others, even if we don’t know them.

The implications of this connection are far-reaching. It may be, for instance, that if nonprofits communicate stories and data intended to elicit elevation, as opposed to sharing information about need and suffering alone, they may receive more financial support from donors. It may be that teachers can increase classroom cooperation and prosocial behavior (such as sticking up for a classmate who is being bullied) by integrating activities that trigger an elevation in their students. We may even be able to develop stronger, more compassionate relationships with others by working to increase our own feelings of elevation on a regular basis.

In my work with TisBest, I am bathed in elevation every day thanks to the compassion and generosity of the people who use our charity gift cards. When someone spends a charity gift card to support a cause they feel passionate about, they have the opportunity to send a note back to the person who gave them the gift (or in the case of our DiscoverGiving program, students send a note to their teacher). These messages never fail to make me feel a little verklempt. “This is a tremendously thoughtful gesture,” a recent charity gift card recipient wrote to the company that sent the card. “Outward Bound was a pivotal part of my childhood development and I am pleased to offer them this contribution.” A fourth-grade student who used her $1.00 DiscoverGiving card to support The Moyer Foundation wrote, “I gave to this charity because when kids are going through the distress of any type its very hard to get out of the distress and look at the bright side. I want them to get help and know that everything ends and you can get out of the uncomfortable dark world that they are living in at the moment.” Seeing notes like this come through on a regular basis can melt even the hardest of hearts, and I am certainly no exception. Just like the Coca-Cola ad, these notes inspire in me a feeling of hope and faith in humanity, and a desire to do my part to help make the world a better place.

It’s natural to wonder if we’ve evolved to need elevation in order to continue caring for a widening circle of relationships, or if elevation is a simple byproduct of our beautiful human hearts. But the more I think about it, I realize that’s not really the most important question. The question I should actually be asking is: What can I do today to elevate others? With elevation’s power to motivate acts of great kindness and compassion, we never know how our tiny acts of generosity may end up changing the world.

Read the first post in the Science of Giving series: What we talk about when we talk about altruism

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“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”
— Mister Rogers

With this hopeful advice in mind, we began to notice one man who seemed to appear—over and over—in the photos that were slowly beginning to emerge from the aftermath of the blast. We called him “The Man in the Cowboy Hat” and it would be several days before we knew his name and the series of events that led him to be at the Boston Marathon that day. All we knew was that this man seemingly appeared out of nowhere and began doing what we couldn’t do as we watched powerlessly from our homes and offices: he helped.

Altruism, as defined by UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, “is when we act to promote someone else’s welfare, even at a risk or cost to ourselves.” Carlos Arredondo, our man in the cowboy hat, is a now iconic example of our potential to take selfless action in times of crisis, but each of us act altruistically in hundreds of different ways in our day-to-day lives. These actions, such as holding the door for someone or dropping spare change into a beggar’s cup, and those of Mr. Arrendondo, share the same origins in our brains. From monumental acts of heroism to everyday moments of kindness, research has been able to pinpoint precisely what’s happening in our gray matter when presented with an opportunity to give.
Imagine you’ve been handed $100 with the option to give some, all or none of that money to charity. Whatever you don’t give away, you get to keep. If we used an fMRI scan, a technique that measures blood flow to track brain activity, to look at your brain while you were deciding what to do with your money, we’d notice some fascinating activity in areas of the brain we typically associate with pleasure and reward. When subjects were asked to perform this task at the University of Oregon, neuroeconomist Dr. William Harbaugh noticed an interesting amount of activity in the nucleus accumbens, a part of the brain’s mesolimbic reward system which processes unexpected rewards and produces the pleasure chemical dopamine.
Dr. Jordan Grafman, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago, performed a similar study by giving participants the opportunity to give money to charity or reject the charity and take the money home after the study. FMRI scans showed significant activation in the mesolimbic reward system as participants made their decisions. Dr. Grafman and his colleagues were surprised to find that the same areas of the brain reacted when participants gave to charity as when they placed the money in their personal account to take home. This research suggests that giving and altruism are inherently self-rewarding: our brains create a positive reinforcement for altruism in the same areas that reward food, drugs, money and sex. Additionally, Dr. Grafman noticed that an area of the brain that regulates the production of oxytocin, a hormone that plays a critical role in social connection, also played a key role in decisions about giving, suggesting that altruism and social relationships are inextricably related.
Drs. Grafman and Harbaugh’s research also helps explain why witnessing acts of altruism, such as Carlos Arredondo’s selfless heroism in the aftermath of the Boston bombings, gives us such warm feeling of hope, joy and pleasure. Our brains are not only wired to encourage our own generous behavior, but also to appreciate and be influenced by acts of kindness carried out by others, a phenomenon described by one study as the “social contagion” of generosity.
Altruism doesn’t appear to be limited to adults making a cognitive assessment of the choices at hand. Very young children who are unable to weigh the cost and benefits of acting altruistically have been shown, time and again, to seek out and enjoy opportunities for giving and helping behavior. In fact, dozens of species throughout the animal kingdom also display levels of altruism, from ants spending their entire lives in the service of the colony to vampire bats that routinely share food with members of their group that are in danger of starving.
All of this research helps to explain what we’ve known for generations, what Anne Frank eloquently described in one simple sentence: “No one has ever become poor by giving.” What we get when we give is just as essential to our well-being as what we’ve chosen to sacrifice. And although some acts of altruism may be motivated by the desire for recognition or simply because we want to feel good, this behavior is hard-wired as deeply and unavoidably as our yearning to be close to those we love the most.
Tragedies such as the Boston Marathon bombing may continue to befall our society. We may never be able to escape grief. But if we look for the helpers we’ll find that altruism manifests all around us in many unique and wonderful ways. With every act of generosity we shape our evolution as a species, ensuring that altruism remains deeply engrained in our biological and social fabric. Our own moments of kindness are just as heroic to the people in our lives as those of The Man in the Cowboy Hat. In the chaos and confusion of our daily lives, we are the helpers, the Carlos Arredondos for the people whose lives will be forever influenced by our presence.

