Giving Tuesday

Let’s talk about Giving Tuesday, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving when people all over the world donate to their favorite charitable organizations. It’s a pretty big deal for nonprofits like the Santa Monica Pier Corporation.

What’s that? You didn’t know we’re a nonprofit? You always thought we were a branch of the City of Santa Monica?

Sigh.

I’ve worked here on the Pier for more than 37 years, and it seems like every week someone asks me how long I’ve worked for the City. My answer? “Not a single day.”

To be clear, the City of Santa Monica owns the Santa Monica Pier. The Santa Monica Pier Corporation, however, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit formed and funded (albeit modestly) by the City, but we are by no means a municipal organization. We are, as I like to call us, the scrappy little nonprofit whose mission is to curate the pleasure pier experience for locals, visitors, and admirers (people who may never get to visit but love the Pier anyway).

And how exactly do we curate that experience? Free public events.

For decades, you’ve known us as the producers of the Twilight concerts (a 35-year run), the Pier 360 Beach Festival (the Pier’s official kickoff to summer), Locals’ Nights, Wellness & Waves, Día de los Muertos at the Pier (the most beautiful day at the Pier every year), the “Save the Pier!” play, Fabulous Fables, and Holiday Cheer on the Pier.

We’re also the organization that shares the Pier’s history through our Walk Through Pier History guided tours and Talk Through Pier History presentations.

In recent years, we’ve started shouting about our nonprofit status through our annual fundraising gala, A PIERfect Benefit, and our most heartwarming and meaningful event, Youth Day at the Pier, when we bring children from underserved communities to enjoy a free day here. You know, real nonprofit kinds of things.

Which brings us back to Giving Tuesday, a global generosity movement created in 2012 that encourages people to do good through giving.

This will be our fourth annual Giving Tuesday campaign. Each year, more and more people catch on to the fact that we are, indeed, a nonprofit, and that Giving Tuesday is the perfect day to give back for the joy the Pier has brought them and to pay it forward to those who will enjoy it in the future. It’s their way of helping us curate that wonderful Santa Monica Pier experience.

So, on Tuesday, December 1, can we count on you to join the Giving Tuesday movement and donate to the Pier Corporation?