We’ve all seen or been involved in dull, dutiful fundraising efforts. Everyone involved has good intentions, but there’s no spark or enticement for anyone to donate. Even if your chosen endeavor is serious, that doesn’t mean that you can’t make your fundraiser entertaining and fun. Here are a few tips to get everyone excited about raising money for a good cause.
Make It a Party!
Whether your fundraiser is a one-day event or spread out over a few days or weeks, a kickoff party is an excellent tool to both raise interest in your cause and get things started on a fun note. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate event either; it could be something as simple as offering cupcakes and coffee or having some enjoyable activities like a board game contest or bingo available. Make sure you involve your committee—someone might come up with an idea that wouldn’t have occurred to you on your own.
Smooth Management
No matter how casual or involved your fundraiser is, careful planning is essential to its success. Managing a fundraiser can be tricky and you may find yourself running into some common problems, like people flaking out on responsibilities or communication breakdowns causing delays or problems. Having a written plan and making it available to everyone involved–and also the willingness to change the plan as needed to accommodate issues as they arise–can ensure that everybody’s on the same page and knows their roles. Anyone that’s been involved with a fundraiser can tell stories about chairpeople who took the fun out of everything by insisting that everything go their way. Don’t be that chairperson!
Know Your Potential Donors
Of course, different causes will appeal to different people, and tailoring your fundraiser activities to those who are most likely to be interested in your cause is key. An endeavor for an organization that involves young adults, for example, might have you setting up something like a 5K run, which can be more appealing and fun to that group than a bake sale. If you’re taking over an existing fundraiser, don’t be afraid to ask what worked before, then take it to the next level.
A successful fundraiser not only benefits terrific causes and organizations but can be a memorable and very fun event. With some planning and imagination, your fundraiser will turn into something that people will not only support but enjoy.
Read more great tips in this article: How You Can Encourage Health and Wellness in the Workplace
Being sick is difficult enough, but being sick and dragging yourself into work is not only exhausting—it’s dangerous. And yet, many employees do just that to finish projects or hold on to valuable sick time. As an employer, what are some of the best ways to keep your workforce healthy and productive? Outlined below are a few simple methods you can implement to protect your workers and your business.
Take Precautions
It’s always been common sense to keep far away from someone with a cold or the flu, but now we have a popular new name for it: social distancing. It’s important that you promote social distancing in the workplace in order to keep your employees healthy. Find creative office layouts to keep coworkers a reasonable distance from each other, if necessary, or allow remote working options in lieu of requiring your employees to fill a seat in your building. Make sure you have plenty of hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes available so that it’s easier to keep your workplace clean and encourage staff to regularly utilize these tools.
Stay at Home If You’re Not Feeling Well
One of the easiest ways to prevent the spread of disease around the office is to ensure that workers who are ill stay at home. This is easier said than done for many people, as staying home can be seen as a sign that they’re not fully committed to their job. Establish a company culture that supports remote work if needed, and make sure your business is equipped to send workers home when required. Cross-train your employees so that important tasks will still get done, and ensure that your personnel has access to laptops and video conferencing software so they can easily make the move home if needed.
Practice What You Preach
Like it or not, your employees are looking to you to set an example. If you come into the workplace sneezing and coughing, you’re setting an expectation that they need to show up when they’re sick as well. So be sure to set the same standards for yourself that you ask your employees to follow. Stay at home and work from there if you’re feeling able. There is rarely little that you need to do that can’t be accomplished with conference calls or emails, and most other tasks can be reassigned to another day or a trusted employee.
Although you’re likely very busy, keeping your employees healthy and functional is important to the wellbeing of your business. Ensure that you’re protecting everyone’s health and safety by taking these necessary precautions to reduce risk and encourage wellness in the workplace.
Here’s another great article: 3 Qualities Every Business Leader Needs to Be Successful
The customer experience is directly tied to your business’s success. Cultivating a positive customer experience will result in customer loyalty. Provide a poor customer experience and soon you will see customers drop at alarming rates. This is why it’s important to create a positive experience for customers as this leads to a sustainable business. With that said, creating a positive experience means showing customers that you care about them and their needs.
Keep Your Building Nice
If you want to show customers you care, one of the best things you can do is keep your building nice, especially in the winter. Customers appreciate an inviting facility that is nice, tidy, and comfortable. For instance, vestibules help your customers stay warm during the winter by creating a comfortable waiting area for them. Taking the time to create an inviting environment shows that you not only care about your customers’ comfort but improves the experience they have with your facility. Along with this, keeping your building nice helps accommodate your employees. Businesses should strive to create the best working environment for their employees as this leads to high performance. When you invest and care for your employees’ needs, they can better serve customers.
Create a Rewards Program
There’s no better way of showing customers you care than by creating a rewards program to say thank you. Ultimately, customers appreciate businesses that acknowledge and appreciate their patronage. This allows customers to save money on some of your products or services and will make customers feel like they have an emotional connection to your business. Not only that but this directly impacts your business’s bottom line as this creates repeat customers, which in turn, increases revenue.
Create an Opportunity to Receive Feedback
Another great way to show customers you care is through creating opportunities to receive valuable feedback from your customers. Feedback is important because it helps businesses understand the areas they can improve on. Even more, it shows customers that you are attentive to their needs and care about the interactions they have with your business.
When you encourage feedback, customers will appreciate your willingness to listen to their needs and your customers will know that they are heard. As a result, this will create better relationships between you and your customers and they will be more motivated to invest in your business.
Customers are a top priority for any business. When you show your customers you care, you are simultaneously improving the customer experience, which develops repeat customers. With that said, if you’re a business owner looking to grow your business, consider these 3 strategies to show customers your care.
Here’s another great article: How Your Business Can Have More Effective Training
