Bringing the spirit of giving to your workplace

Before you start mass e-mailing everyone at the office, however, keep in mind the following tips to avoid alienating your office mates.

• Talk to your HR department to find out the protocols for charitable giving at your company, says Sarah Hoddinott, fundraising product manager at nonprofit software management firm Advanced Solutions International.
• Don’t spam the workplace. One e-mail is more than enough to tell people at work what you’re up to, says Hoddinott. And make sure your firm is cool with you using office e-mail to spread the word about a nonprofit.
• Consider setting up a Facebook group, or some other social networking tool, to create a place where employees can go to find out about a particular charity, Hoddinott says. This keeps the charitable giving issue entirely out of the workplace and takes some of the pressure to participate off fellow workers and managers.
• Be mindful of whom you ask to contribute and how much you ask for. If you know your department is comprised of people who earn six figures, it may be acceptable to ask for a $100 donation. However, making the same request to workers who earn far less is inappropriate. Above all, don’t put pressure on co-workers by saying “Joe, Jane and Judy gave money, but you didn’t,” says Strahilevitz.

The best tactic is asking people to volunteer their time and not donate money, Strahilevitz says. That way you get around the issue of who has enough money and who doesn’t.

That’s exactly what Dawn Edwards did.

Edwards, an associate financial representative with The McTigue Financial Group, which is part of the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, had been volunteering for a group called Feed My Starving Children. She asked her managing director if employees could help pack meals for the charity that provides food to poor children around the globe.

The director, Corey McQuade, agreed, and about 36 people — nearly all of the staff — and their families joined in the effort in June.

“The response was so great that I had co-workers suggest we go back on a monthly basis,” says Edwards, who works out of the firm’s Oak Brook, Ill., office.

Her advice for getting everyone motivated: “It was basically word of mouth around the office and getting people excited. It just grew from there.”

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