Mark Ruffalo Brings Back Pay It Forward Challenge, Assembles Fellow Avengers To Join

As the holidays roll on amid economic uncertainty and a world shaken by an ongoing pandemic, [...]

By Russ Burlingame

As the holidays roll on amid economic uncertainty and a world shaken by an ongoing pandemic, Avengers: Endgame star Mark Ruffalo is reviving his Pay it Forward Challenge, which allows fans a chance to choose a charity to receive donations from himself and other celebrities who participate. The process is simple: head over to Ruffalo's Instagram and play his story, where you can reply with a submission. The concept of paying it forward is that, rather than repaying someone's kindness directly, you pass that kindness on to someone else, creating a wider web of kindness and goodwill. Ruffalo first did his #PayItForward challenge in 2017.

The phrase is at least 100 years old, having appeared in the 1916 novel In the Garden of Delight, but became part of pop culture's everyday vernacular after a 1999 novel (adapted the next year into a movie) that used Pay it Forward as the actual title and a key aspect of the story.

When Ruffalo started the campaign, it was with a gift card that he loaded with $100 and encouraged fans to buy themselves a cup of coffee, and maybe put some money in to reload the card for the next person. Quickly it became a charity giving campaign instead.

You can see his 2020 post below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mark Ruffalo (@markruffalo)

This time around, he singled out a few Avengers co-stars -- many of whom are already known for their charitable work on the side -- to join in the fun.

"Thank you to everyone who enjoyed the last couple of years' Pay It Forward Challenge. I wanted it to make a return this holiday season with a gift that gives back," Ruffalo wrote in the post. "I'm picking 50 people who submit their email in my Story to receive a Global Giving gift card to donate to a nonprofit of their choice."

Noting that the card is good for a wide variety of charities including COVID relief funds, he tagged in co-stars Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey, Jr., and Jeremy Renner. None of them have yet replied to the Pay It Forward Challenge, although Evans recently tweeted about his own holiday charity plans:

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