Workplace Campaigns

Click here for the Employee Campaign Coordinator Guide.

Build a Campaign Team

Team work is the focus of community building, and this approach will be the most efficient and effective way to run your campaign.

Your team should be representative of your workplace in order to best utilize the talents and ideas of your committee. Be sure to invite enough volunteers to ensure that no one is overwhelmed with tasks to be done, and be clear on what each team member is responsible for.

To help your campaign run smoothly, it may be a good idea to recruit last year's Employee Campaign Co-ordinator to act as an advisor for your committee. S/he may have some valuable tips and ideas that can make everyone's job easier.

Make sure you and your team are familiar and comfortable with the activities of the United Way of Quinte. We can provide you with pamphlets and brochures to help you keep up-to-date and informed.

It is always a good idea to keep management informed and up-to-date with your campaign.

Develop a Plan

Running a successful campaign is dependent on the enthusiasm of the participants, in this case, your co-workers. Therefore, it is important to choose an event that: a) appeals to your co-workers, b) is appropriate to the workplace culture (e.g., "dress down" days will work in most companies, but "dress up" days would not work in a factory setting), and c) is approved by management.

A detailed plan can help to make an event as smooth and efficient as possible. Here are some tips on how to plot out your plan.

Pick a date that will maximize participation, and is convenient for all parties involved. If you are planning more than one ever, you may want to choose one week to run all of your activities, since short time frames help to keep interest and energy levels up.
Don't start from scratch if you don't have to! Talk to last year's Employee Campaign Co-ordinator for background and ideas. It will make things easier on the planning team, and the event may become tradition!
Set realistic dollar AND participation goals. This will help the team focus on the task at hand.
Set up a system of communication among team members, management, co-workers, community members/groups, United Way of Quinte, and the union where appropriate.
Clear communication is extremely important; keep all parties up-to-date on your team's progress.
Make sure everyone knows their roles, and will carry out the tasks necessary.
Develop a system to monitor, report, and evaluate the events, so that success can be repeated, and failures are avoided in the future.

Promote Your Event

Advertise your events! It is important to have a comprehensive advertising campaign that will appeal to and reach as many people as possible. Some great ideas for advertising include:

Ensure that everyone has access to a calendar of events.
A captive audience is a good audience. If possible, put posters on the back of the stall doors of your company's washrooms.
Send out a mass e-mail to notify all company employees of the upcoming events.
If your company sends out a regular newsletter to its employees, be sure to promote your events by designing an ad for the newsletter, or write a short article.
You'd be surprised at how many people advertise an event and forget to mention where the event will be held! When you promote your event, be sure to include:
1. the name of your event,
2. the nature of the event and what the event is for (e.g., it's a golf tournament to raise money for the United Way of Quinte),
3. the time(s) and date(s) of the event,
4. where the event is taking place, and
5. contact information in case anyone has any further questions.
If a community event, you may wish to invite the media so that your company can hightlight its community support!

Effective Campaigning

Kick off your campaign with a fun special event. A break from the ordinary work day provides a lift to employees at every level. It will be memorable for employees, and can provide an additional incentive for involvement with United Way of Quinte. Speakers from United Way of Quinte funded agencies are also available for events and can make quite and impact.

Because individuals relate to their peers, volunteers from your workplace are the most effective way to ask for a United Way of Quinte donation. Instill a sense of enthusiasm in them, and be sure they realize they are one of the most effective tools in your campaign. Also, ensure they approach each employee individually. United Way of Quinte recommends recruiting 1 canvasser per 10-12 employees.

In your campaign wrap-up, be sure to communicate your campaign achievements, and take advantage of the opportunity to complete an evaluation to review your results with your plan. This feedback is important for future campaigns.

This would also be an ideal time to thank donors and recognize your campaign team. "THANK YOU" is a welcome phrase at any point of a campaign. Find a creative way to thank all of the volunteers and donors who supported United Way of Quinte.

