October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and with the annual Pink Ribbon Breakfast just around the corner, offices around Australia are gearing up to host their own breakfasts and morning teas.
Encouraging staff to be charitable is a good part of corporate social responsibility. And when done well can be a great team building activity. Studies have shown that doing good deeds improves mood, productivity and morale.
For business owners, this has the potential to lead to a great benefit in networking and marketing opportunities, as well as increase the visibility of your company locally.
Get buy-in from the team
Nobody wants to be pressured into giving and forced charity can harm morale and make staff resentful. Asking your team which charities they support and backing the most popular is one good strategy for finding a cause that people are happy to get behind.
Then, making sure that everyone understands that donations are voluntary may help ease the minds of some staff. You never know who may be struggling financially behind the scenes and might have little or nothing to spare.
Put the fun into fund-raising
Raising money for a charity or showing support to a cause can come in many forms. But it does help if you make sure it’s fun! When celebrating the Pink Ribbon Breakfast some popular options are:
- Host a Pink Ribbon morning tea or bake sale in your office.
- Find the best office baker by holding a Pink Ribbon bake-off competition – a donation can be the entry fee.
- Work outdoors? A brekkie BBQ at your worksite might be more your style.
- Not interested in a food-based event? Hold a raffle or auction instead.
For more tips on holding a Pink Ribbon Breakfast event, head to the website: https://fundraise.nbcf.org.au/event/pink-ribbon-breakfast
Think it through
Whatever you decide, office fundraisers do need thinking through. Planning a morning tea is great, but who’s cooking all the food? Who will be cleaning up afterwards? If everyone is gathered around enjoying morning tea, who will answer the phones?
Also, consider that not everyone has the same idea of what is fun or appropriate. As an employer, make sure you know what activities are taking place in case anything inappropriate has been planned. Having an overview of what is going on is also important to make sure there is something for everyone and no one feels excluded. For example, is the food being served suitable for vegetarians and vegans or people who do not eat pork for religious reasons? Perhaps task a committee to oversee the event, that way you can ensure the duties are shared evenly and everyone has a chance to have their say.
As ever, Health and Safety needs to be considered: food allergies, costumes and even decorating the office can all carry risk.
Suffering from a fundraising hangover and need HR advice? Give The HR Dept a call!
