GivingTuesday (Tue 1 Dec 2026) for a non-charity e-book shop: fit gate + UK "commercial participator" rule

Written 29 Oct 2026 (skills harvest). Status: GATE. Default = no sales promo that day; one generosity post only.

The facts

• Date: GivingTuesday 2026 is Tue 1 Dec 2026; the UK site runs a "Generosity Week" 1-5 Dec with the International Volunteer Day on 5 Dec (givingtuesday.org.uk, read 29 Oct). The UK hub is run by the Chartered Institute of Fundraising ([address kept in the project workspace]); it has an "I'm a business" path, but the pitch is volunteering, skills, goods and community events, not discounts.
• Scale (US, GivingTuesday Data Commons, press release 3 Dec 2025, read): 38.1 m participants (+6%), $4.0 bn donated (+13%), $22.5 bn since 2012. Blackbaud Institute special report (snippet only, not opened): GivingTuesday donors retain at 65% vs 52% for all donors. UK figures for the day itself: none found this run (CAF UK Giving Report 2026 covers the year: ~£14 bn donated in 2025, down from £15.4 bn in 2024; fundraising.co.uk 16 Mar 2026, snippet).
• The day sits right after Black Friday/Cyber Monday (see black-friday-cyber-weekend-small-ebook-shop-uk.md). A shop pushing a sale on the generosity day reads as "Giving-washing"; the audience that day is in giving mode, not buying mode.

The UK legal trap: "% of sales to charity" makes us a commercial participator

• Charity Commission CC20 (read, OGL): a commercial participator is "a company or person who states that money they make from selling goods or services ... will be donated to a charity" (e.g. a % of each pack of biscuits).
• Charities Act 1992 s.60(3) (legislation.gov.uk, read): any such representation must be accompanied by a statement clearly indicating the charity's name and the notifiable amount (the proportion of each sale, or the total the business will give). s.60(7): failing that is a criminal offence, fine up to level 5 (unlimited); s.60(8) due-diligence defence.
• s.59 (per VWV, solicitors, read): the business may not do it at all without a written agreement with the charity that meets the 1992 Act (parties, duration, termination, how much, how vulnerable people are protected, etc.). VWV's common failures: vague "proceeds" or "X% of profits", no estimated total. Their cautionary case: the Captain Tom Foundation gin promotion with no compliant statement -> reputational damage.
• So: "10% of today's e-book sales go to " = written agreement + exact statement at point of sale (Stripe page, /ebooks/, posts). That is outreach to a charity = the project lead's GO, and adds legal admin for pennies on 0 sales/day.

Decision rule (use every year)

1. Sales on the day: NO. No discount, no "buy to give" offer, no countdown. Quiet commerce like Remembrance week.
2. Allowed without anyone's GO: ONE generosity post (FB + IG, ~10:00 London) that GIVES something and asks nothing: a free public-domain record from the catalogue (newspaper column, tithe map detail, 1853 probate page) with a "how to read this record" tip, link to the free page (not /ebooks/), #GivingTuesday #DyddMawrthRhoi (check the Welsh tag is actually in use before posting; if 0 posts, drop it).
3. Optional, needs the project lead's GO (outward + institution contact): a free e-book copy offered to a local library/hub or the Glamorgan FHS library; or volunteer hours (transcribing a parish register on a public project). Log as a PROPOSAL, never send.
4. Only if the project lead explicitly wants a charity link: pick ONE registered charity, draft a s.59 agreement + s.60 statement ("£1.00 from every e-book sold on 1 Dec 2026 goes to , reg. charity ; we estimate £ in total"), HubSpot draft only. Never "proceeds"/"% of profits".

How we apply it to Cedwyn

• Add to the auto-social queue for Tue 1 Dec 2026 ~10:00Z: one free-record "gift" post (rule 2), no shop link, no prices; nothing else that day; Black Friday/Cyber Monday promos (if any) end Mon 30 Nov 23:59.
• Pick the record from the evidence catalogue (public-domain/OGL only, credit line). The 1853 probate papers (NLW, free to view) are a good candidate if the editorial rules allow: show the page, explain what an administration bond is.
• Kill rule: if the post gets fewer than 2% engagement of reach or 0 link clicks, do not repeat in 2027; log in the Sunday report.
• Never imply Cedwyn is a charity, never say "donate" or "support us" (we are a shop), never mention payment policies.

Sources

• givingtuesday.org.uk (date, Generosity Week, CIoF contact; read 29 Oct 2026)
• givingtuesday.org (US 2025 numbers; read)
• legislation.gov.uk (s.60(3), (7), (8); read)
• gov.uk (definition; read)
• vwv.co.uk (agreement contents, failures, Captain Tom case; read)
• institute.blackbaud.com (65% vs 52% retention; snippet only, not checked)
• fundraising.co.uk (UK totals; snippet only)

Raw Markdown: givingtuesday-1-dec-non-charity-gate-commercial-participator-s60.md · version and changes: changelog · machine index: agents.json