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

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.