Organising CSR Activity When Working Remotely

Did someone tell you that your company can't continue its Corporate Social Responsibility programme whilst staff are working from home? That simply isn't the case, as CSR activity doesn't require a physical presence in order to thrive.

Below are some ideas for ramping up the way your business supports charities and its local community when everyone is working remotely.

Pick a charity of the month

A great way to start is by choosing a worthy cause that you'd like to support as a business.

To make it more of a team effort, invite your employees to vote for the charity that will receive your focus that month and then contact the organisation to let them know.

Chances are the charity will be able to send you some digital assets, such as images, videos and links that can be shared on your company's social media channels, used in e-signatures and posted on your blog.

The more your employees are actively involved in spreading the word, the more the organisation will gain.

For instance, if every member of staff posts a link to the charity's website on their LinkedIn feed and tags in its company page, that's a very wide audience reached within a short period of time.

Hold some fundraisers

Now that you've chosen a charity of the month, organise some fun activities for raising cash.

These can take any form you wish, from health and fitness challenges to silly events like the boss having their head shaved.

Make sure to use a fundraising platform that's reliable and accessible, such as GoFundMe or JustGiving.

Don't forget to encourage people to click the Gift Aid button too, as the charity will receive an extra 25% without the donator spending an extra penny.

Facebook is also a fantastic way for your employees to raise funds.

Providing the charity in question is registered through the platform, your staff can quickly create individual fundraisers that their friends and connections can donate to in just a few clicks.

The money is gathered by Facebook and then sent to the chosen organisation without taking any commission once the fundraiser is complete, making it a very user-friendly system.

Birthday fundraisers work particularly well, although you can raise funds as often throughout the year as you wish.

Ask staff to activate Amazon Smile

This really is a brilliant way for your employees to support charities, as it's probably the easiest fundraising system in existence.

When buying on Amazon using an internet browser, go to smile.amazon.co.uk and sign in as usual.

To begin with Amazon will ask you to choose a charity, which can be done by browsing through the options or typing in an organisation's name to see if it's registered.

Once activated, you're good to go and your account will remember it from then on. (It's a good idea to save smile.amazon.co.uk as a bookmark, that way you won't forget about it.)

You then shop as normal and Amazon will donate 0.5% of the net purchase (excluding VAT and delivery fees) to your chosen charity without you having to lift a finger.

It's even easier when you use the Amazon app, as once you've activated Amazon Smile it remains switched on forever (unless you decide to turn it off).

By asking your employees to do this alongside other CSR activity, they'll be helping a not-for-profit organisation every time they buy something from Amazon, whether it's gifts, groceries or everyday items.

Encourage staff to support young people

No matter what level of education your employees have gained, they'll have attended some kind of educational institution.

Whether it's a university, college, training provider or school, they can get involved all over again by offering some support, such as:

• Donating new or used books to primary and secondary schools
• Joining a board of governors
• Donating to their fundraisers
• Offering to give a talk or run a workshop
• Managers may even be able to sign up as mentors for the relevant department at their old university
  

Organise litter-picking events

Imagine if for one hour every week, each of your employees went out and picked up litter from around their neighbourhood.

The impact will be even greater if they get their family and friends involved, plus it's a great way to squeeze in a little exercise and enjoy a change of scenery.

Litter-picking is an extremely rewarding activity, you just need to make sure that all of your staff are doing it in the most effective way.

There are some great tips on the Keep Britain Tidy website, including where to get the right equipment, health and safety advice and what to do if you find dangerous items.

Switch to hosted desktops

Managing, diversifying and increasing your company's CSR activity becomes so much easier when you have fast, agile and secure hosted desktops in place. To get started, give us a call on 01482 751133 or email hello@gocloud.co.uk.