The last year has been extremely challenging for charities. The financial worries presented by the pandemic have led to fewer people donating to charities. And the ongoing uncertainty meant that fundraising hasn’t been at the top of people’s to-do list.
But the festive season is a popular time to give back to those who need it. Festive employee fundraising ideas are an excellent way to raise money for a good cause, whilst spreading festive cheer in your workplace.
The Benefits Of Festive Employee Fundraising Ideas
Much like charities, businesses have also struggled this year. Many have had no choice but to close throughout strict lockdowns. Some have had to make redundancies and others have had to adjust to running their business remotely.
Raising funds and donating to charities is an effective way to raise spirits and end a testing year on a positive note. Plus, there are benefits for your team and your business!
- Carrying out charity work will bring your employees together and help them build strong workplace relationships. If your team have been working from home, it will be particularly beneficial to give them something fun and festive to work on together.
- Fundraising as a team also helps build a supportive workplace culture and can help boost morale.
- Depending on the fundraising ideas you opt for, charity work can also provide an opportunity to get your team moving and exercising more (which is great for both physical and mental wellbeing!).
- Charity work can also help your business connect with a network of new supporters.
- It will increase engagement across your social media platforms and is excellent for PR.
Our Favourite Festive Employee Fundraising Ideas
Charity work doesn’t have to be about raising money. It would be about collecting goods and necessities and donating them to a local charity.
Your festive charity work might include encouraging your team to buy and donate items rather than raising funds. It is always a good idea to contact local charities and ask how you can help.
With so many working from home, raising funds may be different this year. Here are our ideas:
Festive Fun Run
Fun runs are particularly popular around the festive season. “Santa Fun Run” and “Reindeer Dash” are just two examples of festive runs. Participants raise funds before carrying out a run in festive fancy dress.
You can partner up with a local or national charity that might already be hosting out a festive run. For example, The Air Ambulance Service is hosting a Virtual Santa Fun Run this year.
Alternatively, if you have plenty of employees, you can carry out your very own festive fun run and donate the funds to a charity of your choice. It’s a great way to have fun whilst encouraging your team to exercise.
Department Donation Challenge
If you have a large company with numerous departments, you can challenge your employees to collect donations for a local charity.
For example, many homeless shelters and women’s refuges ask for donations of toiletries and other necessities. Similarly, children/family charities often ask for toy donations at this time of year. Whereas animal charities ask for donations of pet food.
Set a date that all the donations have to be in by. Turn it into a friendly competition by offering a prize to the department that donates the highest number of items.
Festive Raffle
If you have suppliers and clients that are particularly generous around this time of year, you can create a raffle filled with goodies for your team.
You could also provide a “Jackpot” prize, which could be anything from extra annual leave to a tech prize (top tip – you can grab a deal in the Black Friday sales!). Then sell raffle tickets to your team throughout December before hosting a Prize Day.
Christmas Sweepstake
Sweepstakes are an easy and effective way to raise funds at Christmas. Perhaps bet on the Christmas Number 1 – it’s announced on Christmas Day this year (2020)! Charge your employees a fee to join in the sweepstake and donate the funds to charity. Don’t forget to buy a prize for the winner.
After a testing year that has challenged the mental health of many, doing something fun in aid of charity will certainly raise spirits amongst your team.
Want To Improve The Wellbeing Of Your Team?
Here at Wellspace, we create bespoke health and wellness solutions for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Our innovative employee app and portal allow you to monitor staff wellbeing.
When paired with our Wellbeing Training, including our Resilience Coaching, you can improve the health and wellbeing of your team.
By improving employee wellbeing, you will see an improvement in productivity and engagement and a decrease in absenteeism and staff turnover.
If you would like to find out more about Wellspace and the solutions we offer, get in touch.
