Start the day off right
Kick off your campaign with a staff breakfast. Food has proven to be the most successful way to gather employees together. At your breakfast invite a speaker to come educate your group about United Arts.

Dough Exchange
"We’ll give you our dough if you give us yours." Give each person who makes a pledge to United Arts, a fresh-baked cookie.

Theme Luncheon
Kick off your campaign with arts-themed offerings in the company cafeteria – Tenor-ized Steak Au Pavarotti, TuTu Potatoes (twice-baked potatoes), and Lettuce Entertain You (salad).

Say it with Food
Distribute Act II popcorn or other items to anyone who contributes.

United Arts Buffet
Recruit a group of volunteer bakers and fill a table full of baked desserts. Place a sign above the table saying “United Arts Buffet – All you can eat for a donation.”

Yogurt Idea
Place yogurt on employees’ desks, encouraging them to "Get a Little Culture."

Gimme A Break
Kick-off your campaign with an after-school snack break – who doesn’t love milk and cookies?

Chili Cook-Off Contest
Employees cook their favorite chili recipe and enter it into a cook-off contest. This activity can also add “spice” to a Community Fair. A panel of chili experts selects the official Chili Champion. Talk to a local hotel representative about donating a weekend stay at their hotel for the winner.

The Golden Ticket
Have some fun with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Excite those “sweet tooths” by selling chocolate bars during your campaign. Include golden tickets in a few of the candy bars and have a special prize for the winners, like a gift certificate to a candy store!

Nacho Party
Plan an afternoon to sell nachos or popcorn to interested employees in your break room. Employees pay $2 for each serving with all proceeds going to the cultural community.

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Baby Match
Collect pictures of your fellow employees as babies or small children and post them in a main employee area. Employee can buy guesses for $1 with a prize going to winner who guesses the most right.

Pet Match
Same as baby match, but use pictures of your pets.

Trivia
Have a United Arts trivia contest with questions about Twin Cities history and the arts. Your Workplace Campaign Director can help you put this information together.

A Dollar An Inch Contest
Executives participate in an all-day competition to end the day with the shortest tie. Employees pay $1 each time they want to cut an inch off their favorite executive’s tie. At the end of the day the executive with the shortest tie wins a pizza party for his employees.

Bingo
Have bingo cards for employees to purchase and then hold a bingo match during lunch or a break. Get a local store to donate prizes for all winners.

Spelling Bee
Hold a spelling bee; charge a $5 entry fee. Gallery observers place $1 bets on their favorite participant. Present the winner with a special “Spelling Bee” Award.

Employee Guessing Events
Employees guess the organization’s grand total or the per capita gift of the organization or the amount of candy or other items in a jar.

Balloon Pop
Employees donate prizes for this event, a variation of a traditional raffle. Before filling a balloon with helium, put a note inside with the name of a prize. Employees pay $1 to buy a balloon and pop it to find out what prize they’ve won.

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Fitness Theme
"Shaping up with United Arts" – give blue ribbons to donors; "Walk-a-thon" or "Go the Distance for United Arts" – walk around the building or set a course. "Entrance fee" proceeds go to United Arts.

Valentine's Day
Use the slogan "A Gift from the Heart" and give away candy grams or flowers for pledges at certain levels; offer free candy to employees who complete their pledge cards on Valentine’s Day, etc.

"Jail" Executives, Managers or Co-workers
Have executives "jailed" for one hour during the day. Each executive has to solicit donations to get out of jail.

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CEO Ideas
CEO wears a chef hat and serves lunch one day in the cafeteria, or gives away his/her parking spot for a day to a week. Alternatively, lunch with the CEO could be given away as a raffle prize.

CEO Car Wash
Employees donate $5 to have their car washed at high noon by their “boss” in business clothing. Charge extra for special services like cleaning the interior or polishing the rims. Also, charge for photos of the employees with the boss washing their cars.

Preferred Parking Spot
Designate a preferred parking spot and hold a drawing for anyone who contributes to see who gets to use it for a month. 12 people win.

Auction
Hold an auction with prizes collected from your company’s employees, vendors or area shops and restaurants, and your United Arts representative may be able to supply some free tickets. Assign bidding numbers to everyone bidding. Highest bidder gets the prize. Provide refreshments and all proceeds go to United Arts.

