How To Foster Workplace Giving in Your Company (Advice from Admin Pros)
Editor’s Note: This article was written in partnership with Caviar for Companies, the service that simplifies group food ordering and white-glove catering. Caviar’s support of OfficeNinjas and the admin community helps us continue to provide valuable education, resources, and events.
Personal change is hard enough, and when others are involved (think: a whole company), even the simplest tweak can seem like a monumental undertaking.
Often, admin pros and workplace operators (we call them “Office Ninjas”) are charged with planning culture-building activities, onboarding new hires, and cultivating the office’s norms, values, and overall vibe. So, when you’re asked to help shape the company’s culture, where do you even begin?
Why Invest in Workplace Giving?
While every workplace is different, there’s one option that’s rarely wrong: workplace giving. Encouraging generosity, community service, and acts of kindness can positively impact any workplace, no matter what kind of culture you’re working within.
Since the idea of giving is just as broad as culture, we asked admin pros in the Office Ninja community to share their experiences with workplace giving, and tips for others who want to develop corporate giving initiatives. Of course, they gave us some excellent insights.
Admin-Approved Workplace Giving Activities
Starting a workplace giving initiative can seem daunting — but you’re not alone! Try out one (or more) of these meaningful activities shared by fellow Ninjas.
Enjoy the entire article or use these links to quickly jump to a section of your choice:
- Community Service. A classic for a reason. Bond with your team and do some good in your community.
- Gift and Clothing Drives. Easy, accessible, and impactful (and great for the holidays!).
- “Adopting” a Charity. Rally around a chosen cause with your team and fully support it.
- Food Donations. Always end up with leftovers after a catered meal? Ensure they’re not wasted.
- Financial Contributions. One of the simplest and most impactful ways to support others.
- Pro Bono Work. Put your team’s talents to good use!
And be sure to enter our GIVEaway at the end of this article! ✨
Community Service
One surefire way to integrate giving into the workplace is to make it company policy. A few of the Office Ninjas we spoke with said they receive designated paid time off for community service as part of their benefits package.
Our paid volunteer time benefit provides up to 15 hours of paid time annually for you to take part in volunteer activities. — Kathy J.
This kind of support empowers employees to give back to the community, but it also boosts morale and facilitates team-building, as employees often choose to volunteer in groups.
If your organization is not in a position to offer paid time off for volunteer work, try advocating for a company-wide service day or after-hours activity. Alicia A., Front Office Coordinator at WellPet in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, says that WellPet’s Employee Volunteer Day “allows a personal level of interaction between our Wellies that may not have a chance to form in an office setting; many conversations, photos, and friendships have formed from volunteering.”
Gift and Clothing Drives
To make giving more accessible to all employees, Mary P., Director of People and Culture at Universe in Toronto, launched a drive for clothing and household supplies to benefit local shelters.
“It can be hard to ask people to give money to causes when they might not be able to but feel pressured,” she says.
“I realized shelters and community organizations always take clothing and household donations, and they go directly to those in need instead of being sold for a profit at thrift stores. It’s something everyone can do, helps the environment (reusing instead of going to a landfill), and can be done in every city!”
Other Ninjas and their employers plan their drives around the holidays when people are already tapped into the spirit of giving. Angela F., Administrative Assistant at WEST Consultants, Inc. in Salem, Oregon, and her colleagues skip Secret Santa and use their resources to collect gifts for a local family in need.
Our different giving opportunities have definitely raised the overall feeling of pride in our community and in ourselves. — Angela F.
Michela D., Executive Assistant at Home Tax Solutions in Dallas, Texas, says her team takes their support of the local Salvation Army’s Angel Tree to the next level by making it a playful bonding experience.
“We divide the company into teams, and at our end-of-year corporate meeting, we take the time to shop for our ‘angel’ family. Prior to shopping, we play friendly competitive games, with winning teams scoring extra shopping money.”
Her advice for nailing that proposal for a new giving back program? Do your research before sharing your idea with your team. Identify potential costs, required man-power, and how it would positively impact the company. Then, prepare a presentation (either visual or verbal) and be ready to answer any questions that come your way.
