Every year, on the Tuesday after Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the focus shifts from consumption to generosity. It is Giving Tuesday, a global movement that began in 2012, inviting individuals, businesses and organisations to dedicate a day to “doing good”: donating money, time, knowledge or influence to support social causes.
In just a decade, Giving Tuesday has become one of the world’s major events for solidarity, mobilising billions of euros in a single day and supporting social organisations of all sizes. It is not just another campaign: it is a powerful reminder that, in the face of fear and polarisation, generosity remains a very real force for change.
In times of fear and rhetoric of rejection, donating is taking a stand.
We are living in a time when messages against sustainability, migrants and interculturalism are multiplying. Ideas such as the following are repeated:
- “The ecological transition is impoverishing us.”
- “Immigration is a burden on the system.”
- “We cannot sustain so much social assistance.”
These arguments oversimplify a complex reality and, above all, omit a key fact: advancing sustainability, inclusion and diversity does not impoverish us as a society; on the contrary, it helps lay the foundations for more solid, resilient and shared prosperity.
Donating on Giving Tuesday to social causes related to these areas is, in that sense, a very clear way of saying: ‘I want a country that is moving towards a sustainable, inclusive and prosperous future, and I am willing to invest in it.’
Myth 1: “Sustainability makes us poorer”
Reality: when well managed, the green transition creates jobs, innovation and resilience.
European data shows that employment in the so-called ‘environmental economy’ (renewable energy, waste management, energy efficiency, circular economy, etc.) has grown faster than employment in the economy as a whole in recent decades.
It is true that the ecological transition involves costs, sectoral changes and tensions, and also generates political resistance. But the evidence is clear: delaying the transition is more costly in terms of employment and well-being than accelerating it with social justice criteria.
When you donate to organisations working for social and environmental sustainability, you are not ‘throwing money away’ on a green fad. You are contributing to:
- Prepare people in vulnerable situations to access green jobs of the present and future.
- Promote production and consumption models that reduce risks (climate, energy, food) and, therefore, future costs for society as a whole.
- Protecting the health, territory and livelihoods of communities that, if no action is taken, will be hardest hit by environmental crises.
It is an investment in resilience and competitiveness, not an ideological luxury.
Myth 2: ‘Immigration and interculturalism take resources away from us.’
Reality: migration is already one of the drivers of economic and demographic prosperity.
While some discourses insist on portraying migrants as a burden, the data tells a different story.
- In many countries, migrants represent a very significant percentage of entrepreneurs.
- In many advanced economies, migrants have been responsible for much of the growth in employment and for alleviating labour shortages in key sectors.
In the case of Spain, various recent analyses indicate that:
- The Spanish economy has grown above the European average, with a significant proportion of new jobs filled by people born outside Spain.
- Immigration is sustaining the growth of the working population in a country with a rapidly ageing demographic, and making a significant contribution to the social security system.
In other words, without the contribution of migrants, our capacity to maintain public services, pension systems and productive fabric would be lower, not higher.
Donating to organisations that support migrants in their integration into the labour market, entrepreneurship and social participation is therefore a very direct commitment to:
- More jobs and more entrepreneurship.
- More quotations and more local consumption.
- Greater social cohesion and less exclusion, which is always much more expensive to manage in the medium and long term.
Myth 3: ‘Cultural diversity creates conflict’
Reality: interculturality, if nurtured, multiplies creativity, innovation and cohesion.
Diverse societies are not automatically fairer; they need specific policies and practices to ensure that difference becomes shared wealth rather than inequality. This is where social causes that work on interculturality are essential:
- They measured conflicts and prevented polarisation by creating meeting spaces.
- They offer training, support and tools to combat racism and discrimination.
- They connect people from diverse backgrounds with real opportunities for employment, housing, participation, and entrepreneurship.
When you decide to donate to intercultural projects, you are supporting the kind of society where diversity is not grudgingly tolerated, but rather leveraged as a catalyst for innovation, economic creativity, and stronger democracy.
And what does all this have to do with Giving Tuesday and ONGD SenValos?
Giving Tuesday is a very specific occasion to turn your values into action. It’s not just a hashtag: it’s an opportunity to choose what kind of future you want to fund.
At ONGD SenValos, we work precisely at those crossroads where the model of society we will have tomorrow is at stake:
- Sustainability and territory, supporting agroecological and responsible production initiatives that boost the local productive fabric and generate decent employment.
- Migrants and entrepreneurship, supporting pathways to employment and entrepreneurial projects that bring economic and social value to the community as a whole.
- Interculturality and inclusion, creating spaces and programmes where people from diverse backgrounds can meet, learn and participate on equal terms.
Each donation helps sustain and expand these processes: more training, more personalised support, more technical support for entrepreneurship, more partnerships with companies committed to social and environmental sustainability. In clear terms: more real opportunities for individuals and communities to get ahead and contribute to collective well-being.
This Giving Tuesday, your donation is a statement about the future.
You can look at the current context and focus on the messages of fear: ‘there isn’t enough for everyone’, ‘sustainability is a luxury’, ‘migration takes away from us’. Or you can look at the data and the reality on the ground and make another decision: to commit to prosperity that is not based on exclusion, but on inclusion; not on exploitation, but on care; not on competition between those who have less, but on building together.
On Giving Tuesday, we invite you to do so in a very specific way:
- With a one-off donation, to promote projects that are already generating employment, inclusion and sustainability.
- With a regular donation, which allows for long-term planning and supports profound changes in the lives of many people.
- Sharing with those around you why you support organisations such as ONGD SenValos and how you see generosity as an investment in our shared future.
Donating today is not ‘doing charity’. It is actively participating in the design of a more just, inclusive and prosperous society. On this Giving Tuesday, you decide which side of history you want to be on.
