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Charitable Team Building Events That Make Cents!

May 15, 2018/by Editor

Charitable team building events in which participants assemble goods to send to those in need often make a lot of sense. However, sometimes what a chosen charity really needs is for you to host a charitable team building event that makes cents. Many groups prefer donating goods instead of money as part of their charitable event. They feel that seeing a large amount of goods makes an impact on their attendees. However, sometimes donating goods isn’t good and can make a negative impact on the charity you’re trying to help. To illustrate my point, watch this video from CBS Sunday Morning.

So, what kind of charitable team building event can you host that centers on donating money instead of goods, but that will still make an impact on your attendees? Get inspiration from the ways we incorporate monetary giving into charitable team building events:

Teams are educated, entertained and earn donations in a charitable game show

In our Give Back Game Show team building event, we incorporate a number of challenges to enlighten participants about the cause and lighten the mood! Multiple-choice trivia questions that relate to the charity are asked. Guests write in their guess to a number-related question about the cause and points are awarded to the one that comes closest without going over. Music challenges, such as Name That Tune are played with songs that tie into the charity’s message. Extreme close-up photos of a portion of the items the charity needs are shown and guests must guess what’s pictured. The event ends with the team scoring the most points determining which charity the money will be donated to – i.e. if the group wants to help with hurricane relief efforts, they may choose from American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Catholic Charities or another charity.

The treasure teams find in a treasure hunt can be donated to a charitable cause

Lisa Jennings – A “Master of the Hunt”

Guests solve clues, which are written to put the focus on charitable giving in general, or that tie into a specific cause. For instance, a clue that puts the spotlight on pet donations may read, “It’s important to give a dog a toy, if you want to eliminate bad behavior. That’s also how you’ll find the solution to this clue, which will help you eliminate a hiding spot for the treasure, from this – NBOATDIBNEAHPAAVRIOKR.” If guests eliminate the letters spelling out “bad behavior” from the jumble of letters, they get “not in a park.” At the end of the hunt, guests learn the treasure they unearthed will be spent on pet donations.

Smart devices are a smart way to have teams earn their donations

In our Make an iMpact and Donation Quest 2.0 events guests are fed charitable team building challenges on their team iPad or smartphone. When they earn a certain number of points by completing enough challenges, the app tells them they’ve unlocked a monetary amount to donate to the charity. Challenges are designed to highlight the cause, so teams may have to take a photo spelling out a message to the charity recipients with their bodies; record a 30-second PSA about why it’s important to help that cause; answer trivia questions and more! Teams can go “out and about” with challenges only opening up when they arrive at set locations on a map, or challenges can be done without the group ever leaving the room.

Teams can unlock donations by participating in an Escape Room-inspired team building activity

Tell teams that if they can “escape” in the time allowed, your company will reward them with money to donate to a charity of their choosing. You could do this by visiting a traditional Escape Room with your group. Or, consider one of our Unlock The Donation events, which can be run for hundreds of people all in one room! We provide fun clues and props for each team table and the first team to break into a locked chest containing the donation, rather than out of a locked room, releases the donation and a prize for themselves!

Teams compete in a series of charitable challenges and the more points they earn, the bigger the donation

Set up minute-long challenges, such as those seen on Minute To Win It. Each time a guest completes one of these challenges successfully, your company donates money to charity. Alternatively, in our Money In Minutes team building event, teams get to play together to earn money in minute-long challenges. For instance, teams win money based on how many pennies they can bounce into their container before a minute is up.

So, those are “the goods” on how to make an impact with your charitable team building event without having to assemble and donate goods. Remember, sometimes donating dollars just makes more cents!

Learn more about our corporate charity event ideas for your next team bonding activity.

View More Of Our Corporate Charity Team Building Events

How These CSR Activities Make A Difference

October 4, 2017/by Jennings

Lisa and Jane accept the Event Planners Award at the 2017 Hunger Hero Awards hosted by Feeding Children Everywhere.

We were wildly excited to win the Event Planners Award at the 2017 Hunger Hero Awards hosted by Feeding Children Everywhere. We are proud to partner with Feeding Children Everywhere, to implement a Soup’s On food packing activity that finds guests assembling healthy meals that are all-natural, non-GMO, gluten-free and vegan for those in need.

In fact, the stories many of our non-profit partners share as a result of the CSR activities our clients do with us bring tears to our eyes. Here are just a few of them…

30,000 healthy meals were packed at this Soups On event.