“Adopting” a Charity
Some Ninjas find that rallying around a common cause can strengthen a team’s sense of unity, and that shared sense of purpose spills over into day-to-day operations. Cindy C. belongs to a Philanthropy Committee that supports two charities by hosting employee events and giving opportunities, like raffles, silent auctions, and “pay to wear jeans to work” days, throughout the year.
“We all look forward to giving opportunities and are amazed each time at the amount our small group contributes,” Cindy says. “The programs send out a vibe of excitement!”
Admin Coordinator Tamiesha S. says the company motto at Hardenbergh Insurance Group (HIG) in Marlton, New Jersey, is Insuring Bright Futures and Building Lasting Relationships, with a core value of supporting the local community. In her office, staff members submit charities near and dear to their hearts and names are picked at random throughout the summer. Then, volunteer work and/or funds are donated to the chosen charities.
It’s great to experience first hand the many opportunities to give and to work with a team that’s incredibly giving. – Tamiesha S.
Food Donations
Ninjas who organize company events and meals often end up with plenty of food leftovers, and many are confounded by the cost or liability of figuring out how to donate and deliver them to those in need.
Both People Partner Scott J. and Senior Workplace Experience Coordinator Emily P. have found a solution for easy leftover donations through Caviar for Companies‘ white-glove catering service. Not only does Caviar’s white-glove catering provide end-to-end food preparation and service — they will also carefully pack up any extra food that is in good, edible condition and donate it locally on your behalf through their partnership with Replate.
These donations ensure we are doing our part to contribute towards solving food insecurity and food waste problems in our local communities. — Lauren M., Caviar for Companies
Meanwhile, at California State University, Fresno, Administrative Support Coordinator Selena W. reports they have a program called Student Cupboard, which provides food and basic necessities for students who may be experiencing food insecurities.
“These are the minds we are helping to shape to send out into our communities to fulfill their dreams of giving back through their careers,” she says. “The last thing we want them to worry about is where their next meal is coming from.”
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Financial Contributions
Of course, one of the simplest and most impactful ways to give is through financial contributions. And when companies support their employees’ giving, donations feel less transactional and more connected to the company’s culture.
UnitedHealthcare, in West Des Moines, Iowa, where Jackie P. works as an Executive Assistant, offers a 1:1 match for employees’ donations to eligible charities. Additionally, team members who track 30 hours of volunteer time are eligible for a $500 charitable grant.
This programming serves as a daily reminder of the importance we place on our United culture of integrity, compassion, relationships, innovation, and performance. — Jackie P.
Based in Algona, Iowa, Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Company’s SHARE (Supportive Help Among Reassuring Employees) program offers 2:1 matching for all contributions, which enabled employees to raise $5,000 for a colleague’s child who was undergoing liver transplant surgery. “Our company values are RICE – Relationships, Integrity, Citizenship, and Excellence,” says Rhonda O., Executive Assistant. “By donating our money or our time, we fulfill the Citizenship value.”
Pro Bono Work
Pro bono work can be a particularly rewarding way to give, as it enables people to use their skills and talents to serve others. And you don’t need a huge budget to make a difference, says Catherine S., Legal Administrative Assistant at Pierce Atwood LLP in Portland, Maine.
Her firm donates a minimum of 50 hours a year to non-profits like museums, conservancy programs, and organizations that support hospice patients and immigrants.
Giving back builds connections between our regional offices, improves the mental health of our employees, connects us to our communities … and it is FUN for everyone. — Catherine S.
Schuchart, a Seattle-based construction company, works with Sawhorse Revolution, an organization that introduces underserved youth to carpentry. Kylene A., Schuchart’s Office and Events Manager, says that in addition to bringing employees closer together, her company’s giving helps attract new hires.
And Ross G., Office Manager at MediaMath in New York, says his company developed a charitable wing called MediaMath.org that focuses on giving back through a variety of practices, including the donation of marketing services to charities through their program Marketing For Good. “This program has been part of the company for a few years now and is such an amazing use of our collective resources,” says Ross.
