The BEST Moves
Let the Team Pick the Cause
A give-back the whole team says yes to, because they chose it. Shortlist a few causes, put it to a vote, hold it during work hours, and let people see who it helps.
3 min read The move is free From The BEST Guide to CSR
How to run it
You can do all of this yourself, on Monday, without calling anybody.
Shortlist three causes your team will recognize.
Hunger, kids, service members, shelter animals: causes people already care about and can picture. Three is enough for a real choice and few enough to decide in a day. If someone suggests a specific local charity, it can go on the list too.
Put it to a quick vote, and share the result.
One question in your chat tool or a two-minute poll. Announce the winner and the runner-up, so the runner-up has a head start for next time.
Book it during work hours, not after.
People want to give back, but many struggle to find the time outside work. Putting the event on the clock is part of the gift, and it is what gets the whole team in the room.
Let them see who it helps.
Invite someone from the charity to say a few words, or hand the donation over in person at the end. Teams remember the moment they meet the people they helped far longer than anything else about the day.
Watch out: The boss votes last, or not at all. Once the most senior person in the room states a favorite, the vote is over, and the cause becomes the boss’s cause instead of the team’s.
Why it works
The mechanism, not the marketing.
A give-back works when people feel it is theirs. A cause handed down from above is one more task on the calendar; a cause the team picked is something they chose to do together. The vote takes minutes and changes who owns the day. Holding it during work hours removes the reason most people skip volunteering, and seeing the people it helps turns a pleasant afternoon into the shared memory that carries back into work.
“Those individuals won’t remember every trivia question they had to answer, but they’ll never forget how they felt. Being part of a team that accomplishes that creates a bond that carries through to the workplace.”
The BEST Guide to CSR & Charitable Team Building (p. 23)
They want to do it with each other
82%
Employees who want opportunities to volunteer with peers in corporate-supported events.
America’s Charities, in The BEST Guide to CSR (pp. 9, 22)
Any cause, including theirs
Beyond the causes our programs already serve (hunger, kids, mobility, service members, the environment, shelter animals), we can work with a charity your team chooses.
The BEST Guide to CSR (pp. 7, 26 to 28)
Where this move came from
Or take the whole book.
The BEST Guide to CSR & Charitable Team Building
Why CSR events outrank everything else on the post-event survey, and the eleven things to check before you pick a partner.
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Activities that do this for you
If you would rather not run it yourself, these are built around the same job.
