With an increase in demand for philanthropic programs, team-building companies are devising ways to take new and creative approaches to community giving.
At Adventure Associates, a new program named “Get Set, Give” is similar to a traditional scavenger hunt, but instead focuses on helping people in need.
“People work in teams of four with GPS devices to find clues and they also have a certain amount of spending money,” says Rebecca Tilley, co-owner of Adventure Associates. “They have to look for ways to help people out, but they don’t just give them the money directly.
For example, they might spend money on balls for a school or they might provide someone with a week’s worth of bus tickets. The teams have to get out into the community and ask questions about what is needed. Then they come together at the end to share the experiences.”
At Odyssey Teams, which has been designing programs with a philanthropic slant for nearly a decade, the newest offering is Helping Hands, a program where participants build prosthetic hands. The recipients are children and adults in developing countries who have lost hands due to landmines and political violence.
According to lead facilitator Todd Demorest, the program can easily take place in a hotel meeting room and typically is two to four hours long. Teams of three people assemble the prosthetic hands from kits and also decorate a care package box for each recipient.
“Afterwards, the teams watch a video of some of the past recipients and their families--they see how it has affected their well being,” Demorest says, adding that a picture of the team who built each hand goes into the care package box.
“It becomes a very personal thing,” Demorest says. “When recipients get the hand, they get to see who built the hand. We also get pictures of the recipients and send them back to the client.”
Odyssey Teams also offers Project Playhouse, a team-building program in which participants assemble playhouses that are donated to local children’s groups as well as to shelters. According to Demorest, as participants work with the raw materials they are given—lumber, paint, finishes and decorative items—they tap into creative, leadership, communication and decision-making skills that will make them more effective in their organizations and in their communities.
The teams are encouraged to customize their playhouses with paint and other decoration. They can also compete for awards based on creativity and team spirit. Often, the children who will receive the playhouses are invited to inspect them and act as judges for some of the awards.
“So many people think they are not good with their hands,” Demorest says. “They might stumble and bumble around for a few minutes, but pretty soon, they’re really building a playhouse for deserving children. What might have seemed like a game at the beginning has really aligned people and given them a connection.”
Along with socially responsible programs, cooking challenges and other culinary-related programs have also gained in popularity in recent years. An example of new options available in this genre is TeamBuilding Unlimited’s Chocolate Stimulus Package, which offers several different activities centered on chocolate.
In Ultimate Chocolate Tasting, participants learn about the history of chocolate and how to enjoy and appreciate high-end varieties of chocolate from around the world. In the Chocolate Challenge, teams are challenged to design and decorate chocolate creations that reflect their team or company.
“In the Chocolate Challenge, people are really building with chocolate--we even had one team from a scientific company create a research lab out of chocolate,” says Janet Rudolph, creative director of TeamBuilding Unlimited. “Or they can create elaborate cakes, which can be chocolate or not. The cake can serve as the group’s dessert or taken back to the office.”