Thanks to Our Giving Contributors
Dozens of admin pros wrote in to us about their workplace giving activities, shared photos, and allowed us to feature them in this article. Thank you to those engaged Ninjas — we’re continually blown away by the community’s generosity!
Shout out to the Office Ninjas featured in this article 👏
Catherine S, Legal Administrative Assistant
Portland, Maine
Rhonda O, Executive Assistant
Algona, Iowa
Kylene A, Office and Events Manager
Seattle, Washington
Cindy C, Executive Assistant
Lewisville, Texas
Angela F, Administrative Assistant
Salem, Oregon
Kathy J, Admin Manager
Northfield, Illinois
Ross G, Office Manager
New York, New York
Jackie P, Executive Assistant
West Des Moines, Iowa
Selena W, Administrative Support Coordinator
Fresno, California
Tamiesha S, Administrative Coordinator
Marlton, New Jersey
Michela D, Executive Assistant
Dallas, Texas
Mary P, Director of People & Culture
Toronto, Ontario
Alicia A, Front Office Coordinator
Tewksbury, Massachusetts
Shout out to all the Office Ninjas (in 33 cities!) who contributed stories 🙌
Linda B, Rae B, Rachelé P, Michele T, Mikki T, Marie H, Angenee T, Cynthia J, Emily O, Samantha E, Rebecca T, Amber N, Kris H, Jessica H, Danielle G, Autumn H, Adrian J, Jeannette P, Stephanie P, Claire S, Ricki H, Ali B, Aubrey L, Dannise B, Tara B, Cecilia S, Tecca W
We do North Texas Giving Day as well as have other selected days throughout the year to give to programs on campus (I work for a university). My supervisor wanted some team building ideas for a retreat next month and I am going to pitch to him that we do a community service project. Thank you!
We have a special day each year that we contribute to the Metro Detroit area. We have two locations in Michigan and each office contributes in an urban area and in the suburbs to give back to our community.
our company donates to local charities. I love working for such a caring and passionate company.
Given that we are a skincare brand, we always ensure to participate in donating product for silent auctions, which raises money for that cause. I would really love to give back to the community more as a team so this article has sparked a ton of ideas!
Diodes, during the holiday will have a toy drive. And, threw out the year gives donations. Me – I try and make homeless people lives a little better. I also, help feed homeless pets.
We are very passionate about giving back. Once if our biggest company wide contributions is to the March Of Dimes. Every year we dedicate 1 month to raising money for the March of Dimes. We do a bake sale, 50/50 raffle, raffle mania gift basket raffle, food truck day, din & shares, and we also take part in leading the MOD walk as well. This year we raised over $20,000 in donations! Beyond that we are continually looking for ways to contribute. For instance I recently had to plan a managers meeting and we always kick the meeting off with an event night the evening before the meeting starts. I chose Feed My Starving Children for their “fun event”. We were able to pack meals for so many hungry children and we even matched our meals with a donations. Every Christmas I also run a Toys for Tot’s Charity Box. I collect toy donations at work for needy children. It’s very important in our company culture to give back to the community.
Love this heart-based energy & community! I too have a heart for giving & sharing with the homeless. It’s natural to feed the homeless along 2nd street from Howard to Market streets. I’ll pack & intentionly prepare warm care packages and deliver them along the way to people preparing for the night sleeping over the street air vents. When we have too many leftover trays, I get lyfted to Walden House where they accept all food donations open 24/7 <3 Beautifull vibes to all of you! Gratitude for all that you do! PS We order Caviar everyday yay! :)
Our Association’s CEO has assigned the SVP of each department to complete a philanthropic/community service project with their teams!
I support two departments–for one department, we bought gifts for two Angels from the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program and then we spent a day distributing gifts and bikes to recipient families.
For my other department, we are going to perform planting/gardening/park clean-up at a local nature center and park.
We also get three floating holidays that we can use for volunteering.
