Every year, we celebrate World Kindness Day with a multi-day campaign sharing opportunities to engage with kindness in our lives and throughout our community.
Kindness is taking center stage on World Kindness Day—Thursday, November 13!
In 2025, we celebrated by surprising the community with free coffee, lifting up the community’s favorite nonprofits, crafting together at the Columbus Museum of Art, and more. Check out the theme of each day’s featured kindness below.
We celebrated World Kindness Day with a little warmth and connection by partnering with six coffee shops to offer free coffee, courtesy of the Center for HumanKindness.
Customers also walked away with a Kindness Bingo card—a simple reminder that every act of kindness can create a ripple of goodness throughout our community!
Every day, across central Ohio, social workers, case managers, and nonprofit staff sit with people in their hardest moments—helping families facing job loss, illness, or sudden financial strain find hope again.
Through the Gifts of Kindness Fund at The Columbus Foundation, these partners are able to turn generosity into action, helping to facilitate emergency grants that ease burdens and restore stability.
We turned that kindness back toward them, celebrating the hardworking teams at our 51 partner organizations—the people who help make this program possible. From surprise lunches to relaxing chair massages, we hope each of them felt a bit of the care they so freely give others.
Since 2014, the Gifts of Kindness Fund has supported more than 3,700 households across central Ohio. None of it happens without the hearts and hands of these incredible partners.
👉 Learn more about the Gifts of Kindness Fund
In a time when good news can feel hard to find, central Ohio has been turning the page—to kindness.
With support from the Center for HumanKindness, The Columbus Dispatch, Columbus Monthly, and Columbus CEO have been intentionally featuring stories that spotlight compassion, generosity, and connection throughout our community for more than a year. This partnership has helped show that kindness isn’t just happening behind the scenes—it’s headline-worthy!
Kindness and creativity have a lot in common—they both encourage connection, imagination, and empathy—and help us see the world in new ways. We celebrated both at the Columbus Museum of Art, where admission is free every Sunday.
Visitors explored the galleries, visited the Wonder Room, stopped by our booth to spin the Kindness wheel, and took part in a hands-on kindness craft. It was a day to connect, create, and share the spirit of kindness—because when we make time for kindness, everyone leaves a little brighter.
We opened our swag closet and gave away free gear to our amazing central Ohio kindness ambassadors—YOU! From car magnets to tote bags, each item is a way to spark conversation, inspire others, and help build a community where acts of care ripple far and wide.
The Center for HumanKindness at The Columbus Foundation aims to cultivate a culture of kindness in our region to foster a sense of belonging, and ultimately flourishing, for all. While spreading awareness on the transformative impact of acts of kindness, the Center for HumanKindness also invites community members to engage in activities to meaningfully connect with others, like gathering with neighbors or sending a postcard to let someone know you care.