Monitoring the Campaign

An effective monitoring system will help you to track the progress of your campaign. It will also help you to answer these questions:

How many employees have been canvassed?
How many pledge cards have been returned?
How many are still outstanding?
What percent of the goal does that represent?
How many donors have responded?
What is the average gift?
How much money has been raised?
How did the special events work?
What was effective, in terms of promotion strategies, planning and implementation?
What could have been improved upon?
What should be avoided next time?

As you collect pledge cards, please ensure that:

All pledge cards are signed and include the donor's correct name and address if it is cash or cheque donation (for tax receipt purposes), and
each individual's cash or cheque is stapled to the white copy of his/her contribution.

When you are preparing your kit to submit to United Way of Quinte please make sure that:

All contributions are returned in the original envelope with all requested information,
all pledge cards are sorted into groups by method of payment:
1. VISA/Mastercard/American Express
2. cash
3. cheque
4. post-dated cheque
5. payroll deduction
each pile of pledge forms is paperclipped separately, and attach an adding machine tape to the top, indicating the total for that method of payment, and
the white copy of the pledge form is submitted to your payroll department, and the pink copy is kept by the donor.

PLEASE DO NOT SEND CASH THROUGH THE MAIL!

Tax receipts are issued for all donations greater than $10.00. Receipts for cash or cheque donations will be issued by United Way of Quinte. Payroll deduction donations will be registered on your T4 slips at year-end. If it is not on your T4, a list of donors and amounts needs to be forwarded to the United Way of Quinte for the issuing of tax receipts.

If you are just starting a campaign or are unsure of your organizations current status, please contact the United Way of Quinte office to ensure your payroll department has been set up to issue payroll deduction receipts on T4 slips.

Ideas For a Special Event

Special events can be an exciting and important part of any Employee Campaign. They can be good morale boosters, and can help employees get to know each other better. Most of all, they help to raise awareness of United Way of Quinte's services, and the services provided by its funded agencies.

Below, we have provided a list of special events that have worked well in the past, being both fun and effective. Not all of the events listed here are appropriate for every workplace. Furthermore, you are by no means limited to the suggestions listed in this book. Use your imagination and remember tha the word "fundraising" should really be "FUN-raising"!

Group Challenges
One department can challenge another department to raise a certain amount of money through various means.
e.g., a beard growing contest with pledges
Individual Challenges
Have one of the more prominent managers make a fairly outrageous challenge to encourage employee donations.
e.g., when donations reach $500, the manager will wear a clown costume for a day. When donations reach $1000 the manager will shave their head. When donations reach $2000, the manager will have a cream pie thrown in his/her face.
Chariot Race
A chariot/bathtub race between departments or groups of co-workers. Collect pledges and/or spectator fees.
Whatever-a-thon
Collect pledges to participate. Offer a prize to the person(s) who collects the greatest amount in pledges.
Lunchtime Chair Sale
Remove all the chairs from the cafeteria and sell them to staff for a loonie at lunchtime.
Win the CEO/President's Parking Spot
Raffle the use of his/her parking spot for a week. This would porbably work best in cold weather!
Pancake Breakfast
Sell tickets for a pancake breakfast. This would be a great wrap-up event.
Cookbook Sell-off
Create a staff cookbook, where each staff member contributes a favourite recipe. Sell the cookbook to raise money.
Casual Day
United Way stickers are sold for $1, each Friday, and the sticker entitles the holder to dress casually on the designated day.
50/50 Draw
Sell tickets for a draw, where half of the money raised from the ticket sales is donated to the United Way of Quinte, while the other half of the money is used as prize money for the winner of the draw.
Car Wash
Weather permitting, of course.
Arrest and Bail
Have members of the local police department arrest and jail one of the managers of the company, until a certain amount of money (i.e., bail) is raised to free him/her.
N.B. This works best when the manager who is arrested and jailed is a well-liked person!
Guess the Knees Contest
Take a picture of a manager's knees. Staff pay to guess to whom the knees belong.

This is quite a long list of ideas! However, this list is simply meant to give you some ideas to begin with. We encourage you to be creative with the campaign, and have fun!

To make your campaign as visible as possible, we can help by providing many different supplies.

If at any time during your campaign you have a concern or request that we can help you with, please do not hesitate to contact us.