Pencils, notebooks, pens, and notecards – amongst several other supplies – are on the lengthy laundry list to prepare for August, Back to School Month. Approaching August, parents, students, and teachers experience a hectic rush of ensuring children’s success in learning, safety, and healthy habits at school.
Celebrating Back to School Month enhances your culture and demonstrates a commitment to education, youth development, and family values. This guide provides Culture, Social Impact, and ERG leaders with steps for impactful activities that foster community engagement.
Why celebrate Back to School Month?
- Educational support: Celebrating this month emphasizes the importance of educational resources and support for students, enhancing community ties and employee involvement.
- Employee engagement: Participating in these initiatives attracts and retains employees who value education and community, giving ERGs a platform to enhance workplace engagement.
Benefits to companies:
- Corporate culture: ERG-led initiatives that promote educational support during Back to School Month strengthen community connections and support for youth.
- Brand reputation: Active participation in educational initiatives boosts your brand’s appeal and positions your company as a leader in social responsibility and community development.
- Family and community values: Engaging in these activities showcases your company’s dedication to family and community values, resonating with employees and customers.
How your company can celebrate Back to School Month with CSR
The following initiatives were curated by our team of social impact experts that execute thoughtful social impact efforts for our customers every day. All of these initiatives will be more successful and engage more employees with a social impact platform that easily conducts campaigns, like Percent Pledge. Not to mention we will save you time and relieve the planning burden.
[1] Top-rated mental health nonprofits
Supporting vetted nonprofits aligns with a company's social responsibility and boosts employee morale. But ERGs often face the challenge of vetting nonprofits, a process essential to ensuring their efforts align with the company’s values and truly impact the community.
Our team of Social Impact Managers have researched and vetted the following nonprofits to take the burden off you and your ERG leaders. Support these charities with trust and confidence.
Generation Hope
To ensure all student parents have the opportunities to succeed and experience economic mobility, Generation Hope engages education and policy partners to drive systemic change and provides direct support to teen parents in college as well as their children through holistic, two-generation programming.
Kids in Need Foundation
Kids in Need Foundation believes every child in America should have equal opportunity and access to quality education. By partnering with teachers and students in under-resourced schools, it provides the support needed for teachers to teach and learners to learn.
After-School All-Stars
The mission of After-School All-Stars is to provide free, comprehensive after-school programs that keep children safe and help them succeed in school and life.
Kaboom!
Kaboom! unites with communities to build kid-designed playspaces that can spark joy and foster a sense of belonging for the kids who are often denied opportunities to thrive.
buildOn
buildOn is on a mission to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations through service and education.
Percent Pledge allows all companies and employees to donate to these nonprofits simultaneously through its Workplace Giving Platform.
[2] Youth and education workplace giving
Donating to worthy causes reflects a company’s values and resonates deeply with employees and ERGs, enhancing their sense of purpose and connection to their workplace.
Employee engagement in giving
When our customers launch their programs with giving incentives, they see a 50-89% employee engagement rate compared to 13-20% engagement launching without.
Matching donations
Amplify your employees‘ contributions by matching their donations, effectively doubling the support directed towards mental health nonprofits.
Gift donations
Ignite participation and impact by gifting employees Cause Credits—gifted donations—to support top-rated mental health nonprofits during May.
Corporate grants
Enhance your support by offering corporate grants to mental health-focused nonprofits, providing substantial backing for initiatives that make a lasting impact on local and national levels.
We understand your employees want to give back but you have limited time and budget. Our Giving Platform empowers employees with choice to donate globally, automates impact reporting, and hosts campaigns for your ERGs.
[3] Youth & education volunteer events
Volunteering enriches the community, boosts employee morale, and fosters team cohesion. ERGs can lead these opportunities for your employees to give back, reflecting positively on your corporate values and enhancing the impact on the community.
Homework helplines
Partner with a local public library to provide on-call help with students’ homework.
Read to students
Read to students in person or by recording yourself to improve student literacy through a local affiliate of Community in Schools.
Financial literacy help
Partner with the Junior Achievement to help children K-12 learn financial literacy.
Teach after-school activity
Partner with a local Boys & Girls Club to host an after-school activity.
A single volunteer event takes 20-30 hours to plan and execute. Learn how Percent Pledge saves your company that time by organizing customized volunteer events.
Campaigns and bonus ideas
Campaigns and bonus ideas are located in our Mental Health Kit, the ultimate guide to engage employees while making a positive impact for Back to School Month. The guide also contains additional context on the nonprofit vetting, giving, and volunteer event.
As always, our mission is to make your corporate social responsibility easy. Lean on us to save time and relieve the burden of planning and implementing successful campaigns.
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