Charity Team Building EventsCharity team building events took the world by storm a few years ago. Now, the industry has matured into many fun options for meetings and conventions. But, let’s back up a little. What exactly is charity team building? Different organizations use different names for charity team building activities. Some call these programs philanthropic team building. Others refer to them as a part of the Corporate Social Responsibility initiative. Also, sometimes we just call them a “corporate giveback”. Regardless of what we calls them, though, these programs are a combination between a fun camaraderie building activity and a charitable donation.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Charity Team Building Events

The term Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been around since the 1940’s. The term basically describes the way that a company or corporation interacts with the community. Academics and activist have long talked about the need for companies to take “social responsibility” for their business practices. However, when Enron collapsed in the early 90’s, Corporate Social Responsibility jumped to the top of many corporate priorities. Companies began to realize that when they create a long, and well developed, relationship with charities within their communities, they benefit tremendously from these relationships. For many of our clients, Charity Team Building Events are just an additional activity that strengthens a company’s Corporate Social Responsibility relationships.

Fun Charity Team Building Events to Giveback to Your Community

Below is a list of some of our most popular Charity Team Building Events.

  • Build-A-Bike ®

    Build-A-Bike ® Charity Team Building EventObviously, we are a little biased about this one. The Build-A-Bike ® activity is the original CSR team event. It is also still the most popular. In a nutshell, we have participants compete with other teams to win pieces of a bicycle. Once a group has all of the parts, the assemble the bike. The real secret to this event, though, is that none of the small groups can entirely complete a single bike without working together with additional groups. The event reinforces that the better that we communicate with our team as a whole, the faster and easier we reach our goals.

    The best part of this program, though, is that we can often have children from a local children’s charity attend the end of the event to receive their new bicycle. This part is very emotional. In addition, it is a great way to reinforce the importance of keeping your “customer” in mind when completing a task. It’s amazing how often participants tighten those bolts just a little more just before handing the bike to the child.

  • The Ace Race ® Golf Team Building

    Ace Race ® Philanthropic Team BuildingAfter the huge success of Build-A-Bike ®, many of our customers asked us, “Okay, that was fantastic! What’s next?” So the next big CSR hit was The Ace Race ®. In this program, teams receive a box of non-perishable food items like canned goods, macaroni and cheese boxes, etc. In addition to the food items, they receive a 3′ X 9′ felt “green”, a mobile putting hole, a golf club, and a single golf ball. With these materials each team builds a single mini-golf hole. The more participants in the event, the bigger the “course” becomes. Once the course is completed, teams have to race to get a hole-in-one on each hole.

    The fun occurs when the group participants attempt the putt. Then miss. Switch players. Attempt the putt again. Miss. Switch players, attempt the putt one more time, and nail the Ace. The other participants cheer and rush to the next hole. At the end of the event, we donate the food items to food banks in the area.

  • Rescue Bear ®

    Rescue Bear ® Corporate Social ResponsibilityOur other most popular philanthropic program is Rescue Bear ®. This is a very fun and subtle way to reinforce personality temperament training, and also help kids who have been through a tragedy. We start by introducing a fun way to automatically sort the team into personality temperaments without the group even knowing that we are doing it. Once they are in their groups, they will soon begin to notice that they have certain things in common. For instance, the “Type A” hard chargers will find themselves teamed up together. It is usually pretty funny to watch them all try to take control of the group.

    Once each group realizes that the activities assigned are geared toward their individual strengths, the participants trade completed activities for stuffed animal pieces. One group may acquire all of the skins. Another group may acquire all of the stuffing. Another group has all of the uniforms. The last group has the accent items. So, to build the animals, each of the four groups have to team up. The stuffed animals are donated to Rescue Workers like police departments, fire departments, or paramedics. These stuffed animals are given to children who have experienced a loss. The Rescue Workers often have great stories of how items like these are used, so it creates an emotional ending.

    For Additional Information About Any of these Programs, Call Us at (800) 872-7830 or Complete this Form.