People want to work for and do business with companies that give to charities, whether in volunteer hours or financial contributions. As a result, corporations are increasingly seeking ways to show a tangible impact of their giving by going beyond the “one-and-done” form of charity events held within their business. In 2014, twenty Chicago-area firms found a fun, engaging, and motivating solution to keeping employees focused on their favorite cause or charity while making a significant contribution to the communities they serve.
Last year, more than 1,500 employees from 20 businesses competed in the Chicago Charity Challenge, a unique corporate giving contest designed to motivate participants to fundraise and volunteer. Affectionately dubbed “the Cha Cha,” it's the only corporate giving initiative that harnesses the competitive spirit to maximize employee engagement. The Challenge serves companies interested in developing more meaningful and ongoing relationships with their select charities.
Teams of corporate employees participating in the 2014 competition logged over 22,000 volunteer hours and raised more than $6.2 million for Chicago area charities. In total, 765 charities and organizations benefitted from last year’s inaugural Chicago Charity Challenge. The 2015 Challenge, already underway, aims to become an official Chicago institution and is encourages more corporations to do the “Cha Cha” on behalf of their favorite nonprofit.
The Chicago Charity Challenge champions community and team-building while providing benefits that aren’t typically offered by traditional corporate giving programs, such as, tracking capabilities, networking opportunities, and the thrill of competition. But to Craig Foster, the Challenge’s founder, the best advantage lies in employees’ opportunity to grasp an issue, understand the cause, and build a relationship with a charity to make an impact. Each competing business chose a charity whose values aligned with its own.
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Starbucks won the $5,000 Community Impact Award for their charity partner, Concordia Place, a nonprofit that focuses on creating growth and opportunity through economically inclusive senior wellness, teen leadership, and early childhood education programs (watch their video).
“The work we were able to do with Concordia really supported our mission and we were able to think differently about ways we could impact our community,” said Susan Keller, District Manager of Starbucks.
Keller said the Starbuck team found value in using GiveTrak, the Challenge’s proprietary online tracking platform that quantifies participants’ donations and service hours, providing tangible return-on-investment data to each participating business. More than 500 Chicago Starbucks employees logged over 700 volunteer hours in 2014.
Chicago-based baby product manufacturer Kolcraft won the $5,000 Philanthropic Award on behalf of charity partner, March of Dimes, by raising the most money per employee, an average of $264.
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Other prize-winners included Quaker for their charity, Common Threads, and the Chicago Fire Soccer Club for the Chicago Fire Foundation.
Paul Hastings, an international law firm with offices in Chicago, won the $10,000 Grand Prize for its charity partner, Christopher House, an organization that aims to break the cycle of poverty for underprivileged families by providing high quality education to children from birth through high school (watch their story in video). The firm’s 63 local employees contributed 3,377 volunteer hours and nearly $2 million in legal services to support efforts to build a new charter school that will serve vulnerable families in the Belmont Cragin community. Additionally, the firm’s attorneys and staff made meaningful connections with kids, hosting students for a Career Day at their offices. To Greg Spitzer, partner of the Chicago Real Estate practice, the Challenge offered his colleagues a chance to meet new people and build deeper relationships.
The Chicago Charity Challenge establishes a rare dynamic between companies and charities that sets the stage for service beyond episodic volunteering. It facilitates relationship-building and sustained giving that makes a difference for both businesses and their charity partners. And it capitalizes on the corporate community’s competitive spirit as a motivator to do more.
Is your company ready to accept the Challenge? Learn about the 2015 Chicago Charity Challenge at http://www.chicagochacha.org/about/our-mission/.
