Calling All Companies: Become Charity Champions this GivingTuesday!

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After a jump in sales and revenue on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, GivingTuesday is a perfect opportunity for businesses to give back!

Choose a cause related to your line of business, an organization in your community, or a favourite cause amongst staff to spark lasting corporate social responsibility within your organization.  These tips, tricks, and ideas will help you turn your business into a charitable-minded organization.

Inspire people to pay it forward

On last year’s inaugural GivingTuesday Canada, PayPal inspired customers at Jimmy’s Coffee in Toronto, Ontario.  Unsuspecting customers were delighted to learn PayPal would pick up their coffee tab, with the simple request that customers #PayPalitForward.

This clever campaign was a reminder that there are many ways to give to those around you, and that giving feels great.  Take some inspiration from this inspiring idea and ask some unsuspecting customers to donate what they would have spent on their purchase to charity, while your company picks up the tab.

Throw an office party that they’ll be talking about all year!

GivingTuesday falls right around the time offices are gathering to celebrate the holidays, and since giving is a major part of the season, why not make your office party charitable? A GivingTuesday themed office party is the perfect way to do so, and a great way to inspire your whole team.

Last year at CanadaHelps, we asked our staff to purchase a new toy for a co-worker which represented the individual’s personality. Opening gifts was even more fun, and after the party, the toys were donated to a children’s toy drive. It was a fun way to get to know co-workers better, while ensuring we made local kids’ holidays a bit better.

CanadaHelps Holiday Party

Leverage the power of social media

Pledge to donate $1.00 for every tweet using the hashtag, #GivingTuesdayCA, or send out your own GivingTuesday challenge to your followers.  For every time your tweet is shared, pledge to donate a specified amount to a particular cause.  The same concept can be easily applied to other social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and more!

With social media, the sky is the limit and that was exactly the outcome of last year’s CIBC GivingTuesday campaign.  CIBC pledged to donate $1.00 for every retweet of the following tweet:

CIBC Tweet

The result was more than $7000.00 for CIBC Miracle Day children’s charities. In addition CIBC matched donations up to $10,000 made to the Canadian Women’s Foundation!  An incredible act of amazing corporate charitable giving!

Other organizations can also leverage the power of social media to promote charitable giving in other ways.  Charity Village promoted employee charitable acts of kindness by posting #unselfies of the team and various charities they support.

Donate a portion of company sales on GivingTuesday

For every sale or transaction made on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2014, commit to giving a specific portion of sales to a charity your company supports. When your clients or customers make a purchase, they will feel even better knowing their purchase is benefiting a charitable cause.  In case your customers are feeling generous, keep a collection box by the cash to increase your business’ charitable impact! 

Match employee donations

Send out a call to action and ask employees to make a donation to a charitable organization, however big or small.  As an incentive to increase charitable impact, offer to match employee, or even client donations.

Create an in-house company challenge

A little competition is always fun, especially when it’s all in the name of charity.  Challenge departments to face off and raise funds for a collective or separate cause(s). Make it even better by offering a top prize, such as an extra vacation day, for an extra push to get your employees fundraising!  Not only is a charity challenge a great way to up the ante and create some friendly competition for a great cause, it is also a great way to promote innovation, creativity, and team building skills within your workplace.

Encourage employees to roll-up their sleeves for a cause

On GivingTuesday, encourage your employees to venture into the not-for-profit world by volunteering at a local charitable organization for the day. Charities are always in need of extra help, and volunteering is a great way to understand and assist a charity’s work. Businesses could even offer pro-bono consultations from skilled employees to help charities with business issues, resulting in more of the charity’s resources going towards achieving their mission.

Whichever way your business chooses to give back this GivingTuesday, know you are helping out your grateful friends in the non-profit sector.

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