‘Tis better to give than to receive.

Alabamians will have the chance to test those ancient words of wisdom out tomorrow.

On Thursday the Alabama Association of Nonprofits, along with the Alabama Broadcasters Association, the Razoo Foundation, the Alabama Press Association, Alabama Giving and the Intermark Group, will hold the first ever Alabama Gives Day.

So just what is Alabama Gives Day? Good question.

It’s a 24-hour fundraising effort that encourages people to make online contributions to the charity of their choice. More than 800 registered nonprofits, including three from Butler County, within 12 categories are participating in the event. In order to be eligible, the organizations must have 501(c)(3) tax status.

It’s more than that, though. It’s a chance for us to give back by giving to organizations that work to better our communities.

“Nonprofits are often considered to be the ‘front line’ when it comes to responding to the needs of hundreds of thousands of Alabamians every day,” said John Stone, President of the Alabama Association of Nonprofits. “Nonprofit employees and volunteers are passionate about their organization’s mission and serve from the heart, even during difficult economic times. The needs of our citizens don’t go away during recessions or downturns. In fact, they only grow bigger.”

On Thursday we can help charitable organizations continue to provide a broad spectrum of aid across our state, organizations like the Butler County Children’s Advocacy Center (Safe Harbor), Healthy Kids and Bayside Medical Missions and Educational Outreach. And it’s never been easier to give.

All it takes is an Internet connection, a debit or credit card and a desire to help these organizations continue to help our community.

On Thursday, from 12 a.m. to 11:59 p.m., Alabamians can visit alabamagivesday.org — a secure Website. From there it’s just a matter of choosing which nonprofit you’d like to donate to. While we’d encourage you to consider giving to one of Butler County’s nonprofits, there are a wide range of organizations that have qualified to be a part of the state’s first Gives Day.

“Donors will choose the nonprofit or nonprofits they want to support from a list of 12 areas of interest, (such as) children and youth, animals, health, environment, etc.,” Stone said. “It’s all about connecting them to the missions they are most passionate about, and hopefully to a nonprofit they’ve never supported.”

Let’s help these organizations help our community. Break out that debit card and let’s see if all those people who told us that giving is better than getting were right. We bet they were.