Write to a charity as a company this holiday season

With the holidays right around the corner, it’s a good time of year to start thinking about ways that you can make a positive contribution to the community. Every year, you tell yourself that you’re going to volunteer at a local charity, but it’s hard to find the time to do that with such a busy work schedule. Instead of letting another year go by with no action, do something simple with the rest of your company and send holiday cards to a charity of your choosing. It’s easy, it doesn’t take a ton of your time, and it can be a great activity to bring you closer to your co-workers. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you prepare to write cards:

Choose a charity
Take this opportunity to reach out to a charity that you feel is important. It can be a local soup kitchen and homeless shelter or a national organization (e.g. American Heart Association, Boys and Girls Clubs of America). What’s important here is that the charity you choose matters to you. It’s not a bad idea to take a small office survey to get ideas of what kinds of charities spark the interests of your colleagues.

Select a card
It’s probably best to stick with a nondenominational holiday card. Check out the Winter Red Bridge Holiday Card or the Sparkling Season Holiday Card, for starters. Both are great choices in happy holiday cards that don’t rely on religious affiliation.

Make a company event of it
If you’re always struggling to come up with ideas to get all of your co-workers together outside of work hours, here’s the perfect way to do it: Organize a company-wide card-writing event after work one day. Put the cards, envelopes, stamps and writing supplies in the conference or break room to ensure you and your co-workers work on them together. You can even turn it into a happy hour event if you’d like.