Giving Compass' Take:

• Asha Curran, 92Y's chief innovation officer, discusses NewsMatch, an effort during Giving Tuesday to fund nonprofit journalism and investigative reporting. 

• How will this effort help advance democracy? Why should philanthropists support nonprofit journalism? 

• Read about the innovative ways to scale and fund journalism. 

With Black Friday upon us, and Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday looming, it's easy to lose track of the holiday season's deeper meaning, giving to others. Which brings us to Giving Tuesday, and a worthy cause within that day of generosity: NewsMatch, a joint effort supporting dozens of non-profit journalism organizations doing the in-depth, investigative projects that few for-profit outfits can afford anymore.

Giving Tuesday, celebrated this year on Nov. 27, spawned out of 92Y, the renamed 92nd Street Y in Manhattan that has been a community-building stalwart for decades, and 92Y's Belfer Center for Innovation and Social Impact.

Created in 2012, and purposely without 92Y's brand attached so it could have broader reach, Giving Tuesday is now observed in at least 55 countries, said Asha Curran, 92Y's chief innovation officer and the Belfer Center's executive director.

And though Giving Tuesday is an opportunity to donate money and have it matched by others, "we believe generosity comes in many forms and it doesn't all have to be monetary," Curran said.

Since 2016, Giving Tuesday also has included NewsMatch, which this year will benefit 155 non-profit news groups working in just about every corner of the country and beyond.

NewsMatch organizers are led by the Institute for Nonprofit News and the News Revenue Hub. The program is bolstered by $3 million in matching funds chiefly from the Democracy Fund, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Each participating news organization can receive up to $25,000 in matching funds for each donation they receive of up to $1,000. In the initiative's first two years, it raised $7.5 million to help increase giving to local and investigative reporting while strengthening non-profit newsrooms through training and shared resources.

Read the full article about Giving Tuesday NewsMatch by David Bloom at Forbes