Giving back to our communities is a huge part of our company culture. This is the first company I’ve worked for that has so many programs and ways to give back. We have an annual event called “WMP National Day of Change” where all our offices, nationwide, close down and our employees go into their local communities and give back. Some examples are helping local foodbanks, sorting clothes donations, working in community gardens, and so much more. This year, I was part of a group that went to a local “tiny home” community that provides tiny homes to the homeless. It was a great experience building porches and wheel chair ramps, painting houses, and connecting with the people living there. It was a great opportunity to give back and help, especially since Seattle has a huge homeless crisis. I’m very fortunate to work for such a great company that values and gives back to the communities.
At the company where I work, each office has a charitable donations budget based on the number of employees in that office. As the Business Manager of both the corporate office and a regional office, I am able to work on a larger scale, including being involved in both local and corporate initiatives. One of the goals I requested was to enlarge the charitable contributions footprint on a local level and become more involved in the community and I am proud to say that we are well on our way to meeting that goal. We have more than doubled what we give and have a strategic plan on how we give. We are also in the beginning of rolling out a more robust volunteer program in the office.
We have a holiday drive every year called “Holiday Heroes” where we have opportunities for our employees to participate in raffle giveaways, swag purchases and outright donations which support local charities in Boston. These charities help families in various situations whether it be lack of financial resources, domestic violence or underpriveleged children to be able to have Christmas gifts. We have supported 3 local charities with last year being one of our largest efforts to date with almost $30,000 in donations of gifts and cash to help support their missions. We look forward to this every year and love that our employees help in so many aspects of making this effort successful!
I am thinking about Pro Bono work. As a CPA firm we can do a few low income persons’s taxes and/or donate some free time to organizations looking for help during our off peak moments.
We work in a neighborhood with a very large population of homeless folks, so our health and wellness committee buys and staff donates toiletries, underwear, socks, food, bottled water, and other such items. We set aside a few hours per quarter for staff to put these items together in tote bag care kits for our unhoused neighbors and go out and distribute them to folks who need them.
I love to reduce, reuse & recycle. I’m green team lead and every month I try to come up with something we can do as a team. I have an ongoing recycling box in the break room for recycling unwanted eyewear that everyone can place their glasses that are not being worn, all glasses will be recycled and given to a company that donates them to kids & adults that’s less fortunate.
My company has a very extensive history when it comes to work place giving. We do a cares day that extents across the country & now around the globe. I am part of a developing admin team which is in the process of adopting one of the one -day programs we’ve done and will turn it into an ongoing project which will serve an area school with supplies, mentoring and various needs.
As the EA to the VP of HR – I joined our company’s Employee Activity committee. One of our goals was to add a giving back to the community to the monthly activities we planned. At Christmas we collected coats for kid- adult, and donated to a local school. For the month of July, we are collecting school supplies for both the kids and teachers, as well as donating furniture to the schools. We are also looking to partner with the schools that we are donating to. We are also a major supporter of Junior Achievement. It is our goal to be force for good in our community.
Every year we have a can drive fundraiser during Thanksgiving, to make it more fun and exciting, we have our employees form teams and make an artwork out of the cans and turn it into a contest to see who can use the most cans!
The second event our office participates in is the Christmas Family Adoption. We adopt 2-4 families every Christmas, families that are unable to have a Christmas, we gather money, buy gifts, wrap them and deliver them to the family on Christmas Eve. We make sure every family member gets a minimum of 4-5 gifts or more.
We’re partnered with UNICEF for an ongoing global fundraiser called WORKOUT FOR WATER. It’s pretty cool! We use the money to help UNICEF build wells for clean water in Africa. Teams compete with group fundraising pages and we encourage our partner clubs (local gyms) to do the same. There’s usually a really awesome prize for the club partner that raises the most!
We are a non-profit, so our whole business is about giving! My favorite is that we have our residents learn crochet and then they make blankets for the babies of the pregnant women who come in to get clean before giving birth. It’s a great circular gift giving!
Since we are an educational non profit we donate school backpacks and supplies to a local classroom in need. Additionally we do Red Cross Blood Drives and walk for the American Breast Cancer Association – walk for the cure. All of these have been great ways to foster better connections with all peers – even the ones you never interact with in the workplace – thus fostering a much stronger team!
