Thanksgiving is the perfect opportunity for your insurance agency to give thanks to your community. Doing so will help cement your agency as part of the community and also show your commitment to the well-being of others.
The following ideas should give you some inspiration for ways to show your thanks to the community.
Host a Food Drive
One of the easiest ways to thank your community while making a difference is with a food drive. Start by considering which charity you want the donations to go to. There are likely many options in your community.
Then, organize the food drive. This can be as simple or as complicated as you want. Mid-size agencies, for example, can just create a company-wide food drive where you encourage employees to donate. You could even turn it into a competition.
Or you could expand the food drive and encourage your clients to participate as well. You can even take this to the next level and get the entire neighborhood involved.
Adopt a Local Family
What if you have a smaller insurance agency and don’t necessarily feel like you would be able to make a large enough donation to a food bank? First of all, remember that any amount helps.
Another idea is to adopt a local family. There are likely local organizations that will connect you with a family that can’t afford to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday this year. Your company could adopt them by buying ingredients for their meal or even making or ordering them a meal.
Volunteer Nearby
Nothing shows you care as much as when you contribute your time to a good cause. Volunteering lets you directly see the impact you have on others, and it shows the community that you care enough to set aside some of your precious time.
Of course, for the best results, you want to volunteer as a team with your employees. But there’s an important caveat here. You don’t want to force employees to use their own time to volunteer. Close the office for a bit, pay your employees like normal, but take everyone to go volunteer somewhere. If employees want to do even more on their own time, that’s great, but don’t require it.
Donate to Charity – With Employee Involvement
While donating time shows that you care, most charities rely on donations, so you should also consider giving back to the community with a direct financial donation. Of course, this does require there to be room in your budget for it.
Instead of just choosing a charity to donate to, you can also consider getting the employees involved. For example, you can have them vote on or suggest charities. Or you could even divide the planned donation amount by the number of employees and let each employee choose which charity gets their portion.
Sponsor Local Thanksgiving Events
Your area likely has at least one Thanksgiving event happening, such as a 5K race. See if you still have time to sponsor the event. Maybe you could provide coffee and pastries, or your employees can volunteer to help with the race.
Sponsoring an event will also usually give you the bonus of recognition, as your logo can appear on signage.
Incorporate Your Plans Into Giving Tuesday
Whether you plan to volunteer or run a food drive, you can incorporate these and some of the other above ideas into Giving Tuesday. As a refresher, this is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and is a follow-up to Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday.
Don’t Forget to Thank Your Employees
Remember that your insurance agency couldn’t run without all of the members of your team. While you should be letting employees know you appreciate them all year round, Thanksgiving is the ideal time to confirm that they know it. At the very least, give your team thank-you cards. You could also give them small gifts or host a thank-you lunch.
The Takeaway
Think of Thanksgiving as an opportunity for your insurance agency to give back to your community. There is no single right way to give back, so you can choose the method that works best for your agency. Donations, food drives, and volunteering your time are all great options with varying levels of commitment. Most options also serve more than one purpose. In addition to making you feel good about your agency’s contributions to the community, you will show people that you care about them and prioritize their well-being.