Nonprofits often overlook one fundraising goldmine hidden right under their noses: the office place! With the rise of corporate social responsibility, many companies actually want to fundraise for charities and causes they value.
Studies link charitable giving and other corporate social responsibility actions with better employee engagement and satisfaction. Employees want to work for companies that focus on community, people, and the planet, not just on profit.
Don’t assume that this value of corporate social responsibility is limited to a line-item in budgets for charitable giving. Businesses also value getting their employees involved in philanthropic activities!
Employees are often eager to make donations to nonprofits through workplace fundraisers, especially if the organization supports someone in the employee’s life, or if someone they know invites them to donate. Employees are also likely to give when they see a personal story of someone the nonprofit is helping.
Which Workplace Fundraisers Raise The Most Money?
This question is challenging to answer because of all the variables to consider. For example, a large business with several hundred employees might be able to raise thousands of dollars quite quickly by selling "Casual Friday" passes for $10 each. This wouldn’t be as easy for a smaller company.
The success of a corporate fundraiser depends on finding the right fundraising activity or event that they’ll be excited to participate in. If there are loads of employees to love to cook and eat tasty foods, find a fundraiser that appeals to their interests and taste buds. If the company has a lot of health-conscious people, a more athletic fundraiser will be more successful.
How To Get Employees Excited About Workplace Fundraisers
The most important thing about running a successful office fundraiser is convenience. Nonprofits and companies should find ways to make the giving process as easy as possible. There are other things you can do to increase employee engagement.
Explain the nonprofit and how it aligns with corporate values
The employees want to understand why their company chose to support your nonprofit. Employees need to understand how the charity aligns with the values and purpose of the business.
Patagonia is an example of a business with deeply integrated corporate social responsibility activity. They’ve donated over $185 million to environmental groups and conservation efforts since the company was born. They are very strategic in their factory choices and marketing messages to align with their social responsibility values. They even offer employees opportunities for paid sabbaticals to volunteer and participate in conservation efforts. Everyone has a clear understanding of Patagonia’s values and purposes.
Set an achievable goal for workplace fundraising
Work with the business and the employees to set an achievable fundraising goal. Everyone needs something to work towards, and setting a goal measures performance. Without a set goal, fundraising just feels like an endless process.
After you set a goal, create visuals and ways to illustrate the company’s fundraising progress and keep people motivated. This can also serve as a way to continue educating people about your organization. Drop fun facts and share success stories when you give fundraising progress updates.
Ask employees to contribute special skills to the workplace fundraiser
You might be surprised what kinds of skills, talents, and hobbies people have that you can tap into for the fundraising effort! It also helps to determine the strengths and competencies of the company as a whole. What does the company do really well?
Empowering employees to use their unique skills and tapping into the strengths of the business makes people feel essential to the effort. In turn, it motivates people to work harder to accomplish the goal! Everyone wins!
Employee feedback can be really beneficial during this step. It will help you identify the strengths and talents of individuals and the group as a whole. If you’re working with a large corporation, make sure you get feedback from employees across as many job roles, demographics, and geographic areas as possible. The more people who buy into the fundraiser, the better.
Send regular updates about fundraising progress
Whether it’s a weekly email or an announcement at the regular company-wide meeting, keep everyone updated on the progress of the fundraising efforts. Help everyone celebrate progress and be aware if they’re falling behind, which keeps people motivated and engaged. It’s also helpful to share the progress with graphs and other visuals.
If you’re running a fundraising event where employees are competing against each other, it’s especially critical to keep an updated leader board. This will keep the spirit of competition high and help people stay engaged.
5 Creative Company Fundraising Ideas
No matter what kind of business you’re partnering with, there’s sure to be a fundraiser that will fit the company’s culture, vision, and values. And, you don’t have to be stuck with the "been there, done that" golf tournament or fun run! We gathered five creative workplace fundraising ideas that are unique and fun. Don’t be afraid to adapt and be creative!
Talent auction
You might be surprised by how many hidden skills and talents people have! Instead of auctioning off treats and goods, have people "donate" their abilities and expertise to the auction. It might be anything from guitar lessons or handmade pottery to home-cooked meals! Anything goes! Then, other colleagues bid on the donated skills and services.
It’s a great way to share expertise and fundraise at the same time. A secondary benefit of this type of office fundraiser is that it allows employees to connect over shared interests and can even increase the sense of belonging and community within the company.
This type of corporate fundraiser can be as simple or complex as you like. Some businesses make an evening of it, with a dinner and full auction experience. Other companies might choose to do everything online and not have a gathering at all.
