Why Your Next Team Build Should Be Charity Work

Team building inspires camaraderie, develops friendships and deepens relationships.  This translates into a happier, more productive workplace.  At some point in our professional lives, we’ve all participated in a cooking challenge, a scavenger hunt, or tried to build a tower out of marshmallows and spaghetti.  Here’s why you should stop buying into corporate team building, and start donating your time and money to non-profits instead.

Doing Good is Good!

Giving back to your community and serving the less fortunate is a good thing to do, always.  Your team will gain a sense of camaraderie and accomplishment by working together toward a common goal, which is what team building is all about anyway.  Partnering with a charity adds meaning and purpose to what can otherwise seem like a self-indulgent effort.

Your Budget Will Thank You

The overhead of working with a charity is often much lower than the cost of professional programs built for a corporation’s deep pockets.  Instead of paying a company to run a cookie cutter activity, you can offer that money to a non-profit who will do more with it than pad their own coffers.  Often, your time is the only commodity required.  It’s an added bonus if you can donate any remaining funds after the team build costs have been covered.

It’s Good PR

Photos, blogs, articles, splash pages on your website – any time you use this promotional material, folks will see that you care about more than just the bottom line.  Of course, we hope that your company really is sincere in its motivations. Building your team and having fun while benefiting others is a great way to show the rest of the world that you care.

Charity work isn’t something you traditionally think of as a corporate team build exercise, but it fills all your needs and then some.  Nothing brings people closer together than sharing a sense that they are a part of something bigger than themselves. Teams function more fully in a company that inspires them to be better humans, not just better workers.