Make It Personal

Fund raising campaigns at work come and go. The annual United Way campaign at CompuServe will always stick out in my mind as one of the best run activities I have ever witnessed.

Here’s what I learned from the United Way campaigns at CompuServe:

  • Make it fun. The annual campaign had several facets that made it fun. From the indoor paper airplane toss to the executive raffle, it always included a wide range of activities. A couple stand-out activities:
    • Challenge the president to a game of horse (a shot-matching basketball game).
    • Challenge the VP to a game of Table Tennis. He was quite good.
    • Executive breakfast – The executives donned aprons and chef hats as they cooked and served a pancake breakfast in the company cafeteria.
  • Make it personal. One of the best aspects of the campaign was the executive raffle. In this, you could buy raffle tickets to win a one-on-one experience with a company executive. These experiences allowed the executives to share their personal side. A couple examples:
    • A flight around Columbus in the CTO’s private airplane – with him as the pilot.
    • A gourmet dinner for two at the home of the VP of marketing – prepared and served by him.
  • Make it optional, but difficult to ignore.  During United Way Week at CompuServe, it was virtually impossible to not be aware of the campaign. But, it was always respectful of each individual’s interest, willingness and ability to participate.
  • Offer incentives. One of the most appreciated incentives was an extra paid day off for donations above a certain threshold.

Later in my career, I brought this sense of personal commitment and fun to a campaign at another company where I was an executive. As part of a competition among directors to raise the most money, I challenged my staff with a dollar-for-dollar match to incite their competition. The email challenge to my staff was titled, “Make your boss go broke”. Here’s a photo showing the evidence that they took me up on it. I was happy to write that check and proud of my staff for their participation.

Food Bank Door

What can you do to make your next campaign fun?