Besides flexible hours, friendly relationships with coworkers, and career growth, the incoming workforce — aka Millennials — want something else when it comes to their job: corporate volunteering opportunities that fulfill their social responsibility.
For instance, in The Millennial Impact Report, they found that 55% of Millennials said that “a company’s support for social causes was an important factor in accepting a job offer.” And that 78% of Millennials “prefer doing cause work in groups, such as company-wide volunteer days or in a team or department-wide projects.” Volunteering during work hours or having employees volunteer skills to the community can engage employees, increase job satisfaction and can boost team spirit and unity.
Below are five corporate charity events where employees can develop team-building skills while helping the community.
1. Bike Build Donation
As one of our top 10 programs at BEST, the Bike Build Donation involves teams participating in challenges and activities that use engaging audio/video clues to earn the parts necessary to assemble the bikes. The bikes are built for local children in need and once built by the team; mechanics inspect the bikes before taking a group picture. If there is additional time, team members can write personal notes of encouragement to the recipients or create decorative bike license plates. The event ends with a local charity representative accepting the donation, whenever possible.
Check out a recent Bike Build Donation event for Lowe’s employees where they built and donated 1,048 bicycles for local Las Vegas Boys and Girls clubs in the community. See it Here
2. Charity Game Show
This team activity utilizes state-of-the-art game show podiums where employees face-off and “buzz in” an answer to questions from topics ranging from geography and science to sports and entertainment. The Charity Game Show offers a projected answer board, microphones and real game-like visuals and sound effects.
At the conclusion of the event, a team member from your group will deliver a giant check, signed by the members of the winning team, to a representative of the charity of your choice.
3. Bears and Blankets
In this corporate event that gives back to the community, employees will solve text, audio and video clues in order to earn points and use these points to choose their bears and the accompany stuffing. The artistic members of your group will also obtain bear-sized t-shirts that they will skillfully design and decorate. Lastly, team members will use their creativity to swaddle the bears with warm, soft blankets.
Once the bears are assembled, they are then delivered to crisis centers and law enforcement agencies where they are given to children who have experienced trauma. Whenever possible, a representative from the organization receiving your gifts will address your group and thank them for their generous donation.
4. Donation Nation Care Packs
Through Apple iPads, teams will solve text, audio, and video clues as well as complete exciting gaming challenges in order to earn points and retrieve contents of the care packages they are building. In addition, a running scorecard is posted to increase the excitement and energy of the event. These care packages will include specific items needed for the chosen charity. Recipient examples include food banks, hospices, nursing homes, homeless shelters, and other community and social service agencies.
Like the other events listed, if possible, a representative from the chosen charity will visit your group and speak about their organization as well as join for the final stages of the care package assembly.
5. Locate and Donate SmartHunt
Using our SmartHunts innovative application, teams will navigate through a customized scavenger hunt to complete text, photo, and video challenges on their Apple iPads to earn points and see if they can complete the challenge.
Along the route, teams will need to find challenge stations where they receive a surprise package if they complete the challenge. Using the puzzle pieces found in all the collected packages, employees will have to complete the puzzle in order to create a large bank check donation to an organization of your choice in any amount you desire.
Furthermore, following the event, your facilitator from BEST will send team members a link that contains all the photos and videos shot by your team during the SmartHunt.
So, if you’re looking for team building activities that successfully give back to the community, consider these five charitable group bonding activities to use at your next corporate event!