Our company does a volunteer event once a quarter and we always try to mix it up as there are so many wonderful organizations in our city. It’s so great to get out into your community and make a difference.
My company is VERY Philanthropic! And my boss is truly one of a kind! We give yearly to the Special Olympics. We also do Pro Bono work for the Archdiocese of Miami (they are one of our Best Clients). Although we are a small company, we have Health Insurance, and a 401K. Many people in our office are in our 50’s. The owner has given us access to get our wills (and our spouses wills) done pro bono. We receive 3 weeks vacation by year 5 and a myriad of additional benefits. We also serve food to the homeless on Thanksgiving. I love that our Boss is such a great person!
I have a meeting with company executives TODAY to discuss an initiative for establishing a workplace giving campaign. This article will be very helpful and the timing couldn’t be better!
Our company provides one day a year for each employee to volunteer. You can do the whole day or break it up into two half days. To me this really enforces giving back to the community and shows that the company cares. They also do free health screening once a year. We do angel trees every year for kids and for the elderly. We have done backpacks for the beginning of school, Easter baskets and sack snacks for the summer for low income families. It brings everyone together and it is great to give back.
Hilton Grand Vacations is an awesome company to work for! I am sure I cannot begin to list all the many varied ways we give to our communities – we definitely have a culture of giving! Whether it is in large monetary donations to disaster relief efforts any where in the world that are team members live and are possibly impacted (ex. our recent volcano eruption on Hawaii last year), to our regular annual donations to causes we believe in (ex., Salvation Army’s Toys for Tots, Hawaii Island Food Bank, Hawaii Lodging and Tourism scholarship programs, etc.) We also give directly through team member effort, and one of the largest of those efforts is the HLTA Annual Visitor Industry Charity Walk. Every year, we fundraise throughout the year for our local charities/non-profits. Last year, we raised over $28,000! There is also our company-wide global month of giving where all month team members focus on individual giving in their own churches, softball leagues, or other community organizations and also giving as a group, … such as when we helped move the food bank, or renovated a non-profit community rehabilitation center, took hot meals to our senior communities, made build-a-beds for the homeless shelter, and I could go on and on!! ALL of these efforts are on company time. We know how to give!!!!
Every year we have an Employee Giving Campaign that runs the month of August. As a company, over 90% of our employees participate and last year along generously gave over $1M to local charities. It is amazing to see how much our employee are involved and want to help.
I work for The Bonadio Group that has 10 different locations (2 of which out are of state). We have a team called Bonadio Inspired to spearhead each volunteering event. Each year we have what we call “Purpose Day” where each location chooses a non-profit organization (or more) to visit and do volunteer work. We also participate each year in the United Way Day of Caring, Adopt a family at Christmas, United Way Community Baby Shower, collect food for local pantries, collect toys for foster families so they can have a day of fun. The list goes on and on. My firm is a great place to work. We have a great culture and awesome group of individuals who truly care about our communities, wherever we may be.
I’m lucky to work at Salesforce – where every employee gets 56 hours paid time to volunteer! It’s part of our culture, it’s integrated into major meetings, we do things in the office & out in our communities. The last couple of years we’ve focused on “Circle the Schools” to help out at our local schools to inspire them to think that they too can work in tech. All of our programs are global in all our offices/ all of our employees regardless if they work from home or in an office.
HIG is the best company I’ve had the pleasure of working for, hands down!
We have multiple opportunities to give throughout the year and there is even room in our budget for goodwill. HIG employees also receive I day a month paid to go out into the community and volunteer. On multiple occasion, I have been or gone to lunch with a vendor and my boss has handed me the credit card or paid the bill at a restaurant where the vendor intended to treat. The giving starts from the top down.
We have recently had a lot of family moves and life changes. In passing, its amazing the number of conversations I’ve had with staff regarding how much stuff they need to get rid of. Its very common here at HIG to put the word out that you’re in need of a specific item and someone here has it to give. Its awesome that HIG’s culture is built on these types of relationships! My goal is to create a company swap meet in the office once every quarter to exchange items. We can use a conference room to display anything that can be to carried into the office and from there, staff would have an opportunity to leave items in loved condition for the taking. We all have a need and one coworker’s donation could be another coworker’s fantastic find!