Get It In Gear – A Build-a-Bike CSR activity:

Kids love bikes, but these are much more than just a toy to many of these kids. For many, it’s their main means of transportation and the bikes are used to get to and from school, as well as after school jobs.
And sometimes, those jobs lead to careers – one of the directors of a Boys & Girls Club that accepted the bikes after one of our CSR activities told us he once got a bike in an event just like it when he was young. As a result, he decided he wanted to dedicate his life to the organization as it made such an impact on his life.

Blankies & Bears – A CSR Activity Benefiting Sick Children and Their Families:

Blanket assembly and bear stuffing CSR activities result in goods that are a great comfort to a child in the hospital. But, sometimes it comforts the parents too, as sadly that bear or blankie may be the last item that child held before they passed away.
It’s not always the sick child who gets the goodies from these CSR activities – sometimes it’s equally as important that their sibling – who doesn’t understand why their brother or sister is “getting all of the attention” – receives a gift too, so they don’t feel ignored.

Toy Chest Challenge – One of the many CSR activities we organize that result in toys being donated to kids in need:

Corporate Employees Participating in the Toy Chest Challenge Get to Have Fun Too!

Kids love to play video games. But, for one organization the Xbox they received wasn’t a way for the kids to escape the real world. It was a way for all of the kids to use the immersive dance game that came with it as a way to interact and spend quality time together.
In one of these CSR activities the kids got to ask for a specific gift after the event. Instead of thinking of his own needs, one kid simply asked for a coffee mug to give to his Mom.

Red Wagon Brigade:

Like Build A Bike, the Red Wagon Brigade is a fun team building activity that is always a big hit.

It’s not always kids who appreciate the red wagons assembled and decorated in this, one of our favorite CSR activities. One organization we worked with gave them to the elderly, so they could get their groceries from the store to their home.
Sure, kids love playing with a Radio Flyer Wagon. But, did you know that hospitals use donated red wagons as a less scary way to transport frightened kids from their room to get treatments? And, the toys that fill the wagons at the end of these CSR activities are also used to distract these kids as they get their treatments?

Hospital Art:

Teams get to show their artistic side during this fun team bonding challenge.

Another of many CSR activities we implement that help to distract sick kids in the hospital. Teams paint a mural to hang in a hospital because after all, which offers more comfort? A bright, friendly mural, or a stark, sterile white wall?

College Prep:

We have many CSR activities that help organizations that emphasize education as a way for kids to have a better life. This one focuses on kids who are successful enough to get a college scholarship, but as kids “foster out” of the system at age 18, they literally have nothing. Teams compete in games to fill a laundry basket with necessities for these kids’ dorm rooms.

Building Futures:

In this CSR activity, teams build furniture and collect items to fill apartments being made ready for women leaving an abuse shelter. One woman, upon receiving a new set of drinking glasses as a result of one of these CSR activities, burst into tears because she had never owned a proper glass to drink out of.

Clothing Creations:

Think kids hate getting clothing? Think again! When children are put into foster care, nobody warns them it’s about to happen, so often the only thing they leave home with are the clothes on their back. Teams have fun making sculptures out of clothing in these CSR activities, but the smile this clothing puts on the face of the children receiving brand-new clothing, instead of the second-hand clothing donated to them, is one of the best reasons for doing CSR activities like this one.

TOMS For Tots To Teens:
Everyone donates toys at the holidays. But, one of the biggest items on kid’s lists? Shoes! Many have never owned a new pair in their lives and those with ugly shoes are an easy mark for bullies at school. That’s why we created CSR activities like this that result in TOMS shoes being decorated and donated.
One organization used the new shoes from one of these CSR activities as an incentive – if the kids could pull up their GPA, they could pull on a brand-new pair of shoes!

ArCANtecture – Teams create sculptures out of canned and boxed food items:

Your teams show their creativity building structures with cans that are then donated to charity.

You know the saying that you get more with the carrot than with the stick? Well, replace “carrot” with Oreo cookie and you’ll understand how the cookies donated from one of these CSR activities improved the behavior of the kids at a Boys & Girls Club, who were promised a treat in exchange for good behavior!
People assume there’s plenty of food donated at the holidays. Not so! One organization we worked with was in a panic about meeting the demand for Thanksgiving dinners until they received the donation from one of these CSR activities and were able to feed the surplus of people needing food on their table on turkey day.

View More CSR Team Bonding Events