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5,4,3,2,1…HAPPY NEW YEAR! At the stroke of midnight you emphatically declared your first resolution – to be happy. Then you came up with a list of ways to achieve that. Perhaps it’s to eat healthier, learn a new skill for work, or spend more time being social and less time on social media. As you welcome a new year of hope and possibility, there’s one resolution that will make 2023 your best year yet. Find out why adding charitable giving to your New Year’s resolutions will keep you smiling all year long.

Avoid the February Flop

January 1 is like a day of freshly fallen snow. A clean slate. Then the footprints in the snow start leading you in all different directions. Similarly, when life gets busy it can be difficult to stay on course to achieve your resolutions. In fact, 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by February. Don’t despair. We’ve got the secret to success for sticking to your 2023 resolutions – and which one will bring you the most joy.

How To Rock Your New Year’s Resolutions

Most resolutions are self-improvement goals – which are certainly important to your personal and professional growth. However, the tasks leading up to those bigger goals may not be particularly enjoyable or meaningful – which makes it hard to stick to those resolutions. Eliminating sweets after the holidays is easy…until those Valentine candies hit the shelves. Taking a professional development class to get promoted is a great idea … unless it’s for a job that you don’t really like.

The key to rocking your New Year’s resolutions is to take smaller steps toward your bigger goals that are instantly rewarding. If doing something makes you feel good while you do it, you’re more likely to persist (rather than doing something you think will make you feel good in the future.) First, look inward to reflect on which resolutions align with your core values. Then take small, actionable steps each day to do what brings you the most joy. Now, the secret to achieving your very first resolution – to have a happy New Year – is to look outward and do something bigger than yourself.

Charitable Giving Leads to a Happy and Healthy New Year

Research shows that giving back to others makes us happier and improves our overall emotional well-being and physical health. Charitable giving is proven to release endorphins which promotes tranquility and inner peace. It also helps lower blood pressure and reduce stress – similar to the positive results of healthy eating and exercise, but way more fun. Your acts of selflessness will also improve the quality of life for others which is the best part of all. The good news is you don’t need to be wealthy to give back. 

Share a Cup of Kindness for Auld Lang Syne

The “feel-good” benefits of charitable giving are not linked to the amount of money you donate. Volunteering and sharing your time and talents are equally rewarding and cost nothing. You can also tie in another resolution (such as drinking less coffee) and pay forward your monthly Starbucks fund to charity. Even small donations make a big impact.

However, the feel-good factor isn’t attained by simply donating to charity. The true benefits of almsgiving stem from supporting causes that are most meaningful to you and your loved ones. TisBest Philanthropy makes it easy to add charitable giving to your New Year’s resolutions and share the joy of giving with your family, friends, and colleagues. Kindness is contagious. Pass it on with TisBest Charity Gift Cards.

