Activities, Incentives & Games

Activities, incentives & games are your opportunity to add a little something extra to your campaign. Not only can they raise additional money, they can be instrumental in team development, creating excitement and educating about United Way.

Let your committee’s imaginations run wild, or use our ideas below to make your campaign memorable, exciting and successful. Some are even ready to go – just download the materials to use at your rally or contact your United Way Campaign representative for hard copies.

Activity Ideas

  • Theme basket raffle/auction: Each department assembles a theme basket (golf, chocolate, spa, BBQ, etc.), which are raffled or auctioned off.
  • Jail and bail: Executives get “arrested” and they can’t leave “jail” until a certain amount of money is raised for their bail. Some companies have had off duty police officers do the “arresting.”
  • Trick or treat party: Treat kids from an agency to a tour of the office, a costume parade and treat bags.
  • Website scavenger hunt: Hand out questions about United Way and have employees search the United Way website for the answers.
  • Agency or not: Each person takes out $1. Have a person call out agencies. Employees put the $1 on their heads if they think it’s a United Way agency or put it on their tails if they think it is not. Collect the $1 if people guess wrong.
  • Casual for a cause: Sell Casual Day badges for employees to dress casually on certain days.
  • Tricycle races
  • Chili cook-off
  • Kickball or Wiffle ball tournament

Incentives

Incentives can build excitement within an organization, energize individuals to give and strengthen overall employee giving. Using incentives in your campaign raises the per capita gift by an average of 240%! They’re flexible to any organization and any budget.

To get the most out of incentives, consider how best to structure them for your campaign. Think about what you want to accomplish, then decide how to set your incentives. Examples below:

  • By individual participation: Anyone who participates is eligible.
  • By timeframe: Anyone who contributes by X day is eligible for a prize/drawing.
  • By increase: Anyone who increases their gift over the previous year by ___ % is eligible for a prize.
  • By gift level: Anyone who gives XX dollars or more is entered into a special drawing.
  • By company goal: If the company achieves XX% participation, all employees can wear jeans on Friday.

Looking for more ideas? Contact your United Way representative!

Downloadable Games

These games are a great resource for getting employees and departments involved in the campaign and educated about what United Way does. These games can add some fun to your campaign for free!