How can I get my workplace involved in fundraising?

If you'd rather not host a dress-down Friday in the office, you could always raise money by jumping into a wintry Loch Leven like these Holiday Inn Express Glenrothes staff did. Image: Steven Brown

From the traditional to the zany, there’s lots of methods that can be used in the office to raise money for charity without just rattling the fundraising can. We look at some of the best methods recommended by Scotland’s leading charities.

Intranet and mobile technology

Elizabeth Kessick is head of insight at online donations website JustGiving. She says: “Don’t be scared to ask: once you’ve started getting donations from your inner circle, widen the net - share your story on public social media, but also with your work colleagues via email and your work intranet.”

Fitness fans in your office can be encouraged to compete in exercises to raise money for your cause. Image: Alan Murray

Spreading the message via your work intranet - with the company’s permission, of course - can be a useful way to eke out funds as your event nears. JustGiving also recommend making a JustTextGiving code so that donations via SMS can be made to your donations page by those who have been given your unique code.

Get making and baking

Children’s charity Barnardo’s Scotland encourages fundraisers to hold a Big Brunch event, where colleagues and friends are invited to your workplace to eat homemade treats after paying an entrance fee. Fundraisers for Barnardo’s will get their own dedicated fundraiser from the organisation to help them out, though this will depend on the charity you decide to support.

Those with an even sweeter tooth can put their or a colleague’s baking skills to good use by hosting a Bake Off instead. Hold this event over lunchtime to get as many hungry colleagues to donate to your cause as possible.

Glamourous events, such as this sponsored charity ball in Aberdeen, can also get your colleagues looking glitzy while they raise money for charity. Image: Pete Watt

Payroll giving

Alzheimer Scotland is one of many Scottish charities that can accept Payroll Giving. The system allows people from any workplace to give a selected amount of money per month to the charity from your pay before tax. To set up such a scheme, you’ll need to contact your employer’s HR department first of all and then the charity of your choice.

Auction of promises/objects

Fitness fans in your office can be encouraged to compete in exercises to raise money for your cause. Image: Alan Murray

Cancer charity Marie Curie offers several different ideas for fundraising, with auctions a popular option. Workplaces make ideal locations for auctions due to the number of people in one area and the (relative) ease of borrowing a meeting room for the event.

Simply organise a catalogue of goods owned by staff to be auctioned, with the proceeds to be donated to charity. For an unusual twist, auction promises and favours from one member of staff to another - that way, your chosen charity benefits, and the expert guitar player in the HR department will be able to teach someone in Accounts how to learn chords.

Team challenges

There’s no better way of bringing your colleagues together than organising a collective effort that everyone can get behind. In fact, Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland actively recommend it as a way of pulling together and socialising away from the pressures of the workplace.

Glamourous events, such as this sponsored charity ball in Aberdeen, can also get your colleagues looking glitzy while they raise money for charity. Image: Pete Watt

Each year, the charity runs a White Water Rafting event on the River Tay for eight people. The team paddles for three miles in a flat water race before tackling the graded white waters of the Tay between Aberfeldy and Grandtully in Highland Perthshire. Similar team challenges could be an office football tournament, or an office quiz which challenges employees on their knowledge of the company.

Dress-down days

A time-honoured favourite of the workplace, dress-down days involve participants paying a small fee to wear casual clothes to their workplace. Motor Neurone Disease Scotland - the country’s leading charity to support those diagnosed with the debilitating condition - recommends this method as a relatively simple and easily-organised way of raising funds quickly.

Depending on the willingness of your colleagues, there’s scope to incorporate a theme into your fundraising. Go for glamour with a 1920’s Great Gatsby-themed working day, or relive your childhood by encouraging participants to turn up wearing the fashions of their youth.