On Giving Tuesday, please consider a gift to the Institute for Rural Journalism, publisher of The Rural Blog

In the beginning, there was Thanksgiving. Then there was Black Friday, named by retailers for the positive ink it brings to their business ledgers. Then there was Small Business Saturday, Subscribe Sunday and Cyber Monday. And now, as a relief or antidote to all the getting, there is Giving Tuesday.

"It’s a simple idea," the organizers say. "Find a way for your family, your community, your company or your organization to join in acts of giving. Tell everyone you can about what you are doing and why it matters. Join a national celebration of our great tradition of generosity. And together we’ll create ways to give more, give better and give smarter."

The gifts can be of time, talents or money. If you're making monetary contributions, please consider supporting the publisher of The Rural Blog, the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky. The institute is supported by an endowment at the university, which accepts online donations. To make an online donation, click here. If you want to make a gift with more immediate impact, make out a check to the university, put "Rural Journalism, operating" on the memo line and mail it to us at BLD 217, University of Kentucky, Lexington KY 40506-0042.

Thanks for whatever you can do. At a time when audiences are being asked to pay more for journalism, so it can remain robust in the service of democracy, we hope you will find The Rural Blog and its publisher worthy of your support.