For most people, work and charity are distinctly separate parts of life—but it doesn’t have to be that way.
By integrating charitable giving into your place of business, you can build a productive workplace where employees are inspired to give, both to their company and to the community that surrounds them. Creating a corporate giving program means that “employees get to have a stake in the company’s philanthropy,” says Lindsay Siegel, associate director of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy. “It creates a tremendous sense of loyalty.”
Whether you’re the head of the company, or merely an employee who wants to help boost company morale and use the power of the group to do good things, here are a few simple tips for implementing a corporate giving program in your own workplace.
1. Form a giving group.
Four years ago, Bettye Harrison, president of the Denver-based company Video Professor, and several of her staff members decided to create a club called Seasons, which is dedicated to doing good. The group, which has since swelled to about fifty members, holds several fundraisers and food drives each year, and donates its proceeds to the Salvation Army, the local Jefferson County Action Center, a fund for Video Professor employees in need, and even “an ongoing soldier program, sending supplies to men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan,” says Harrison.
In addition to helping others, the Seasons club has been a tremendous boost to staff morale. “When businesses reach a level of success, it’s time, and probably past time, to give back to the community,” says Harrison. “It’s very important to me and to employees to give them a way to be organized about giving and allow them that opportunity to give back to the community.”
A charitable program in the workplace can also replace the typical staff retreats in terms of creating a supportive team environment. In the Seasons club, “managers and staff are all working together,” says Brian Olson, Video Professor’s Vice President of Public Affairs. “That’s the great unifier. I get to meet people in the company and make friends with people that otherwise I probably wouldn’t get to know.”
