What Holiday Giving Looks Like + How You Benefit

It’s that time of year again. Turkey, stuffing, stockings, distracted employees... Here’s how to engage your team during the upcoming holiday season (with the added benefit of doing some serious good).

This blog is providing more context to “3 Ways to Increase Engagement Around Holiday Giving.”

4 minute read

This crazy year has made one thing clear: employees, investors, and consumers care a lot about a company’s social impact. And with high expectations around workplace giving, the upcoming holiday season is the perfect time to take your company’s giving program for a test drive - or kick it into high gear.

Here is what workplace giving looks like, plus how you will benefit during this holiday season.

#1 Workplace Giving Campaign

What it looks like:
A holiday workplace giving campaign can mean alerting the team to local charities in need, or profiling nonprofits that align with your company values, and then tracking your company-wide impact. If you don’t have a budget for matching donations, then set some donation goals with fun incentives like sharing an old, funny picture of the CEO once the goal has been reached, or a shortened workday after the holidays.

How you benefit:

Increases employee engagement and participation
- Today’s talent is more socially-conscious than ever before, and workplace giving helps to create a culture they want to join, stay a part of, and tell their friends about.
Improves brand awareness
- Your culture is your brand. As employees are engaged through philanthropy, customers are linking their purchases to a purpose.

#2 Matching Employee Donations

What it looks like:

Building a matching donation program around this holiday season can be a bit difficult, but here is a step-by-step guide.

Research charities -OR- crowdsource charities from employees
Verify 501(c)3 charities
Contact charities to form a partnership
Gather marketing and educational materials for employees
Provide employees a system to process the donations -OR- have employees donate to the charity individually, then submit donation receipts to your team
Track and manage all employee donation receipts to accurately account and share the team’s progress
Execute the company's matching donations (either match one-by-one as employees donate -OR- match in a few large gifts once all employees donate)
Collect company match donation receipts to ensure the totals equal the employee totals

How you benefit:

Engages employees through valuing employees’ passions.
- When employees have the power to support various charities or causes they believe in, they are more engaged as their company supports their passions and beliefs.
Attracts top talent as they are more likely to work for a socially responsible company.
- 75% of millennials would take a pay cut to work for a socially responsible company. And 76% of millennials consider a company’s social and environmental commitments before deciding where to work.
Attracts consumers as they are more likely to buy from a socially responsible company.
- 86% of consumers believe that companies should take a stand for social issues and 64% of those who said it’s extremely important said they were very likely to purchase a product based on that commitment.

#3 Employee Volunteering

What it looks like:
Since volunteering has gone virtual in recent months, workplace volunteering has evolved into a variety of engaging opportunities. These opportunities range from low-lift events like each department “adopting a family” in the local community over the holidays, to skills-based volunteering that offers services to nonprofits in need.

For a skills-based volunteer program, first survey the team to learn about the causes they care about and the skills they have to offer to nonprofits (here’s a free Passion Assessment built just for this). Use that valuable information to partner with nonprofits that need your employees’ skill-sets to survive this tumultuous time and stay afloat.

How you benefit:

Increases employee engagement and participation
Improves brand awareness in your local community

How to implement workplace holiday giving programs:

Implement internally using some guides on matching employee donations and employee volunteering.

-OR-

Outsource to philanthropic experts, like us, saving time and money. We do all of the work for you - from finding pre-vetted charities to customizing your matching donations to curating employee volunteering opportunities. This holiday season is the perfect opportunity to take a workplace giving program for a test drive. And holiday giving has never been easier with Percent Pledge by your side.

Keep Reading

Percent Pledge Press