December 2, 2025  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

Thanksgiving has become the annual kickoff to a steady drumbeat of messaging aimed at Americans, intended to steer them and their disposable income to a wide variety of commercial interests.

Immediately following the actual day of giving thanks and feasting with friends and family, the Black Friday retail blitz hits (increasingly even before the holiday these days). That’s followed by Small Business Saturday as the smaller, more independently owned retailers make their best pitches for consumers’ dollars. As the new workweek begins, Cyber Monday deals bombard our inboxes, social media feeds, TV and radio airwaves.

It can feel overwhelming (or there could be a good deal for a purchase you need to make). This year in particular, with a major focus on affordability and the increasing costs of everyday goods, it will be interesting to see how holiday spending in 2025 tracks compared with recent years.

It’s a natural reaction to tread carefully, make our lists and check them twice to decide how much spending we really can manage this year. It’s tempting to tune much of it out.

But, through all of the noise over the past week or so, today’s annual Giving Tuesday appeals (that began days ago in many cases) should land differently this year.

Because Giving Tuesday isn’t about buying things.

It’s about investing in people and organizations doing work we admire, believe in, and want to see prosper.

Giving Tuesday is about supporting the many nonprofit efforts of all sizes whose work directly impacts the quality of life we all enjoy. It’s about directing some of our dollars to charitable causes that feed the hungry, give our kids fun and healthy activities to enjoy, protect our environment, care for the elderly, bring performing and visual arts into our communities, preserve and share our history, build trails to walk, hike and bike, help us conserve energy, care for animals in need of homes, and rush to our aid when we’re sick, hurt or lost on a trail.

So on this Giving Tuesday, we hope you will think about the nonprofits right here in our community, in our state and beyond, that are doing work that you believe in and want to see continue. They are wrestling with the same economic factors that individual households are juggling right now as the cost of everything grows. Think of organizations you connect with most often and consider sending them some financial support. If you itemize your income tax return, you can claim it as a tax deduction in April.

Below is a list of many of the local nonprofits whose work contributes to our community that you might consider supporting this Giving Tuesday, and with your year-end donations. (Know that many may be able to access additional grants based on what they receive today.)

This list likely is not complete. If there’s an organization we’ve missed, please put it in the comment box below.

Finally, we hope you will count local news as one of the efforts worth supporting before 2025 ends.

Waterbury Roundabout today is halfway to our goal of $15,000 in individual donations that will be doubled in this year’s NewsMatch campaign through the Institute for Nonprofit News. Donations of up to $1,000 through Dec. 31 will be matched dollar-for-dollar. A nice perk: New monthly contributions will be matched with an amount equal to 12 months of that donation ($5 per month gets a $60 match).

So if local news is near the top of your must-have list, the Roundabout would greatly appreciate your support as well.

Thank you for reading, and many thanks in advance for supporting our community’s hard-working nonprofits.