It may boost pride and loyalty, however creating a culture of giving among staff can feel can like a stab in the dark. Who do employees want to support? How often do they want to be reminded? How important is it that the company chips in?

Here are our top five tips to ensure your promotional efforts increase and retain employee participation:

1/ Survey

Understand your employees’ charitable interests and learn from the marketing team what internal channels have worked well for engaging staff in the past.

It may sound simple, but for the committee, CSR manager or HR manager coordinating a workplace giving program – this may be unfamiliar ground.

2/ Use all communication channels available to you     

Those campaigns that have been post successful in boosting participation by over 25 per cent and increasing donations to over $20,000 in one month have developed integrated promotional campaigns that have utilized all channels available to them.

An email is good, but throughout the month of promotion this campaign message and collateral should also be visible on your intranet, in your staff newsletter, digital ads on the TVs in your lobby, stickers in the kitchen, sign ups in the lunch room, and a reminder in all staff pay-slips.

It’s extensive, but it works.

3/ Personalise collateral! 

Personalise collateral with team leaders in the office to normalize workplace giving. Clients who have done this in the past report to have made their employees feel more connected to the message. It also gave staff a talking point to approach their team leader for further information.

4/ Motivate staff with proven messages 

Promote the program benefits that matter most to employees. Our experience and research consistently tells us that matched giving, charity choice and ease are all key features to a successful workplace giving program.

5/ Don’t forget to recognise their generosity 

Personalised thank you packs nurture a rewarding experience. Those who received company and charity updates after joining workplace giving were more motivated and generous supporters, making them feel ‘appreciated’, ‘involved’ and ‘valued’.

In their thank you packs, one client included branded post-it notes for employees to use in the office, and another client conducted a lucky draw of all new workplace givers to win vouches the local coffee store.

By better understanding what your employee’s are after you can ramp up your corporate culture of giving within a matter of weeks.