World Kindness Day 2024: What It Is and How to Participate (+ Inspiration)
As the saying goes, “In a world where you can be anything, be kind,” and World Kindness Day 2024—an event held annually on November 13—is a perfect time to start. The goal of this international celebration is simple: make kindness the standard instead of the exception.
Below, we share how this generosity movement started and provide examples of kind acts from the past year that show its power. We also offer ideas on how nonprofits can leverage World Kindness Day 2024 to strengthen donor connections and be part of this inspiring global effort.
The history of World Kindness Day and how it’s celebrated
In 1997, like-minded international kindness organizations gathered in Tokyo, Japan, to form the World Kindness Movement (WKM), which launched the first World Kindness Day on November 13, 1998. Their goal was to create an annual event that promotes altruistic acts—big or small—and showcases how simple yet meaningful they can be.
In 2019, WKM officially registered as an international nongovernmental organization (NGO) under Swiss law with a mission “to inspire individuals toward greater kindness and to connect nations to create a kinder world.” It does so without a specific political or religious affiliation.
Countries participating in World Kindness Day include the United States, Australia, Canada, India, China, France, and many others. This global participation allows World Kindness Day to grow yearly and expand what’s possible.
Celebrations often include setting aside time to perform random acts of kindness, creating new ways to pay it forward, and connecting individuals to causes that need their generosity. World Kindness Day is a time to pause and remember that kindness can heal and transform communities.
4 examples of kind acts that spark positivity
World Kindness Day 2024 is the perfect time to reflect on large and small acts of kindness that have made a difference over the past year. These can inspire collective efforts to address current events that need global support.
GoFundMe’s hub is a great resource for identifying people and causes that require immediate help and uniting fundraisers and NGOs around international crises in real time.
Below are four examples from the past year of how people have leveraged fundraising platforms, like GoFundMe and Classy, to showcase the incredible impact and importance of kindness.
1. Building hope in the aftermath of the Maui wildfires
When wildfires devastated the Hawaiian Island of Maui on August 8, 2023, the catastrophe claimed the lives of more than 100 people, left over 2,000 homes destroyed, damaged 800 business establishments, and put about 7,000 employees’ livelihoods in jeopardy.
By the disaster’s one-year anniversary, GoFundMe’s dedicated Maui relief hub had awarded 2,100 immediate relief grants to people impacted by the fires. Donors from over 100 countries collected $65 million in direct support. Through crowdfunding and peer-to-peer fundraising pages, they raised money and awareness for emergency assistance, memorials, shelter for impacted children, community relief, and support for individuals, families, and Maui businesses.
Nonprofits, such as The Salvation Army – Hawaiian and Pacific Islands Division, Stable Road Foundation, The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, and Baby2Baby, played a crucial role too, taking quick action to provide essentials and care to Maui.
2. Stepping up to assist with hurricane preparation and recovery
On August 30, 2023, shortly after the Maui wildfires began, Hurricane Idalia made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Heavy flooding forced thousands to evacuate and submerged vehicles, businesses, and homes, while 130 mph winds proved far more damaging than past hurricanes.
But people quickly stepped in to help. The related GoFundMe relief hub rallied communities nationwide to provide donations for immediate support and long-term rebuilding efforts. Verified fundraisers showed their kindness through donations for specific individuals and relief efforts across the affected areas.
Meanwhile, nonprofit organizations, such as Direct Relief, All Hands and Hearts, Feeding Tampa Bay, and World Central Kitchen, dedicated team members and support to ensure impacted communities had enough medication, supplies, and necessities for their well-being.
In July 2024, when Hurricane Beryl made landfall across the Caribbean islands, Mexico, and the United States, GoFundMe stepped up similarly, establishing a Hurricane Beryl relief hub for donors to find verified fundraisers for impacted communities and individuals.
3. Celebrating the essential contributions of teachers
More than 90% of teachers use their money to buy classroom supplies. In 2023, this amounted to $3.24 billion coming out of their pockets.
Thus, the #GoFundMeTeacher campaign encouraged parents, students, and communities to show kindness to these teachers through crowdfunding efforts to reduce their financial burdens. Teachers who started a GoFundMe campaign and used the related hashtag received a grant of up to $500 from GoFundMe.org on top of what they raised from other individuals. Several teachers shared their successes of raising over $1,000 for expenses ranging from field trips to basic supplies.