Give the Gift That Feels Good to Give and Receive

TisBest Charity Gift Cards work just like traditional gift cards – with one meaningful exception. You choose the amount and your loved ones pay it forward to their favorite charities. With nearly 2 million charities on TisBest.org, card recipients can choose from our featured categories or quickly search for their favorite local or national nonprofit. 100% of your donation goes to their designated charity. Then, you’ll receive a confirmation email letting you know which causes they supported to see the impact of your gift.

A Toast to #RedefineGifting

From birthdays to Valentine’s Day to Mother’s Day and weddings, there are gift-giving occasions all year round. Billions of dollars are spent each year on retail gifts and many of those gifts are returned to stores or go unused. Our New Year’s resolution is to #RedefineGifting throughout the year by replacing some gifts of stuff with gifts that give back to those who need it most.

Nonprofits receive 1/5th of their annual revenue from December donations. However, that alone is not enough to keep their doors open. Many nonprofits rely on monthly donations to provide much-needed supplies and services to their communities all year long. Imagine the impact we’ll make together if we take small, actionable steps to #RedefineGifting every month.

Cheers to a New Calendar Year

Here are some fun ways to make TisBest Charity Gift Cards part of your charitable giving New Year’s resolutions:

JANUARY
Do you know someone with a January birthday who doesn’t really need or want anything after the holidays? Give them the joy of giving back with a TisBest Charity Gift Card.

FEBRUARY
Send your Valentines a charity gift card or attach one to a box of chocolates. Then watch their hearts melt as they pay it forward to their favorite charities.

MARCH
Are you the manager of a small team or own your own business? Celebrate Employee Appreciation Day on March 3 by showing your team you care about what they care about. Employees want to work for companies that support charitable giving. Imagine how they’ll feel when you let them choose the charities to support. 

APRIL
In honor of Earth Day, invite your friends and family to redeem their TisBest Charity Gift Card to support their favorite environmental charities. Plus, our gift cards come in three sustainable formats –  bio-plastic, digital, and downloadable cards – an added win for the planet!

MAY

Honor your mom and the mother-figures in your life by giving them the joy of giving back to their favorite charities. Enclose a TisBest Charity Gift Card in a greeting card or sneak one in a bouquet of flowers.

JUNE
Getting married this year? TisBest Charity Gift Cards make a unique wedding favor for your guests. Invited to a wedding and need a unique gift for the couple who doesn’t need another toaster? Help them spread the love to the causes they hold dear to their hearts.

JULY
Celebrate Independence Day by giving TisBest Charity Gift Cards. You can recommend recipients pay it forward to our featured civil rights charities to support freedom and justice for all.

AUGUST
August 17 is National Nonprofit Day! It’s a day to recognize non-profit organizations and the impact they make in their local communities. Send your loved ones a TisBest Charity Gift Card so they can pay it forward to their favorite cause.

SEPTEMBER
Back to school is a great time of year to teach children and teens about the importance of giving back. Send the kids in your life a digital TisBest Charity Gift Card. They’ll love making the decision on which charities to support and getting to do it right from their phone. You’ll love learning about the types of causes that are most important to them. 

OCTOBER
Last year, consumers spent $10.6 billion on Halloween candy, decorations, and costumes. This year, let’s make a collective resolution to direct more of that spending to the causes we care about most.

NOVEMBER
On Thanksgiving, include a TisBest Charity Gift Card on each place setting. After dinner, have your guests pay it forward to their favorite charities. Then, during dessert talk about all of the different charities they supported and why. Together, you’ll make the holidays a little brighter for those less fortunate.

DECEMBER
Looking for last-minute holiday gifts for friends, family, and colleagues? Our digital and downloadable cards are available instantly after purchase! Plus, your gift is tax deductible so you’ll receive a receipt for filing.

Order Your TisBest Charity Gift Cards Today!

Adding charitable giving to your New Year’s resolutions is easy whether you plan to donate once a year or once per month. Order bio-plastic cards and we’ll ship them directly to your loved ones or send them to you for further personalization. Prefer to send digital cards? You choose the amount and the delivery date – making it easy to plan ahead for birthdays, special occasions, and holidays – or enjoy instant delivery for last-minute gifts. Together, let’s #RedefineGifting and make this year the happiest of all!

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