This year, National Volunteer Week falls on April 18-24. National Volunteer Week is a great week to help employees see the impact they have on their communities.
Today’s workforce cares deeply about the positive impact their employers have on their communities. As employees continue growing more socially conscious, sponsoring activities during National Volunteer Week can help to communicate your company vision and show, rather than tell, the story of your company.
Service activities will speak directly to your employees whose recognition love language is service. But, it can have a drastic impact on all of your employees. April is Stress Awareness Month and a few things have been shown to lower stress as much as a couple of hours of service.
Service has the ability to refocus and energize and relieve stress simultaneously. Let’s dive into 25 ways you can encourage service during National Volunteer Week.
1. Sponsor a Team Service Project to Clean Up
Strengthen team bonds and lift spirits with a team service project. In April, many cities are working on spring cleanups. Take your team to an area the city needs help cleaning up and clean up a park, neighborhood, or stretch of road.
2. Paid Day Off At Their Choice of Non-Profits
Encourage your employees to take a paid day off to volunteer at their choice of non profits. Or, take a team vote and organize an afternoon where the whole team can go work at the same place.
3. Sponsor a Food Drive
It may not be the holiday season anymore, but food banks still need donations. Sponsor a food drive and hold a contest for which department can gather the most canned foods for your local food bank.
4. Donate to An employee’s Favorite Non-Profit
Hold a drawing all month where the “winning” employee gets to choose which non-profit you donate to. Or, have a contest where employees can earn dollars for donations.
5. Have a Contest for “Best” Non-Profits and Have Employees Vote (gest conversation going)
Encourage your employees to submit nominations for their favorite non-profit. Then start the debate or conversation and end it with a vote for the most popular non-profit. Employees can then choose an activity that helps the winning non-profit. It helps get the word around for all the worthy non-profits your employees love plus creates a fun environment where at least one of them will get assistance at the end of the day.
6. Encourage Employees to Share Their Experiences with Service on the Thanks Platform
Send your employees to the Thanks Platform to share their experiences with service. Create a wall of service so employees can see what projects their teammates are involved in. It will help to foster a culture of service.
7. Put Together Humanitarian Kits For Refugees
Organize a couple of hours where employees can stop by a common area and help put together humanitarian kits for refugees. The number of refugees is growing worldwide and they need assistance. There are many charities that will ship your kits overseas and get them to someone in need.
8. Encourage Peers to Recognize Employees For Service They’ve Observed This Month
Sponsor a contest where peers can recognize each other for little acts of service they witness all month. This can easily be done on the Thanks Platform or manually.
9. Sponsor Care Boxes for Military Troops
Put together care boxes for military troops. Just make sure you add goodies that won’t go bad in transit. Notes, hygiene items, and candy are usually good options.
10. Hold a Fundraiser and Match Donations
Hold a fundraiser and see which team can raise the most money for the chosen charity. Then, match employee contributions and finish with a celebration or sponsored lunch.
11. Charity Bike Buildathon
Bring your team together for kids. Partner with a local charity to find out what sizes and genders of bikes are needed in your community. Purchase bikes and split your team into smaller groups. Have each team compete to put together and decorate their bike. Take plenty of photos and be sure to have some prizes for the winning teams. Then, donate the bikes to charity.
12. Random Acts of Kindness Team Scavenger Hunt
Send your team out for a couple of hours of fun in a team scavenger hunt that focuses on random acts of kindness. Give out prizes for the teams that come back with heartwarming stories, the one that does the most acts of service, or the ones that have the most creative DIY service ideas.
13. Fill a Backpack For Kids in Fostercare
Kids in foster care often have to move their belongings in a garbage bag. Instead, round up backpacks and fill them with treats, toys, or clothes for kids in your area. Your local foster care office can provide the ages, genders, or specific needs of the kids in the area.
14. Collect and Donate Pet Food
Sponsor a pet food donation by collecting pet food over the month of April. Choose how you’d like to do it. You can give teams time during work hours to visit pet stores for donations. Teams can hold a “pet wash” where pets are washed in exchange for pet food.
When you are done, donate the food ot a local animal shelter or another organization like Pets of the Homeless.
15. Create Public Art
If you have any creative types in your office, you might think about sponsoring a project to create public art. Many cities and towns have a list of potential art projects or spaces available. Invite interested employees to help create the art. It may include a mural painting, sculpture build, or another project.
16. Donate Blood
Sponsor a blood drive. The Red Cross will usually bring a van out to your location to make it easier for employees to donate blood. Blood donations save lives and don’t cost any money. But, be conscientious of employees whose health may prohibit them from giving blood.
17. Clean a Park
Take your team to a local part to clean up the trash, sweep the sidewalks, and gather dead branches and leaves. It will get your team outside for sunshine and help with bonding while serving the community.
18. Plant Trees
Planting trees helps to save the planet. Many cities will provide public park space for trees to be planted in and other non-profit organizations will often donate space or trees to plant. Advertise for private individuals who would love a tree planted on their property or check with the forest service and help them plant trees.
However, you do it, planting trees will be a fun experience for your team.
19. Recycle Initiative
If you aren’t already offering recycling at your location, consider adding some recycle bins. Offering employees a place to recycle is a great way to show you care about the planet and let employees help in little, but impactful ways.
Or, if you are in a rural area, sponsor a recycling event where neighbors can bring their recycle items to you. Employees can sort and drop off goods at a local recycling center.
20. Hygiene Kits for the Homeless
Put together hygiene kits for the homeless and take them to a shelter or hand them out on the street. Sometimes simple things like toothbrush and paste, soap, or gloves can make a difference in someone’s health. .
22. Spring Cleanup
Clean up a park or neighborhood. Or have employees nominate older or disabled neighbors and help clean up their yards. Additionally, many schools, churches, and community centers may love a helping hand.
23. Pro Bono Work
If your organization provides a service that could go ProBono, consider offering it to a special organization or needy individual. This will help team members see how your services and products make a difference in the lives of the community members.
24. Grow a Community Garden
If you have green thumbs in your team, consider sponsoring a community garden. Many areas have small spaces where a garden could be planted. Team members can volunteer time to help the garden run smoothly and give the produce to neighbors and community members. Plus, if others in the community get involved, it can help build bridges and create new friendships.
25. Race For the Cure
If you’ve got any athletic team members, consider sponsoring them for a race for the cure. Several organizations sponsor various races including marathons, bicycling, or triathlons. This is a great way to encourage your team to get active while sponsoring a worthy cause.
Conclusion
65% of employees want their organization to have a strong impact on their communities. It doesn’t take much to show your employees that you care. Sometimes all it takes is highlighting your existing impact and providing space or time for employees to volunteer. This will create a culture of service and show employees how your company’s vision benefits the community.
About Thanks
Thanks is a leading provider of a recognition-based platform that increases communication, builds teamwork, and makes recognition a part of company culture. Fast, easy and simple Thanks makes it easy to bring data-driven employee recognition to your entire organization. O.C. Tanner purchased the Thanks platform in 2019 to fulfill the recognition needs of smaller businesses.
Thanks customers benefit from the same decades of research in employee motivation and company culture that O.C. Tanner enterprise clients enjoy, but in a product that is geared for fast, easy and simple deployment. Whether you’re starting a recognition program or improving and expanding on what you already have, Thanks has everything you need to engage your people with effective, scalable recognition.