Spirt Weeks are comprehensive week-long campaign that incorporates new fundraising initiatives each day. The goal is to raise funds for your local Children’s Miracle Network hospital while also creating a fun working dynamic at your credit union.
Spirit Weeks give your credit union employees the chance to take on a leadership role.
These are a great way to incorporate all the ideas below (and more!) into a multi-channel fundraising approach that will make your efforts fun, raise more money, and build an organizational culture around giving.
You must understand the types of activities your employees, members, and community will appreciate and incorporate them into a week-long campaign.
Some important keys to success for Spirit Weeks:
- Identify a planning team (3-8 people) to strategize and execute your Spirit Week: This team will need between 4-6 weeks to plan and communicate this to your organization.
- Create activities for each day of your Spirit Week: This could include the other items on the toolkit, or you can brainstorm your own! For example: Monday is Penny Wars, Tuesday is a bake sale, Wednesday is Miracle Jeans Day, Thursday is Game Day with cornhole, video games, or other, and Friday is company lunch and Pie-Your-Coworker-In-The-Face Day.
- Incorporate fundraising activities throughout the week: For example: Launch Give on the Go to happen in conjunction with your Spirit Week.
- Set goals: How much your credit union will raise overall? How much will each fundraising activity raise? How many employees will make a donation?
- Create an internal marketing plan: What employee communication tools can you share this in?
- Design collateral for your external and internal campaigns: This could include: a video from your CEO, a story from an employee that has had an experience with your local children’s hospital, CMN Hospitals marketing materials found below, social media graphics, t-shirts, and more.
- Communicate Success Post Campaign: This should be done through employee communications, to your members and external community, and possibly local lawmakers.
- Evaluate your Spirit Week: The planning team should collect dollars and compare against goals. They should send out an employee survey to understand what went well and where there were challenges. They should collect and store notes to make next year’s Spirit Week even better!