Casual Day
Sell Casual Day Badges that allows employees to dress casually on certain days. Employees purchase badges for $5 each. The badges carry an expiration date, depending on the amount donated. Designate certain casual days as “Crazy Days” and encourage your employees to show their wild side: Also works well with the following days:
Monday – College Sweatshirt Day
Tuesday – Crazy Hat Day
Wednesday – Outrageous Socks Day
Thursday – Sports Team Day
Friday – Jeans Day

Employee Raffle
Ask employees to contribute something special for a raffle prize:
Homemade pies, lunch with a co-worker, car wash, tickets to a special event, weekend stay at a vacation cabin, one day vacation, prizes donated by vendors, employees make contributions using a raffle donation form. Those employees turning in pledge cards receive three raffle tickets. Employees turning in pledge forms after the early date, but before the campaign’s final event receive one raffle ticket.

Vacation Days
Many coordinators say this event easily guarantees almost 100% participation. Employees “buy” a vacation day. When an employee chooses to participate, their wages for a day’s work are deducted from their paycheck. The organization may choose to match the amount deducted, with all proceeds going to United Arts. Everyone wins! The organization achieves high participation and the employees get a vacation day all while helping the cultural community.

Employer Matching
Ask your employer to match employee gifts. Several campaign sites do this with great results!

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Employee Talent Show
Find out who the hams are in your office and organize a talent show. Maybe someone would rewrite lyrics or lines to famous songs or plays, tying the theme into their workplace or office jokes. A pledge card will serve as the ticket to view the talent show.

CEO Sing-A-Long
Have a sing-along to kick off your campaign – ask your CEO or another office celebrity to kick it off with a solo! Better yet, take contributions for a solo from your CEO or other employees.

Proud Parents
Every proud parent wants to display the talents of his or her child.
Hold an art contest for employee children – decorate your offices with the entries and give everyone a small prize.

Employee Cultural Show
The hidden talents of your employees might amaze you. Encourage them to share their art work with an employee exhibit, entertain the staff at lunch with a solo performance or band jam, or even share poems or writings via email.

Book/ DVD/CD Sale
Employees donate their old books and DVD’s for an employee book sale. Sell paperbacks for $1, hardbacks for $2, CD’s and DVD’s for up to $5.

Casino Night
What are the ingredients for a successful Casino Night? A few blackjack tables, a bingo game, a beanbag toss, a bushel of sandwiches and sodas. Invite employees and their families. Have local businesses donate prizes and items for winners.

Children’s Drawing Contest
Give employees “official photographs” of one or two top executives to take home for their children to draw. There is a $5 entry fee per child. Employees vote for the best drawing by paying $1 per vote. Give prizes to all participants (get local restaurant to donate a certificate for a free lunch.) Display winning portraits as a part of the organization’s permanent art collection. A variation of this event: Employees submit photography, drawings, paintings, poetry, or collages depicting art, history, heritage and/or science.

Trip For Donors
Organize a local trip to one of the United Arts grantees and offer free admission for anyone who donates. This allows everyone to experience first hand how their donation impacts the cultural community.

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Cultural Exhibit
Maintain a bulletin board or display case with arts events and activities.

Campaign Newspaper
Create a campaign newspaper featuring stories about employees who have played instruments, performed in plays, whose children are performers, or who have volunteered for performing events (ushering, technical work, etc.) Advertise upcoming performances by the ASC groups.

“ASC Fact of the Day”
Post an “United Arts Fact of the Day” or an artwork of the day in your elevator, on company intranet, and bulletin boards.

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Ticket Giveaway
Give free tickets to theater productions, museums and other local attractions for pledge incentives. Or give museum passes to every employee who meets the challenge of pledging a certain dollar amount. In addition, enter the names of all employees who turn in a signed pledge card, during the first day following the kick-off, into a special drawing. Ask company executives to donate a weekend at their mountain house or beach house for the winner.

Gift Certificates
Solicit local restaurants, hotels and businesses for gift certificates to be used as incentives during your United Arts campaign. A free smoothie or free car wash is always a nice thank you for a donor.


Used with permission, ASC, 2007.