Since then, GoFundMe has continued its Education Opportunity Fund. As of September 2024, it has raised nearly $250,000 from more than 1,400 donors, showing the power of collective donations as small as $5.
4. Paying kindness forward after receiving support
The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation shares research supporting the idea that kindness is contagious and leads to improved well-being for the people who give, receive, and witness it. When individuals or communities are the recipients of kindness on World Kindness Day or otherwise, they may feel inspired to organize kind acts to give back to others.
GoFundMe often sees stories of crowdfunding beneficiaries helping others after they’ve received help. In 2024, U.S. Navy veteran Kenny Kary received a new scooter to help with his mobility after his friend launched a GoFundMe campaign on his behalf. Touched by the donors’ kindness, he started a fundraiser to pay it forward and raised almost $150,000 to deliver more than 100 scooters to individuals in need.
How nonprofits can celebrate World Kindness Day 2024
Nonprofits play a big role in making a positive impact during this global generosity event. Here are four ways to inspire supporters ahead of November 13th to make the most of World Kindness Day 2024.
1. Host a donor appreciation event
Turn World Kindness Day 2024 into a donor appreciation event to show gratitude to those who supported your cause all year. The timing coincides with Giving Tuesday and the year-end giving season, further justifying your plans to shower supporters with thanks. This event can then become an annual tradition to show you care and nurture lasting, mutually beneficial relationships.
Consider creative ways to surprise donors with personal and unexpected invitations. You can go digital or send handwritten kindness cards to share event details.
A hybrid event format provides more flexibility for nationwide supporters to attend. Alternatively, local events are a great engagement opportunity for supporters to get to know each other and maybe spread extra kindness along the way.
In 2024, GoFundMe headed to Silver Spring, Maryland—last year’s most generous city in America—to surprise and thank everyone for their ongoing generosity. The team set up a booth at a local farmers’ market to thank residents in person with fun games and swag.
2. Set up a peer-to-peer campaign challenge
Use World Kindness Day as an opportunity to inspire donors to start a new tradition of raising money for a cause that matters to them. You can introduce a kindness challenge to your audience to encourage them to mobilize support for your nonprofit through peer-to-peer fundraising or launch a campaign with a pledge to raise a minimum amount for your cause, turning their acts of kindness into impactful contributions.
Help fundraisers activate support by telling their stories and illustrating to donors how each contribution makes a meaningful impact. For example, $1,000 will provide warm meals to 500 hungry families. Centering the outcome of each contribution keeps the focus on spreading kindness to others and can motivate fundraisers’ networks to join in on the generosity.
3. Announce a donation match
Inform people that their World Kindness Day 2024 donations will double from a donation match, so they may be more motivated to act.
This is also an opportunity for corporate sponsors, major donors, or other donation match partners—such as foundations or community organizations—to join the annual kindness tradition. By partnering with your nonprofit organization, they can help make a difference and feel proud of their efforts to spread kindness in the world.
4. Offer a simple way to take fast action
Capture the in-the-moment excitement that your audience has around World Kindness Day 2024 and galvanize them to participate with an embedded donation form on your website that streamlines the giving process and increases conversions.
While making a donation is simple, motivating supporters to contribute to your World Kindness Day 2024 campaign is much easier. Simply direct traffic to a quick donation form through social media using the hashtag #worldkindnessday. You can also engage donors with a QR code at an in-person event to seamlessly access your donation website.
Eliminating friction in the giving process avoids any frustration that could prevent donors from participating again next year.
Turn kindness into an annual fundraising tradition
In a world where natural disasters, illnesses, and uncertainty can dim our joy, World Kindness Day offers a yearly opportunity to refocus our minds on how good it feels to help each other. Through its many crowdfunding initiatives, GoFundMe showcases the incredible impact that small acts of kindness can make on World Kindness Day and beyond. Invite donors to join you in creating a new fundraising tradition that centers on the power of collective kindness.
Classy’s intelligent fundraising platform offers a wide array of campaigns and simple donation pages to make it easy to activate donors quickly. Our suite of AI and machine learning tools predicts donor behavior, prescribes smarter fundraising activities, and drives more giving. Discover what’s possible by requesting a demo today.
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