Lesson 6: Working Out Loud with employees fundraising

Lesson 6: Working Out Loud with employees fundraising

This story is about how a global healthcare company used Working Out Loud on an ESN to encourage employee engagement and advocacy with their preferred charity, Save the Children.

“ESN has been without a doubt the “hero” channel for our employee fundraising efforts. ESN presents an incredible opportunity for any engagement programme, as it enables real time collaboration, healthy competition and celebration of fundraising activities and sharing success fast! ESN can reach everyone in the company and cuts through the communications noise. It has taken us well beyond one-way push communications and PowerPoint!” Director, Save the Children Activation, Global Communications & Government Affairs

What was the problem you were trying to fix?

We were trying to improve employee engagement around our Save the Children fundraising programme, as well as share and celebrate fundraising successes.

Why is it important to fix it?

Our Save the Children partnership enables employees to get involved with fundraising with the incentive that every penny they raise is matched by the company and really does make a difference. It is our first global charitable partnership, supported by our CEO and could help drive employees pride across the organisation, as well as build our reputation externally with employee advocacy when employees share their participation and fundraising achievements with friends and family and sponsors – and on social networking e.g. Facebook and JustGiving. Fundraising is the best part of any organization, even churches are looking for ideas to bring fundraising into their community with some using something similar to https://get.tithe.ly/blog/church-fundraising-ideas to find helpful ideas.

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How would you of fixed it in the past, without Yammer?

We would have been restricted to ‘direct’, one way, push messaging such as emails, videos, and articles on our intranet.

What did Yammer and Working Out Loud help you do that was not possible before?

ESN enabled us to reach people in a more informal, and interactive way with staff posting their own fun photos and short videos demonstrating how they are raising money. We have also been able to crowd-source the competitiveness of employees by sharing across different groups and inspiring employees to take part. It is a fast and easy way to communicate programme plans and get a temperature check of the effectiveness of the programme. Also sharing the more emotive Save the Children imagery as a constant reminder why staff are having fun at work! Great way to share the total amount of money being raised and how the company is matching donations.

What did you achieve as a result?

As soon as we created the Save the Children group, there was an instant sharing across more than 30 countries and all business areas. For the ever increasing number of people getting involved with the fundraising, this ESN group gives them a feeling of community and healthy competition; this really helps us achieve excellent enterprise-wide alignment across our many business areas. Also enables employee advocacy as staff are proudly sharing their company charity efforts outside of work with fundraising sponsorship with family, friends and on social networking e.g. Facebook and JustGiving sites. Often mention how the company is matching their pledge donations which is an excellent testimony to our charitable, philanthropic company culture.

Co-authors/group owners: Annalisa Tedeschi & Helen Chown @GSK2015

#wolan #wol #employeeengagement #advocacy #worklifebalance #charity #savethechildren #fundraising

 

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