Employee giving campaigns have the power to transform workplace culture. In Episode 40, Lindsay speaks with the We Are For Good team about how organizations can engage staff in meaningful ways that build community and deepen commitment. From onboarding to ambassador programs, this conversation is full of ideas for activating generosity from within.
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Rethinking Employee Giving Campaigns: Focus on the Experience, Not the Percentage
Instead of aiming for 100% participation in employee giving campaigns, it’s time to shift your focus to appealing to the collective will.
If you're trying to create this culture, you stop obsessing about the percentage and you start obsessing about what's this experience that people are having. And are we giving that experience to the people that want to be involved? Share on X
We’ve all seen the usual employee giving incentives—Casino Nights, Hawaiian-themed parties, Pizza Fridays. While well-intentioned, these can often feel forced or stale. What if there were a more authentic way to inspire employees to joyfully engage with giving?
Often, organizations overlook a crucial audience: their own staff. Logically, your employees should be your strongest allies. If you connect with them authentically, you’re likely to cultivate not just long-term donors, but also passionate advocates who champion your mission beyond the workplace.
The key? Drop the pressure for 100% participation. Instead, foster impact and intrinsic motivation.
How to Spark Meaningful Employee Giving
Drawing from insights shared by Becky Endicott and Jonathan McCoy of We Are For Good—and from my own experience leading a $1 million+ multi-year employee campaign—here’s the recipe for success:
Dedicated funds for authentic, meaningful engagement
Clear, consistent communication about the purpose and impact of the campaign
Tangible demonstrations of how employee contributions make a difference
Peer-to-peer solicitations to create natural momentum and shared ownership
Treat Employees Like Top Donors
Employees should be seen as your most important donors—not just participants in a campaign. When treated this way, they’re more likely to stay engaged, contribute meaningfully, and invite others to join in.
This isn’t about superficial incentives like jeans days. It’s about cultivating deep, lasting investment in the mission.
Encourage your team to share their “why” for working at the organization and giving back.
Show them the tangible results of their contributions.
Make giving fun, uplifting, and voluntary—not a forced transaction.
Meet the Experts: Becky Endicott and Jonathan McCoy
In this episode of Creating Community for Good, I welcome Becky Endicott and Jonathan McCoy, Co-Founders of We Are For Good, for a lively discussion about employee giving and transforming internal culture.
Jon and Becky are true pioneers in employee giving campaigns. They developed a strategy and framework that achieved 10x growth in employee giving at a major healthcare organization—and have since refined it into an immersive consulting experience serving nonprofits across the U.S. and Canada.
We Are For Good is a vibrant platform dedicated to empowering nonprofit leaders and philanthropists with the mindsets, tools, and community needed to create meaningful change.
Becky Endicott started her career at the Oklahoma State University Foundation and spent over a decade at the INTEGRIS Foundation, leading annual giving, stewardship, major gifts, and successful employee campaigns.
Jonathan McCoy brings expertise from branding, marketing, and frontline fundraising, including years as Director of Annual Giving at INTEGRIS, where he oversaw employee campaigns.
Why This Matters
Jon, Becky, and their amazing Content & Production Manager, Julie Confer, quickly became some of my closest collaborators in 2020. We’ve since partnered on podcast episodes, fundraising advising, and Clubhouse sessions.
If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend checking out their interview with me, where I share my five key steps for successful solicitations. You’ll hear the genuine warmth, trust, and shared passion for community-building that we all bring to the work.
When it comes to employee giving campaigns, remember:
Focus on experience over participation rates.
Treat employees like valued insiders and storytellers.
Nurture joy, connection, and impact.
This is how you create real, lasting engagement—and inspire your community from the inside out.
Key Takeaways:
(06:23) – The secret sauce: How Becky and Jonathan build successful employee giving campaigns with authentic human connection and impact at the center.
(10:39) – Why you should be careful about the 100% participation model as a target.
(15:42) – How reimagining the volunteer structure of a campaign can push you beyond your engagement plateau: on recruiting co-chairs.
(21:31) – How charitable campaigns can help employee retention, happiness, and sense of purpose in the workplace.
(25:41) – What to do when someone doesn’t give: Becky’s strategies to inspire pride instead of guilt with creative recognition opportunities.
(34:13) – The power of the 5 dollars and how to shift your focus from money to engagement, stewardship, and storytelling.
Connect with Becky
through LinkedIn
Connect with Jonathan
through LinkedIn
Connect with We Are For Good
Episode Resources
Employee Giving Campaign Masterclass (opens again Spring 2021)
Articles & Resources for Employee Giving
Join the We Are For Good Free Online Community!
Guest bio:
As business partners and friends, Jon and Becky bring a wealth of 35 years of combined nonprofit expertise to the table. While he’s the designer and she’s the writer, they playfully refer to themselves as “marketers disguised as fundraisers.” Their professional journey began at Oklahoma State University Foundation. There, they built the institution’s first marketing department and established the foundation for philanthropic storytelling. This work ultimately contributed to the launch of the impressive $1 billion Branding Success campaign. Driven by a desire for innovation, they then dedicated nearly a decade to INTEGRIS Foundation. During their time there, they led various giving teams and, significantly, created a groundbreaking employee campaign model that has since been replicated globally.
Having long envisioned a company focused on empowering the next generation of nonprofit leaders, We Are For Good finally launched in 2020 through their podcast of the same name. Incredibly, the podcast quickly rose to become the #1 nonprofit podcast on Apple iTunes. Furthermore, it features interviews with some of the industry’s most respected thought leaders. However, their core passion lies in education. Therefore, through We Are For Good workshops, they gather leading thinkers and innovative disruptors in the nonprofit space to empower professionals to maximize their impact. Currently, their ambitious mission includes reimagining conferences and webinars, flipping the traditional donor pyramid, and even contemplating a new name for our industry in their spare moments!
💡 Want to activate your team as ambassadors for giving? Visit our Fundraising Strategy page for more tools and support.
Jon McCoy
March 11, 2021 8:51 pmLindsay, thank you for having us on your amazing podcast – you know we are superfans! It was such a fun conversation (cracking up still that you saved the outtakes!), and so much appreciate you giving us the platform to lift one of our most passionate topics as employee campaigns! The We Are For Good fam loves you hugely – and here to amplify and support any and all things you are doing. You are awesome!