Our company is big on giving back to the community, not just in my office, but in every office around the country. Last year, for our 40th anniversary, we formed committees to find volunteer opportunities and even created a photo book that was distributed to every office. Here in Seattle, we got the opportunity to volunteer at an organization that helps the homeless, at an organization for the environment, and an organization that helps with feeding the hungry here in WA state. We also do an annual toy/gift drive for Seattle Children’s Hospital every December and have collected housewares for the nearby Ronald McDonald House. In August, a few of us from the company are volunteering at Obliteride, which is the main fundraiser for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center on behalf of our company.
Our company is huge on giving back to the communities, we have various volunteering efforts throughout the year. We do gifts for children during the holidays, back-to-school drives, coat drives, food drives, cloth drives, welcoming home our troops, reading to the children, helping children to understand finances, mentoring, providing for the homeless and helping the elderly by making repairs to homes, volunteering and the food drives, partnering with others within and out of our team networks, In Sept. of each year, we have a huge campaign drive for donating and volunteering.
I have done a few volunteer events for our agents and staff from a blood drive ensuring that all three of our offices had a blood donation center nearby in which they could participate in, taking selfies/pics of participants and splashing them all over twitter/Instagram/FB/SnapChat/LinkedIn and our website, to a Bar Night where folks where asked to bring in either a monetary donation or new toy which in turn went to Stanford Children’s hospital, to a Toy Drive at our annual holiday party in 2018. For 2019, we are donating our time with Project Open Hand and will do media splash to all social media aspects, we will be participating in project One Warm Coat in November and SF Firefighters Toy Drive in December. I do like the idea of a company offering a set amount of paid time off to their employees and will actually raise this as a ‘perk or incentive’ to my management team for consideration as just one or two days a year isn’t sufficient and community involvement is actually one of our core values that we just aren’t doing enough of so thank you for this article.
This year, we’ve started a new volunteer effort at my company in NYC. Every three months, we contact a new charity for the opportunity to give back and take a few groups to do so! So far, this year, we’ve gone to a food pantry in NYC to stock shelves, helped clean up and weed Fort Greene Park in BK, and already have plans to help stuff backpacks for previously homeless youth in August.
All of these volunteer opportunities are during working hours, and fully paid. In addition to these, we also offer 2 full days of paid volunteer time per calendar year. This is a great way to get our company helping our community!
We give annually around the holidays to a local charity that is chosen by employees voting. Last year we chose our local animal shelter and delivered 3 huge boxes of supplies, food, toys, etc. I would like to get our office involved in more community giving opportunities throughout the year.
Our company adopted Ronald McDonald House Charity and employees are encouraged to donate their time and money each year. We also take proceeds from our drink machines and purchase toys for each employee’s child at Christmas. We draw each month to pay a utility bill of an employee and encourage them to pay it forward.
Office Operations and IT partnered up in our offices to collaborate and connect with local non-profits benefitting low-income communities, a women’s shelter, and an interview outfit provider, among others. Our office got the opportunity to donate computer monitors to these various non-profit offices, helping update and outfit their spaces!
Thank you for the inspirational tips!
I started a food drive to support Feeding America and my boss liked the program so much he invited other companies to join in. Soon I was organizing volunteer events and food drives nationwide supporting 26 food banks. I have since left that company but I am delighted to share that the program lives on.
In 2015 I brought the “Keep Warm Movement” to Tulsa, OK. I saw this movement gaining popularity and it was a great way to give back to the needy. This movement is where you tie a scarf to a tree/post/statue/etc. with a note “I AM NOT LOST, if you’re stuck out in the cold, take this scarf to keep warm!” Our office is a “satellite office” from the corporate offices in Madison WI, The Tulsa office staff has been tying them up all around Tulsa, especially on Cherry Street where our office is during the winter months. We only have about 10 folks who work out of the office, but we all take part in Keeping Tulsa Warm!
