Children Direct will work with you in customising your Give As You Earn campaign and assist you when promoting it to your staff. We can provide materials and conduct presentations. We will work with you each step of the way to ensure that your Give As You Earn campaign is a successful one. 1. Securing commitment and support Buy-in and support from senior management or the board of your company helps when encouraging staff to join the payroll scheme for Children Direct. Commitment to the right level of resources to manage the programme will also contribute to its success. If possible, a community affairs specialist should be involved and we will work with you to ensure that we choose an approach when promoting Children Direct that ties in closely with your organisations culture. 2. Setting targets and objectives As with any promotional campaign, it's important to set objectives at the beginning so that you can evaluate and measure your campaign at the end. Setting objectives also allows you to agree timing and allocate resources. Above all, make the campaign fun! Children Direct will work with you on this. 3. Launch the scheme One of the best ways to build enthusiasm and support for any Give As You Earn scheme is to do much of the promotional activity on one day or throughout one branded week, so that staff know that this is the time to act and sign up to Children Direct. Again, Children Direct will ensure that the launch is a high profile one. With the help of a number of staff volunteers we will run regular promotions to keep awareness high and help recruit new donors. If possible, we would like to avail of staff volunteers who could assist us in distributing promotional materials and application forms to staff desks, coffee areas, canteens etc. 4. Shout about it Children Direct is a great way to help give children a better future. We will work with you and help you keep staff constantly up to date about the scheme and what's happening, using all avenues of communication in your work place Ð email, posters, memos, newsletters, Intranets and briefings. Companies that enjoy a high level of staff participation have a very strategic approach to promotion and communication. They tend to use a wide range of communication methods, including face to face presentations and discussions. Information about the scheme is promoted and communicated regularly and frequently. Children Direct will endeavour to explain the benefits of the scheme rather than sell it. We will use a tone that appeals to staff and this tone will permeate all communications about the scheme. 5. Matching Companies that match the money raised through payroll giving give their employees a real incentive to join the scheme. High participation companies provide matching trends either as a full or partial percentage of the employee gift. 6. Follow-up Children Direct will ensure that the results of your recruitment drive are publicised and after the event, we will keep staff up to date through internal communications channels. It would be a great advantage if information about Give As You Earn and Children Direct were included in induction packs for new staff members. This would be a valuable benefit for your organisation Ensuring Success! Creating the right atmosphere for a successful Give As You Earn campaign is important. Again, Children Direct will work with you in developing your promotional activity. There are some basic pitfalls that are easy to fall into, so the following are a number of important things to take account of. Active Not Passive! Passive promotions are doomed for failure. Employees like the idea of Give As You Earn, but it can get lost in the many other communications they receive daily. Simply placing it on the company intranet and hoping people will sign up is unlikely to work. Design a promotion to get their attention, give them an overview of what's great about Give As You Earn and give them an incentive to sign up. Use a mix of communications to reach staff A mix of communication tools should be used to explain payroll giving to employees and regularly remind them of the benefits. When used in conjunction with other communication, the company Intranet can be an invaluable communication tool and is a useful way to provide employees with access to Give As You Earn information. Use additional promotional information e.g.deskdrops and posters (provided by Children Direct), features in internal publications, newsletters and promotion flyers. E-mails from senior management and line managers encourage participation. It is important to ensure the right person delivers the right message to the right audience. Employee Team Spirit Employees like to feel they are taking part in a high profile effort and are something good for the community and so promotions are effective when they encourage team spirit. Regular reporting on how much the team has donated and thanking everyone for taking part will make a big difference. Employees and the payroll giving scheme will thrive on regular recognition and appreciation. Promote the Cause It is important to promote the cause that employees are signing up to and vital to demonstrate the benefits that Give As You Earn can bring about. Showing images and messages for the range of charities involved in Children Direct will mean that employees will feel that they are making a difference to causes that are close to their hearts. Telling instead of Explaining Charitable giving is a personal decision. While employees appreciate it when employers offer them a way to make giving easy and to make their donations go further, they don't respond well to pressure. It's important to communicate that payroll giving is optional but that those employees, who join the scheme, can make their donations go further and do more for the causes they care about.