360DG’s Top-10 Bucket List: Virtual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Activities
The end of the year is always an important time to show gratitude to your employees – especially after the roller coaster of challenges they and your company faced throughout 2020. The charities we love and support are no different. But with fundraisers canceled and overall donations down in 2020 from previous years, nonprofits are being asked to do as much – if not more – than they usually do for their communities, with less staff and reduced financial aid.
The easy answer to this double dilemma? Taking your much-beloved employee holiday parties, awards galas, and team-building events and transforming them into an opportunity to do some good together – a longstanding tried-and-true approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. Yet, in the virtual events world of 2020, the approach to the CSR program is not as turnkey as it once was. Which is precisely why 360DG developed and vetted this list of virtual activities and ideas to help you help others.
1. Giveback Grid Game Show (Benefitting Your Charity of Choice)
This virtual CSR program is a twist on the popular “Jeopardy” TV game show, featuring your typical rules: Contestants answering questions by buzzing in the fastest. But to take it to another level, attendees also vote on contestant answers, allowing them to earn points themselves. The grand finale results in an exciting showdown between the top teams, who wager their hard-earned points in a last-ditch effort to take home the title “Grid Champion!” Most importantly, your event gives back to beneficiary organizations in great need of your assistance: Companies may pick one or a few organizations to direct pre-determined, tiered donations to support causes that are near and dear to all of your hearts.
2. Help Hospital Heroes (Benefitting Frontline Workers in Your Area)
Make an impact on those saving lives in your community with this CSR event that delivers care packages to a local hospital of your choice. In this hands-on experience, we ship all care package supplies to your meeting participants’ homes, then, during your virtual meeting led by our event facilitator, walk your team through simultaneously assembling the packages. They are then delivered to your chosen healthcare facility (participants also have the option to deliver their package in person), with all packaging incorporating your company branding and personal messages from participants. After the event, we also create a video highlighting the packing process and gift delivery to share with your team and across social media.
3. Hope Against Hunger (Benefitting Your Food Bank of Choice)
In the US, Feeding America projects a 6 to 8 billion meal shortfall in the next 12 months, with the total need for charitable food tripling 2019 distribution figures. And since families rely on their neighborhood food banks for basic food needs, they really need our help now more than ever. Reusable tote bags help food bank patrons carry their food supplies in a more dignified way while also reducing the potential pollution single-use plastic bags can cause. So when these bags are filled with food purchased through your CSR program, everyone wins! In this activity, the host starts by raising awareness for the cause with a “Hunger Quiz.” Following the quiz, attendees are sent out to their breakouts or virtual tables and color in their decorative work of art (canvas or digital image). The completed artwork is transposed onto reusable tote bags and sent to a benefitting food bank – filled with food!
4. Delivering Smiles (Benefitting Hospitalized Children & Veterans)
The mission of this CSR activity is to help the corporate community make a measurable impact with socially responsible team-building experiences that benefit hospitalized children and veterans. The process starts with your team choosing a cause to benefit from your virtual event. Our team will then assemble organization-specific cheer-up/comfort gifts to be distributed to child patients or veterans on behalf of your team. To engage the meeting participants, 360DG will prepare a two-minute video segment to be incorporated into your virtual event agenda, which will include highlights of the care kits being assembled/shipped, as well as video of patients/healthcare providers receiving the gifts and talking about how it means to them.
5. Fill it Forward (Benefitting Developing Countries Through Accessibility to Clean Water)
Choosing to reuse is a simple act of generosity that shows love for our planet and the people on it. This CSR program does double-duty by promoting reusable products, interactive technologies, and global-giving initiatives that inspire the world to reuse while also bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries. So how does it work? First, we create and mail out branded water bottles with scannable customized to all your employees. Each time the water bottle is reused, participants will use a custom app to scan the bottle. With each and every scan, product sales and corporate sponsorships will donate a certain dollar amount to a charitable project of choice (projects featured in the app are predefined by our partners and focus on sustainable, 5- to 10-year development in high-priority communities that need access to clean water, hygiene, sanitation, and education). Not only does the program result in less waste (and a well-hydrated company, to boot), but a community receiving a much-needed access-to-clean-water infrastructure.
6. Mural of Hope (Benefitting Your Charity of Choice)
This CSR paint-by-number system allows “artists” – at any skill level – to feel comfortable completing a square with relative ease. The host explains that just as everyone has a part in the direction and success of a company, this activity requires everyone to contribute to “The Big Picture” to achieve group success. Prior to the scheduled virtual team activity, all participants receive a mailed paint-by-number kit with all the materials required to contribute to the final overall mural. After the event, participants use a pre-addressed label to mail their completed panel to a facilitator, who then creates a time-lapse video of the assembly of the mural(s) and send the final masterpiece to your company’s charity of choice.
7. Packed with Purpose (Gift Boxes with a Social Impact)
A great addition to any virtual event, Packed with Purpose offers a wide variety of custom-branded, expertly curated gift boxes to send to your attendees. The products are thoughtfully sourced from our purveyors who represent minority-owned, women-owned, B-Corp, and BIPOC companies with products that are made in the USA, in an eco-friendly manner, and in small batches – resulting in the empowerment of underserved women, those with barriers to employment, and individuals with disabilities. From holiday gifts and work-from-home kits to virtual conference packages, and everyday inspiration, this program’s corporate gifts delight your recipients and reflect your company’s commitment to creating a social impact.
8. Frozen Sing-Along and Diversity Toy Drive (Benefitting Underserved Children in Your Area)
One of the most (if not the most) popular children’s musicals over the past decade, Frozen is a permanent part of most families’ households these days. So why not bring families together for a Frozen-themed sing-along with Patti Murin, an actress who played Broadway’s original Princess Anna. You’ll learn about her incredible experience starring in this Broadway hit while singing along to the most popular tunes from the Disney hit. Top it all off with a CSR component, like a toy drive of diversity- and inclusion-centric toys either purchased and shipped by your participants or bought virtually and delivered to the charity of your choice.
9. Service Dog Toy Drive (Benefitting Service Dogs for MS Patients)
For millions of Americans living with multiple sclerosis (MS), sometimes the simplest of tasks can be difficult to accomplish. Luckily, there’s a great group of folks training service dogs specifically to address the needs of patients with MS. These service dogs can do and assist in many tasks, like picking up items from the floor, grabbing things out of cabinets and drawers (they open drawers and doors by pulling on a rope tied around the handle), helping to pull a wheelchair up a handicapped ramp, and more. However, to train these dogs, they need ample amounts of tug and pull toys. So, in this virtual CSR program, you’ll help support the foundation by learning how to braid three different dog-training tools that will later be sent to the foundation. This is an “upcycle” event, where guests recycle old shirts or material into the dog toys – no materials will need to be sent to participants in advance!
10. Fundraising Concert featuring Celebrity Musician (Benefitting your Charity of Choice)
Give your employees the opportunity to give back while enjoying one of their favorite albums. Experience Vince Gill and Amy Grant performing their holiday album in your home, listen and sing-along to holiday classics with Elphaba from Broadway’s Wicked, or surprise guests with an appearance by Boys II Men. The sky’s the limit with this CSR event, which raises money for charities by charging admission to the event or through a virtual silent auction. It’s a perfect way to make lasting memories while benefitting a cause your entire organization supports.
More from Our Top-10 Bucket List Series
From coast to coast, we’ve compiled our top 10 bucket lists of the most exciting, one-of-a-kind virtual experiences.
- 360DG’s Top-10 Bucket List: Virtual Adventure Experiences
- 360DG’s Top-10 Bucket List: Virtual Entertainment Experiences
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