Every year our company volunteers for Habitat for Humanity. This year we will be doing it in September. As a company we participate in as many local charities as we can. We enjoy helping out our local communities and neighborhoods.
I am an Executive Assistant for a hospital’s Marketing & Communications and Community Health Advancement departments. I scheduled a division retreat for last week and our team decided that we wanted to particicpate in a good deed for a portion of our retreat.
I worked with the social work team in our Emergency Department to get supplies to make harm reduction kits, which are bags full of resources and supplies for those suffering from substance abuse disorder. When a patient comes in, we offer them the bag which contains local resources on food banks, homeless shelters, needle exchanges, and counselling. We stuffed drawstrings bags with folders of the resources, condoms, drug testing kits, and other supplies. Our facility in Ohio is located in the heart of the opioid epidemic, so we go through these kits rather quickly. The emergency department was thrilled with our contribution of assembling the kits.
Our company organized a Beach Day in the office requiring a donation to the Virginia Beach families who were victims of a mass shooting. We collected almost $13,000. We all got to dress beach casual and had a picnic in the office.
As the new Office Manager to our small construction company, I am starting a food drive for our local food pantry this year. We are all lucky to have a boss who will step up when work gets slow and an employee needs help, so I want us to be able to help those who are not so fortunate.
We are currently working on creating giving and volunteering programs. We had a food drive in June and we are starting work on a school supply program. More ideas are in the pipeline as well as working with management to see if we can offer volunteer hours to employees. I’m excited to see what comes next!
Our parent company Thomson Reuters that just acquired us gives us 16 hours paid of volunteer time and then will match up to $1000 to a 501c Charity. You can do the $1000 via cash or with volunteering your time. You get $500 for 40 hours of your time. Plus the leadership will take their individual teams to go do volunteer work as a team bonding activity.
I work in the Marketing and Communications Department at SIUE, and as a department, we adopt a family or two every Christmas and fulfill their Christmas wish list (and then some), and also sponsor a collection that is open to the University Community for a local pet shelter.
We had a breakroom “garage sale” to help raise money for a coworker’s grandson who’s going through some expensive medical treatments. We were encouraged to both donate and purchase items. Anything not sold at the end of the month, the coworker used to host a more traditional yard sale.
I am our statewide volunteer coordinator for our annual day of giving (all 60,000 associates). Our company also provides 8 hours of Volunteer Time per year to everyone. We provide matching grants for donations and we always respond to local disasters where we have offices. This is a GREAT company to work for.
We have been giving for Christmas, and donating to charity, but this year we actually have a Social, Charitable & Giving Committee (I am one of the members)!! I am so excited our new CEO suggested this committee and we’re making it happen. We will have a week of giving in October. I can’t wait! There’s nothing better than the feeling of helping others. :)
Every year the company donates to one charity. The team nominates charities of their choice and then everyone votes. The charity with the most votes is the recipient. I also organized a NYCares coat drive last winter where we donated 15 coats to help New Yorkers get through the winter.
Recently one of the members of the sales team headed a homeless sock give away. Socks were donated, as well as funds. Socks were purchased, and any employees were encouraged to pick up pairs of socks to give away to the homeless they encountered on their way out of the office and home, as dry clean socks prevent a lot of health problems. Socks ran out in about 30 minutes–so we gave away over 500 pairs of socks to the NYC homeless!
I just took over as supervisor in the sales office this year, and I will DEFINITELY be adding workplace giving for the staff. There are only 3 of us, but we have down time in the winter, and that would be a great time to bond while doing some community service. Thank you so much for the recommendation!
At Google, we engage 25% of the company in volunteering during the month of June (we call it GoogleServe) and generate several hundred volunteer hours for nonprofits in the Bay Area and globally!
Our company provides free hearing screenings, gives patients free batteries, has a program to nominate a patient in need to receive a free pair of hearing aids every quarter, we travel to assisted living facilities to do screenings at no charge and we are apart of a program called Hear Now that helps patients with limited income get hearing for very little out of pocket.
Management is always looking for ways to keep us motivated. This month we get 2 half days off as long as we’ve completed our task by the deadlines. It’s nice to work for a company that appreciates your hard work.