After “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday,” there is “Giving Tuesday.”

“Giving Tuesday” highlights a practice that’s long existed. Traditionally, the holiday season and the end of the year have been active in terms of donations to charities and non-profit organizations. Nearly 25 percent of philanthropic gifts will be made between now and Dec. 31.

This year on “Giving Tuesday,” the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy will launch its first multi-platform guidance for donors who want to know that their end-of-year giving will make the greatest difference in the lives of others.

The platform, which will roll out during the coming months, includes the free online guide; webinars for members of the Association of Small Foundations and Young President’s Organization; an in-person event for donors and their advisors, sponsored by The Philadelphia Foundation; and other collaborations and products to be announced.

Whether a donor has $10 or $10,000 to contribute, the Center’s guidance will help donors to move money quickly and confidently to do more good.

The Center’s online guide “Seven High-Impact Opportunities for Year-End Giving” highlights tips and resources that donors can use to find similar high-performing organizations within their communities.

Opportunities profiled in the online guide include:

• Supporting students by creating communities in schools.
• Providing emergency food for families.
• Building a path to a living wage for disconnected youth.
• Strengthening urban neighborhoods by “greening and cleaning.”
• Helping children through in-home nurse visitation.
• Improving child health and nutrition through community education.
• Saving newborn lives with home-based care.

The guide is one of many opportunities the Center has for encouraging meaningful social change year-round.

“Year-end giving and ‘Giving Tuesday’ often receive a lot of attention and rightly so, given how much money donors give in such a small amount of time,” said Katherina Rosqueta, the founding executive director of CHIP. “But, the real potential lies in making sure such year end generosity translates into year-round impact.”

Eric Ashton, the senior associate director of the Nonprofit Leadership Program at Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice, said “Giving Tuesday” offers the potential for individuals to make a stronger, more far-reaching, longer-lasting impact, simply by working together.

“If I only have $50 to give to an organization that wants to reduce hunger and food shortages, and there are 249 others who decide to contribute the same amount on that day, collectively, I was a part of a larger philanthropic effort that raised $12,500 for an amazing local organization,” Ashton said.  “‘Giving Tuesday’ empowers each of us to stand as a large and caring philanthropic community for one day.”

“Seven High-Impact Opportunities for Year-End Giving” is accessible at http://www.impact.upenn.edu/about/holidaygiving/.