4 holiday-themed employee giving campaigns to consider

Many winter holidays celebrate generosity and compassion, so it’s no wonder that the months of November and December are known as the giving season. This is the time where nonprofit organizations across the globe renew their fundraising efforts, hosting all kinds of different campaigns to meet their annual donation goals — which makes it the perfect time to promote employee giving at your own company.

Workplace giving programs offer employees the chance to impact charitable causes they care about with their employer’s support. And whether your company matches team member donations or hosts an annual volunteer event, you can align your giving opportunities with the holiday season to inspire participation.

To engage employees, drive community impact and foster trust in your organization, consider these holiday-ready fundraising ideas:

1. Virtual giving tree

Have you ever seen a Christmas tree decorated with tags or photos instead of ornaments? Chances are it was probably a giving tree! Popularized by the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program, this engaging fundraising method makes it easy for individuals to donate toys, clothing and other gifts to specific families in need.

Physical giving trees can be impactful, but they can also be tricky to manage, especially if your team works remotely. One holiday fundraising guide describes how managing physical giving trees means you’ll need to choose drop-off locations and manage item distribution, which can be time consuming.

To protect your team’s valuable time while still offering an impactful charity opportunity, try a virtual giving tree. This holiday campaign takes just a few steps:

1. Partner with a local nonprofit and ask for a wish list. Organizations like food banks, children’s hospitals and community shelters may need a variety of items in the winter. Ask what their specific needs are to ensure employees donate truly useful gifts.
2. Share the holiday wish list with employees. Instead of writing physical tags to put on a tree, you can create a web catalog or just email the team a list or spreadsheet of the requested items. Make sure to share information about the nonprofit you’re supporting and explain how donations will impact the community.
3. Offer for employees to donate directly to the nonprofit. Give employees the option to purchase the requested items and drop them off personally or donate a dollar amount that corresponds to each item. If you use corporate giving software, employees can easily make these monetary gifts through your online portal.

Virtual giving trees make it easy for your employees to visualize and understand the power of their donations. Plus, this initiative provides tangible impact data you can then use to report on your philanthropic activity, promote efforts to your customers and include in employee appreciation emails.

2. Holiday volunteering event

Hosting team volunteer events is one of the best ways to engage employees with workplace giving. These opportunities foster connection and build camaraderie, which is especially valuable for remote and hybrid teams. Plus, they inspire team members to give back in a hands-on way.

You can plan a team-wide volunteer event with a local organization or let employees plan their own in-person or virtual volunteering sessions. Take inspiration from holiday-themed activities like:

• Serving meals at a community kitchen
• Sorting donations at a food bank
• Collecting or distributing gifts from a toy drive
• Creating holiday cards for children in the hospital
• Decorating a local senior center or nursing home

If you want employees to volunteer on their own, use a corporate volunteering platform to simplify the process. The right tool will help employees find volunteer opportunities, sign up for events, and log their hours using a mobile app. Plus, they may even be able to automatically request corporate volunteer grants if you have a volunteer grants program in place.

3. 12 Days of Giving match campaign

Matching gift programs are widespread nowadays because they’re both easy and impactful. All employees have to do is donate to an eligible nonprofit and fill out a request form, then their employer will double the size of their original gift. For example, if Felicia in HR gives $100 to her favorite after-school organization, her company would donate an additional $100, effectively doubling the impact for local kids.

Infuse some holiday spirit into your matching gift program by hosting a 12 Days of Giving campaign. Promote donation matching for 12 days in a row, potentially during the two weeks leading up to GivingTuesday, Christmas, or another celebration like your company holiday party.

For this campaign, simply decide on a timespan and get creative with matching gift reminders. You could choose a theme for each day and encourage employees to donate (and request a match) to an organization that aligns with it. For example, you might send an email that reads:

Day 5 is Five Golden Rings! 💍 Support marriage equality and LGBTQ+ rights by donating to any of these advocacy organizations—and don’t forget to request your match. If you give through the company portal, your match request gets submitted automatically!

4. Year-end charitable bonus

While partnering with nonprofits unlocks long-term relationships and helps team members see the impact of their contributions up close, employees also appreciate having the freedom to choose the causes they support. Empower employees to direct corporate funds this holiday season by giving a small charitable bonus.

This is an easy, straightforward holiday giving campaign that puts the power in employees’ hands. All you have to do is:

1. Choose an amount for your charitable bonus. Like any other bonus, this could be a standard amount, like $100 for every employee. Alternatively, you could give larger bonuses to those who’ve been with the company longer or are active participants in your workplace giving programs.
2. Announce the holiday bonus to your team. Let employees know that they’ll receive a new year-end charitable bonus that they can donate to any nonprofit (within your eligibility requirements). Explain why this is a great way to celebrate the holidays and answer any questions as they come up.
3. Distribute funds and encourage donations. Give out the bonuses and remind employees about any donation eligibility requirements. Encourage them to give to their favorite cause or organization and include a shortlist of nonprofits if they need inspiration.

To disburse the bonuses, you can grant charitable spending accounts (CSAs) to individuals or use a giving platform that automatically provides personal giving “wallets” to each employee.

For example, Uncommon Giving explains that its employee giving accounts are essentially donor-advised funds (DAFs). Every employee gets their own virtual wallet dedicated to charitable giving. They can add funds at any time, and so can your company. When the employee is ready to donate, they can easily direct the funds to the organizations of their choice from a simplified app.

A successful holiday giving campaign creates a sense of shared purpose and boosts employee engagement at the end of the year. Prioritize impact and employees’ interests, and no matter which type of campaign you choose to host, you’ll inspire team-wide generosity this year.