Content courtesy of Walker Sands Communications, a Techweek Gives sponsor organization. 

As we head into the fourth week of Techweek Gives, we thought we’d share some tips to help your organization increase employee giving and move up the leaderboard. One of the most common problems when it comes to workplace giving is employee engagement; if your employees aren’t willing to participate, then your giving efforts will quickly lose steam.

While there are a number of initiatives to encourage your employees to donate time, money or goods, one surefire way to guarantee participation is to hold a contest. By holding a competition, you’ll not only rally your employees to give back, but you’ll also ensure that they have fun while doing it.

Here are a few ideas to get the ball rolling:

Bingo Night

Who doesn’t love bingo? The best part is that all you need is a book of bingo game sheets and a few refreshments. Once you’ve set a fixed donation fee for participants, you’re good to go. Prizes can range from an extra day of paid time off to a gift card to bragging rights.

Dodgeball Free-for-All

There’s nothing quite like a friendly game of dodgeball to motivate your employees to give.

You can split your teams up by department and then ask them to donate a certain amount to participate.

Corner Office Cook-off

Simple and inexpensive, an office cooking contest is a great way to encourage employee giving. Charge a donation fee for all of your participants, whether that’s a contestant eager to become the next Top Chef or just a hungry employee. As an added bonus, your office fridge will be stocked with delicious leftovers.

Scavenger Hunt

When the weather’s right, consider organizing a company-wide scavenger hunt and sending participants all around town. You can charge a registration fee and even offer mid-hunt hints to rack up extra donations.

Basketball Tournament

If you have employees who love sports, consider holding a basketball tournament as a way to encourage participation and donations. With a little preparation, you can scout a local court to use for free and then you’re off to the races.

These are just a few ways to create some friendly competition within your office. As long as you can keep things fun, you’ll be sure to boost engagement and participation. And higher engagement means happier employees, which is good not just for your Techweek Gives leaderboard standing, but for your bottom line as well. 

The Techweek Gives campaign, powered by uBack, is working to raise $1 million and commit 10,000 volunteer hours in 90 days. To learn more, click here.