As they did in 2018 and 2019, Facebook is running donation matching for Giving Tuesday. The match is "real" in that you can choose which charity receives the money, but not "real" in that the money will go to some charity whether or not you donate. Because I think some charities are much higher priority than other, however, from my perspective the match is real.

As in previous years, they have a limit of $20k/person and $2,499/donation. More details and instructions at EA Giving Tuesday.

I am planning to (nearly) max out all of my credit cards, and donate over $20k:

• We are not sure exactly when the matching clock actually starts, so I'm planning to start several seconds early.

• Some of my donations may get declined.

• You can donate with a credit card, and Facebook is covering the processing fees:

This means that you can get cash back on donations, which is 1-2% of potentially quite a lot of money.

I made some practice donations today to refamiliarize myself with the interface. While these donations are not eligible for the match, they still have credit card processing fees waived, so they are still a good deal. I donated the $2,499 maximum for each test, in the vague hope that this might make my credit card processors think that $2,499 charges from Facebook are normal.

I've set an alarm for tomorrow morning, half an hour before the timer begins. The main thing I want to check tomorrow is that Facebook has not reinstated "confirm your donation" dialog box from previous years.

This is a mad scramble for free money, but with practice and preparation you have a good chance of directing some of it. I managed the full $20k in 2018, but only $12.5k in 2019 due to increasing competition. If I even get one donation matched this year, however, an extra $2,499 to a charity I think is doing really good work is still worth the hassle.