Getting to know Henry Timms

Children’s Rights is thrilled to announce that we are honoring Henry Timms, Global CEO of Brunswick Group and co-founder of #GivingTuesday, at our annual NYC benefit on October 8.

Henry’s career has focused on how leaders and institutions can mobilize people, ideas, and technology to create meaningful change.

As Executive Director of the 92nd Street Y, he co-founded #GivingTuesday, a global generosity movement that has catalyzed more than $20 billion in giving worldwide. He later served as President and CEO of Lincoln Center, leading the institution through the pandemic and a period of significant transformation.

Henry is the co-author of the international bestseller New Power, which explores how new models of participation and technology are reshaping power, organizations, and society.

Read Henry’s thoughts on generosity, childhood heroes, and what leading a nonprofit taught him about running a business.

How did you come up with the idea for Giving Tuesday?

Looking back, it feels obvious. Black Friday and Cyber Monday had become global symbols of buying things. So, I was thinking: what about a “Giving Tuesday” where, instead of shopping, we give back? I knew someone was going to claim the Tuesday, so we wanted to put a marker down for the nonprofit sector.

From the beginning, we made a deliberate decision not to own the idea. Giving Tuesday wasn’t designed as a branded campaign; it was created as an open invitation. Anyone could participate – nonprofits, schools, businesses, families, faith communities, neighborhoods or individuals. The idea belonged to everyone. It still does.

At the time, I was doing a lot of thinking about social media and how power was shifting, which eventually turned into New Power. In a way, Giving Tuesday was also an experiment in how to share power. It has been shaped by countless people everywhere, making the core idea better and better.

You’ve said that “giving is an antivirus.” What do you mean?

I don’t remember saying that! And I’m not sure I think that now.

With Giving Tuesday, we always said we wanted generosity to go viral. That was really the whole point. Some of the more negative things in our world – embarrassment, fear, disaster – spread so quickly. They get a head start. Giving Tuesday is an exercise in sharing something that is essentially a public good.

The great thing about giving is that everyone benefits. Giving doesn’t just change the recipient; it changes the giver and often everyone who witnesses it. So perhaps less an antivirus, and more one of society’s most precious renewable resources.

Who inspired you as a child?

Bryan Robson, the captain of Manchester United and England. This will not mean much to a US audience, but he was a real hero to me in the way that only kids have heroes. More like a superhero.  I still think I could have played alongside him if things had worked out differently…

What’s one thing that drives your support of Children’s Rights?

As a father, I think often about the kind of world we’re building for the next generation. Every child deserves not only safety, but the opportunity to flourish and reach their full potential.

Some of the most meaningful parts of my career have involved supporting children and families. At the 92nd Street Y it was core to our mission, and the same was true at Lincoln Center. Giving Tuesday has now raised billions for children globally. And I’m proud to serve on the board of the King’s Trust, which supports young people as they shape their futures.

What I admire so much about Children’s Rights is that they are doing structural and transformational work on behalf of children. Through advocacy and litigation, they challenge systems that have too often overlooked or failed young people – particularly those in foster care, immigration and health care systems.

Helping an individual child matters enormously. But changing the system that determines the futures of thousands of children can have an extraordinary multiplier effect. That ambition is what makes the work of Children’s Rights so important.

The strongest societies are those in which every child has the opportunity to belong, to be protected and to thrive. Supporting Children’s Rights is an investment in the future we all share.

Is there something your nonprofit career taught you that is useful in your role at Brunswick?

Countless things. There is so much complexity in the nonprofit sector: how we think about impact, access and transformational change; how we plan for the long term; how we navigate a world of stakeholders. All of this translates.

There is a slightly pernicious myth that nonprofit work is somehow softer or easier. In reality, nonprofits take on enormous challenges, often with highly constrained resources, and still deliver terrific outcomes. That combination – ambition, complexity and resourcefulness – teaches you a great deal about leadership.

There is a myth, too, that business focuses on nothing but profit. But so many corporate leaders are deeply focused on how they create positive impact in the world – inside and outside their businesses. And the scale on which they operate means that impact can be remarkable. Just look at the caliber and contribution of the board members of Children’s Rights. I know from Sandy and others what a massive difference their leadership has made.

What is your favorite children’s book?

My mom was a children’s book illustrator, so I think I would have to choose hers. I remember seeing her books unfold, sketch by sketch, idea after idea, with all the frustrations and breakthroughs that come with the creative process.

It showed me that books don’t just arrive magically; they come from graft, mistakes and some courage. In the end, that makes them more magical.

But as a child I most enjoyed adult books. I was irritatingly ambitious and read a lot of the classics far too young. I don’t think I understood much of them, but I remember so well that glorious sense of trespassing into a grown-up world without getting caught.