Replace Gift Exchange With Good Works
Tired of those holiday potluck luncheons and Secret Santa gift exchanges at the office? This season you can help your community and boost morale by getting involved in a charitable project instead. There are diverse possibilities, from tutoring children to serving food at a soup kitchen.
Here’s how six companies nationwide are giving back to the community during the holidays:
Helene Curtis Industries Inc., is adopting 84 needy families in the Chicago area. “More than 1,000 employees get involved in the program,” says Jenny Welch, director of administrative and volunteer services. “The (social service) agencies give us first names, ages and sizes, and then individual departments adopt families. Instead of exchanging gifts with each other, employees buy gifts for the children, and during lunch they order pizzas and wrap the presents together.”
Annie’s Homegrown Inc., a natural food company in Sausalito, Calif., is offering employees up to three cases of its product to give to their favorite charity. In addition, the company is donating 1,000 cases of its products to volunteer centers across the United States. “We want the centers to reward their top volunteers with boxes of our macaroni and cheese,” says president Deborah Churchill. “We believe volunteering is good for the health of the community, so we think it’s important to recognize people who are giving their time.”
Columbia Sportswear Co. in Portland is adopting nine families. “Employees are donating everything from clothes and toys to blankets and towels,” says spokeswoman Beth Gillespie. “It’s a company-wide program now, but it started in one department, at the suggestion of an employee whose church had a list of families that needed help.
Tom’s of Maine, which manufactures natural personal-care products, collects winter clothes for Goodwill at its headquarters in Kennebunk. Throughout the year the company runs a “5 Percent for Volunteering Program,” which enables employees to spend 5 percent of their work time volunteering at non-profits. “A lot of folks participate in this program during the holiday season,” says Matthew Chappell, company spokesman.
The Leo Burnett Co. offers employees in Chicago three ways to give back to the community. In addition to donating canned goods to the Greater Chicago Food Depository Food Drive, they can contribute to the Offthe-Street Club, an organization that provides programs for inner-city youth, and buy toys for the Wyler Children’s Hospital Toy Drive.
Esprit, a San Francisco fashion manufacturer, is hosting a benefit book fair, at which a percentage of the sales will be donated to local schools and non-profits. “Employees complain that they don’t have enough time to buy holiday gifts,” says Danny Kraus, public relations manager. “Now they can shop here during their lunch hour, and they can give back to the community at the same time.”
If your employer hasn’t launched a community-service project this holiday season, it’s not too late to get started within your work group. Here’s how:
Create a plan. You’re more apt to receive a favorable response if you present a proposal for a specific project (“Our department could organize a teddy bear drive for the local children’s hospital.”) rather than if you simply issue a statement to your boss (“We should give back to the community.”). Develop projects that match the interests of your colleagues (homelessness, children, the elderly, etc.).
Enlist support. Talk with co-workers before you pitch your idea. You’ll need their support for your project to succeed, whether it’s a food drive or a service activity such as decorating a senior citizen’s center.
Point out benefits. Point out that altruistic endeavors can spark team-building and employees who coordinate the project also develop skills they might not gain in their regular positions.
Start small. Don’t take on too much too soon. Organize a project for your department, rather than the entire company. Word of your success will spread and more employees will want to participate next year.