Whether you choose to have an event or not, Soapbox Engage has several apps that will make this fundraiser a breeze! Use Soapbox Engage’s Forms app to collect people’s contributions to the auctions. Then, use the Donations app to collect people’s winning bids and any extra donations toward your cause.
If you choose to hold an auction event, simplify the registration process with the Events app. It lets you sell or give away tickets, register people online, and keep everything organized.
Sweepstakes fundraiser
This sweepstakes fundraiser whether people in your office love the Oscars or the Olympics, Wimbledon or the World Cup. And, you can do it in person or online!
Here’s how it works: choose a significant event (preferably televised), and have everyone donate the agreed-upon amount. Colleagues draw names before the start of the event, game, or tournament. Whoever draws the winning name at the end of the event takes a portion of the entry money. More participants mean a bigger prize!
If your sweepstakes revolve around a one-time event (like the Oscars), consider hosting a watch party. You can sell food and drinks to raise even more money and add to the community fun.
To make this event simple, use the Soapbox Engage Events app for people to sign up, pay the entry donation, and make their selection. Everyone will love the simplicity of the whole process!
Swim, bike, or run-a-thon
This peer-to-peer fundraiser works perfectly virtually or in person. Decide how far you would like to swim, bike, or run and split up the length among all the colleagues who would like to participate. People can ask their friends and family to sponsor them.
This event is so versatile, you can turn it into practically whatever fits your company’s wants and needs! If you decide to hold the event in person, you can invite spectators and have collection buckets for more donations on the day.
Make the fundraising process simple for everyone with personalized donation pages on Soapbox Engage’s Donations app. Each participant will be able to raise money toward their own goal. You can even add a prize for the person who raises the most money or completes the most distance.
This fundraiser is accessible because everyone can get involved in their own way. Whether someone just wants to complete a short distance or try to go the farthest, there’s something for everyone. Plus, there’s the health benefits of getting people up and moving about!
Rent-an-assistant
No matter what sort of business you’re working with, employees surely have tasks they just hate doing. Whether it’s that pile of paperwork that needs filing, a stack of envelopes to stuff, or expense reports to finish, there are days when people would gladly pay to rent an assistant!
Gather a few employees (supervisors and people who are well-versed in most of the company tasks are ideal), and set up donation pages for each "assistant." Employees can make donations to the page of the "assistant" they would like to hire! It’s an excellent way to get all those dreaded tasks out of the way while supporting a great cause!
Companies who have done this fundraiser recommend setting hourly rates for the "assistants." For example, employees can "hire" the assistant for $25 for one hour, $50 for 2 hours, or $200 for the whole day. Of course, you can customize it to your unique business and fundraising goals.
Casual pass (with variation ideas)
This workplace fundraiser has been around for a long time. Still, it’s one of the most popular, tried-and-true corporate fundraising ideas. Of course, it really only works for offices, schools, and places that have strict dress codes.
You would probably be truly amazed by what people will do to ditch their pantsuits and dress down for a day. The most popular way to run this fundraiser is to let people purchase "casual passes" regularly (every Friday, for example).
A popular variation is to hold a competition to see who can raise the most money in a month. The winner receives a month of casual passes. Or, you can reward the top five fundraisers.
You don’t have to be limited to dress codes! If your office environment allows, consider offering "pet passes" as the prize, which allows the winners to bring their pet into work! Or, you could put "work from home days" on the line! Don’t be afraid to think beyond the dress code with this one.
However you decide to structure this fundraiser, the Donations app will let you customize it to suit your needs. If you plan to sell "passes" regularly, consider using the Events app to sell the passes.
Now that you’re ready to host some successful office fundraisers, here are a few more resources to help you boost your fundraising efforts.
- Write A Fundraising Plan That Converts More Donors: Set your nonprofit up for long-term financial stability by putting in the effort to write a fundraising plan. It will help you organize all your fundraising efforts and activities so that everything works together.
- 6 Steps To Boost Fundraising With Corporate Matching Gifts: Matching gifts can be an excellent way for development professionals to boost their funding campaigns without much extra effort. Most matching gifts are a dollar-for-dollar match, up to a certain amount each year. This blog will help you encourage your donors to take advantage of matching gift opportunities.
- Building Fundraising Campaign Themes That Increase Donations: Successful fundraising campaigns need a brand or a theme. A great campaign theme helps people connect with your fundraising campaign and understand your goal. Learn some of the industry best-practices for campaign themes!
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