Corporate Social Good During the Holidays - More Than a Marketing Ploy
During this holiday season, nearly every brand will post some kind of heartfelt message on social media. But unless your company has the culture, policies and programs in place, those familiar with your brand will see it as a shallow marketing ploy.
At IGC, we practice what we preach. Since we spent most of the year focused on democracy protection, we decided to give back to Generation Citizen. This amazing nonprofit equips young people with the knowledge and skills to participate in our democracy.
At IGC, we believe it’s critical to practice what we preach. This year, we focused on helping organizations define, launch and measure their corporate Get Out The Vote efforts; therefore, we found it only fitting to also use our employee “paid time off to volunteer” to benefit working with Generation Citizen.
This amazing nonprofit is working to transform civics education so that young people are equipped and inspired to exercise their civic power. And instead of standard classroom instruction, Generation Citizen hosts civics fairs around the country. Think science fair, but all about democracy!
Participating students take the following steps:
Obtain consensus on a critical issue impacting them. This year, I heard topics impacting schools such as overcrowded hallways, vaping in bathrooms, and racial slurs.
Research the “root cause” of the problem — this could involve surveys, data analysis, speaking with experts, etc.
Develop a focused strategic plan to help address the issue.
Time permitting, start to take real action to fix the problem. For example, one group presented to the school board a proposed solution to the overcrowding of their school.
All that demanding work is then shown off at Civics Day, where members of the community (like our employees) spend time listening to the students, asking questions, and giving advice. It’s so inspiring to not only see how young people can influence change but also how this impacts their future trajectory. One participant said to me, “I want to play in the NFL, but if that doesn’t work, this project made me realize I want to be a judge.”
And, of course, no winter team-building activity would be complete without going out for special coffees afterward….even if it was 75 degrees in Austin!
