Carnival for a Cause

Like most college seniors, I dreaded the question “What are your plans for after graduation?” Also like most college seniors, the only answer I truly believed in was somewhere along the lines of: “I want to save the world.”

Soon into my job hunt, I learned that the adult version of saving the world is called corporate citizenship, so I sought out an organization that focused on supporting its people and its community. When I learned more about Sendero, I knew it was the place I wanted to be for that very reason.

Naturally, I joined Sendero Cares, an internal committee at Sendero focused on exemplifying the company’s core values of stewardship by expanding volunteer, stewardship, and giving opportunities, and I realized just how involved other Senderoans were around both the Dallas and Houston communities. While this insight was great, I knew not every employee at the firm had the same visibility. As a committee, we brainstormed ways to bring these opportunities company-wide, and the idea for an internal “Community Fair” was born.

Highlighting Involvement

The idea for the Community Fair was simple: encourage employees to come forward with the organizations they’re passionate about to host booths where others could learn about the work they’re doing.

Employee representatives educated others on how they could get involved by advocating, volunteering, and/or donating. Because everything is bigger in Texas, we had carnival-type snacks and games available to up the ante and the fun as attendees walked through the Fair. In our first year, the fair proved to be a success with 13 organizations represented—so we decided to make the Fair an annual tradition.

Involving Your Employees

If you are interested in holding your own Community Fair to promote involvement in the community and sharing passion, here are a few items to consider:

• Empower employees to bring forth organizations they’re involved in – if they’re passionate about the mission, they’ll be happy to share with their coworkers.
• Ensure a diversity of organizations are represented, as different types of organizations will attract those with varying interests.
• Encourage representatives to provide tangible opportunities to volunteer or specific donation requests to attendees so they know how they can help.
• Make it fun! Snacks and games can entice those who haven’t had a background of community service to come to the Fair as well as have those who attend linger longer.
• Incentivize participation for booth representatives by guaranteeing a minimum donation for each organization that participates. You can incentivize attendees, too, by matching (or even tripling if you coordinate with a local day of giving) donations.

To learn more about Sendero’s philanthropic involvement, visit our Community page.

By Anna Norkett