Idea Exchange

Below are some of the ideas generated at earlier Idea Exchanges to put the “fun” into fund raising:

Number 1 Priority: Get a committee identified to generate and implement those ideas approved by the CEO!!

• “Gate Party” – Armstrong World Industries – greet workers as they come to work just to remind them that it is United Way Week.  Serve donuts, coffee, juice, bagels, etc.
• “Pie in the Eye” – ONG, Esker, USA
• United “Weigh – In” – OK Dept. of Career and Technology Education
• Bake Sale/Cooking Contest – Okla. Dept. of Career Tech. Ed.
  Sell goods by the piece. Vote for favorite
• Sell popcorn one day each week during break time
• “Jeans” day – pay $1, $2, or $3 to wear jeans instead of regular work clothes. Fridays are a good day to do this!
• Pizza Party – sell pizza by the slice during the lunch hour
• Auction – auction donated services such as
  • Fish fry for 10
  • A golf or tennis game with the boss
  • Premium parking space
  • Auction baked goods
  • Or auction all of the above!
• Pumpkin sale – paint faces on pumpkins and sell them for Halloween in late October.
• Have contests that tie in with a heart theme
  (or other theme of your choice)
  • Name movies about the heart (or have the word “heart” in the title)
  • Name songs about the heart
  • Clichés about the heart
  • Use heart shaped reminders for meeting or reminders to turn in pledge cards
  • Give heart shaped prizes
  • “Put your money where your heart is!”
  • Make heart shaped thermometer to chart your organization's progress
  • Have aerobics demonstration, call it “Open you Heart!”

UNITED WAY CAMPAIGN IDEAS

PIE IN THE EYE CONTEST:

Held at the corporate picnic with “Corporately Popular” employees as Pie Recipients.  Penny per vote at the picnic. Advertised ahead of time. /corp. softball tourney/

UGLY LEGS CONTEST:

• Take Polaroid's of men employee's legs.
• Sale ballots for $.25 each.
• The employees vote on
  • The prettiest legs
  • Ugliest legs
  • Whose legs were whose?
• Prizes are given to the winner and contestant employees.

BABY PICTURES:

Guess who the baby is in the picture.

BREAKFASTS AND LUNCHES:

Turning in their Pledge Cards as admission tickets or sell advance tickets to gauge the number of participants. Serve biscuits and gravy from Braum's or Hardee's. Fry eggs in electric skillets. Serve OJ, milk, and coffee.

Bake potatoes and have all employees or each department bring a topping. Butter, sour cream, cheeses, chili, onions, broccoli, etc. Each employee pays $1 or $2 for the potato.

CHILI COOK – OFF:

Employees prepare chili to be judged by outside “honored guests” of the community, (Shelley Ricker would be glad to judge again!) After the judging is done, all employees, whether they made chili or not, pay to eat the rest of the chili.

UNITED WAY KICK-OFF:

Serve donuts, bagels, and orange juice to employees at the employee meeting. Hand out the Pledge Cards. Those who return by the deadline date are eligible for prizes. On the day following the dead line date, take balloons to every employee. Those who made the dead line will have pieces of paper in them that have prizes. At the end of the day, pop all balloons to see what everyone won.

PRIZES:

• Company T-shirt, mugs, cups, etc.
• Priority parking spot
• One hour “Mini Vacation”
• Sandwiches from a bagel shop
• OSU football tickets

OTHER IDEAS

The number 1 reason people give for not donating to the United Way is:

“I wasn't asked to give.”

Do not make the decision for your employees. Give everyone the opportunity to participate. We have a line worker at one of the industries that gives over $500 per year to the United Way. The City of Stillwater Sanitation Department has 100% participation every year. A large percentage of the Custodial Employees at OSU donate to the United Way.

Show how giving is affordable:

• Payroll deduction is the EASY way to give.
• “$1 per pay period is $26 per year (depending on the number of pay periods per year)
• $1 per day is an annual donation of $365 per year”
• “One hour's pay per month”
• “Give up a soft drink per week and increase your gift by that amount”

Have a “THANK YOU” day at the end of the campaign.

• Serve refreshments to employees
• Armstrong World Industries had management get in the
  dunk tank as a Thank You.  Sold throws – 3 for $1

JUST HAVE FUN!