Building a Culture of Giving: How to Integrate Employee Giving From Day One

Employee Philanthropy Starts at Onboarding

Picture this: It’s Jane’s first day as a registered nurse at Very Good Hospital. Among the usual orientation materials, she finds a brochure titled “Your Journey of Impact Starts Here.” It’s filled with stories of patients whose lives were changed by the hospital’s employee giving program.

Inspired by a passionate presentation about the hospital’s culture of philanthropy, Jane has already signed up for a monthly payroll deduction to support the pediatric department. It’s not even lunchtime yet, but she feels a sense of belonging and purpose—all before meeting her first patient.

At Graphcom, we’ve seen firsthand how this day-one approach can revolutionize both employee engagement and fundraising success for healthcare institutions. Integrating employee giving at onboarding can transform your organization’s culture and boost your philanthropic impact. Employee giving programs offer many benefits:

• Increased engagement and job satisfaction
• Improved patient care through funded initiatives
• Enhanced community relations
• Stronger organizational unity and shared purpose
• Passionate advocates who continue to give and encourage others to do the same

When your employees give back to their workplace, you create a virtuous investment cycle in your organization’s mission and future. Let’s explore how your healthcare development office can build this culture of giving from the ground up, starting with the crucial new hire onboarding process.

Strategies for Introducing New Employees to Your Culture of Philanthropy

1. Include Philanthropy in Orientation Materials

A strong employee giving strategy introduces the concept on an employee’s very first day. Provide new hires with information about your institution’s foundation, fundraising campaigns, and the impact of employee giving. A philanthropy welcome package, brochure, or handbook can illustrate how employee contributions make a difference, as well as your organization’s philanthropic history, current initiatives, and ways to get involved. This guide will serve as a reference for new employees throughout their tenure.

2. Create a Philanthropy Video

Develop a short, engaging video featuring personal staff testimonials about the impact of giving and make it a standard part of the onboarding process. Pair it with welcome gifts or the materials you created in step one to reinforce the message, raise awareness, and inspire new hires to engage from day one.

3. Dedicate Time in Orientation

Allocate a segment of new employee orientation to highlight your organization’s philanthropic mission, involvement opportunities, matching gift programs, and more. Invite a representative from your development office to present or use your new philanthropy video from step two to showcase the impact of giving. This dedicated time ensures new hires understand how they can increase their support and ask questions.

4. Offer Immediate Enrollment Options

Make it easy for new employees to start giving right away. Present various ways new employees can contribute, such as payroll deductions, volunteering time, or participating in fundraising events. Include a QR code in your video or presentation and hyperlinks in digital materials that make it easy to sign up and start making an impact.

5. Highlight Giving Opportunities Across Departments

Showcase how different roles within the organization can contribute. For example, nurses might be interested in funding new equipment or supporting your school of nursing through student scholarships, while administrative staff may want to support patient or employee assistance programs that offer financial support in times of crises.

6. Emphasize Participation Over Gift Amount

Stress that every contribution matters, no matter the size. This encourages widespread participation and creates a sense of collective impact. Emphasize that even small gifts—especially recurring payroll contributions—can accumulate to make a significant difference over time.

7. Consider Implementing a Mentor Program

Pair new employees with experienced staff members who are active in the organization’s philanthropic efforts, fostering personal connections and encouraging participation. These mentors will help new hires understand the impact of giving firsthand and integrate them into a community of engaged, supportive colleagues.

8. Launch a Giving Challenge

Introduce a small giving challenge for new hires, such as a modest donation matched by the organization, to kickstart their philanthropy involvement. For example, how about a “First 30 Days” challenge inspiring new hires to make one gift within their first month, perhaps with a matching component?

Or launch a contest to see which department can hit a certain donation amount first. These challenges create a sense of urgency, foster immediate engagement, and demonstrate your organization’s commitment to supporting new employees’ philanthropic efforts.

9. Lead a Philanthropy-Focused Facility Tour

When new employees tour your facility, highlight areas or equipment funded through employee giving so they can see the tangible results of philanthropy. Talk about specific achievements and how these contributions directly impacted patient care. Brag about that donor-funded cardiac cath lab that allows physicians to find and repair heart problems in half the time while saving more lives.

Stop by the NICU and show off the new incubators that enhanced the safety and comfort of your tiniest patients. Encourage new hires to see in real-time how their gifts translate to initiatives, programs, research, capital improvements, and technologies that enhance their work and improve patient outcomes.

10. Host a ‘Philanthropy Fair’

Organize a fair-style event where different departments or program leads showcase their philanthropic efforts, allowing employees to explore new ways to get involved. If resources are limited, set up a table in communal areas like cafeterias and break rooms to chat about these opportunities and encourage participation. Building a culture of giving doesn’t stop after onboarding. To maintain momentum:

• Regularly communicate the impact of employee gifts through direct mail, print and digital newsletters, impact reports, and more.
• Create a solid stewardship strategy, including an automated email stewardship series, to keep the conversation going. Similarly, for LYBUNT/SYBUNT employee donors, develop a plan for re-engagement.
• Celebrate milestones like their first ‘workaversary,’ total dollars raised per year for specific funds, completion of a capital project or purchase of equipment they supported, and number of scholarships awarded.
• If your organization doesn’t already have a matching gift program, pitch one to your executive team to amplify employee contributions.
• Consider and implement ways for your employee donors to increase their commitment. During Nurses Week, Doctors’ Day, or Giving Tuesday, for example, launch an employee giving campaign encouraging staff to support their colleagues and write a thank-you message in their honor.
• Recognize employee donors through special events or recognition programs, donor-centered environmental graphics like donor walls and plaques, or feature them in donor communications like emails and newsletters.
• Make it easy for your employees to crowdfund for specific fundraising events, programs, or initiatives with their friends, family, and neighbors.

When a Ripple Becomes a Tidal Wave of Impact

A strong employee giving program does more than just raise funds. It creates a sense of ownership and pride among staff. When done right, it can lead to improved patient care and outcomes, higher employee retention rates, supporters who become an extension of your development office, enhanced reputation in your community, and a stronger foundation for major gift fundraising.

By integrating employee giving into the fabric of your organization from day one, your healthcare development office can create a powerful culture of philanthropy. This not only boosts fundraising efforts but also contributes to a more engaged, committed, and purpose-driven workforce.

Ready to transform your employee giving program? Contact us today to learn how we can help you create a culture of philanthropy that grows throughout an employee’s career.