The Thanksgiving weekend is the official kick-off of the winter holidays and gift buying. We’ve all overdosed on a combo of family, turkey, potatoes and desserts. Before the dishes had even been cleared, the conversation turned to presents and shopping.
Giving Tuesday And The GiveNetwork
In an effort to shift the focus away from the commercialism of the holidays, the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation started Giving Tuesday in 2012. So now the weekend that was synonymous with a Thursday feast, a Friday big box shopping binge, a Saturday small business focus (go food trucks!) and a Monday of online purchases got another day tacked on – a Tuesday to kick-off the giving side of the holiday season. It’s a nice ending to the long weekend to put the holiday season in perspective.
In the last year, Mobile Cuisine partnered with the GiveNetwork and its mobile donation platform, give.mobi, to enable food trucks to become vehicles (pun intended) to gather donations from their customers with 100% of the proceeds benefitting Meals on Wheels and Convoy of Hope.
These two incredible organizations are feeding and caring for our country’s hungry and suffering. By registering your food truck (for a small annual fee of $45), your truck will receive a unique QR code to post outside your service window.
This mobile platform allows your customers to donate easily while waiting in line and may encourage repeat behavior – always a good thing for the receiving organizations and your food truck. As a registered truck, you’ll get valuable customer information from the folks that donate. Promoting the program is little to no cost to your food truck because your customers make the donations, not a portion of sales on a particular item from your truck.
This third year of #GivingTuesday should be the best yet. We encourage food trucks, as small business members of the community, to give back in their own special way. Whether it’s through the GiveNetwork or your favorite charity, giving back feels good and does wonders for those receiving your donations.
Happy #GivingTuesday!
