What to Get Your Board and Staff for the Holidays

It’s that time of year again, when you waddle to the store – mouth still smeared with Halloween chocolate – to find a turkey on sale. As you pass by Christmas decorations on your way to the frozen food aisle, you briefly stop contemplating how you’re going to pull off a Giving Tuesday campaign in time to ask: What the hell am I going to do to celebrate the end of the year for my board and staff?

For Staff
Celebration: Staff are easy. Ask them what they want to do. And then do exactly that. If it’s something you can’t pull off (we want to go to Disneyland!), then at least throw together a casual party where you buy them pizza and beer. Everyone loves free food.

Consider starting the party early by creating a decorating contest. I did this in my old office and it was a blast. Set some rules (timeline to put something up, prizes involved, categories) and see what happens. In my case, we had staff completely redesign their cubicles. The people that didn’t participate got grinched (a printed a picture of the Grinch and scotch-taped it to their door). It got them to participate, and it entertained me, which is pretty much all I was going for. I made up a few categories (tackiest, most creative, best overall) and then filled prize boxes with candy from the dollar store to give out to the winners. Easy peasy and it creates holiday cheer for weeks.

Presents: If you can swing it, give them money. It may seem tacky, but trust me, they don’t want your very PC and holiday-focused gift that you got for everybody. Oh yay. Reindeer socks. You got mistletoe socks? That’s nice. They are just going to re-gift it and wish you had just stuffed some cash in an envelope.

If you’d like to go all out, but are budget conscious, see what you can gather from the board, family, friends, and local businesses. It doesn’t hurt to ask. Here, I’ll help:

Dear [local business owner] –

My name is [your name] and I run [name of nonprofit] on [street name] near you. We just love your [product they sell].

As you can imagine, our budget is tight. We give all we can to [description of what you do].

But I’ve got this great staff and no real way to thank them for the tireless work they do year round. Would you consider giving us some free [product] or gift cards? I understand that you are running a business and have your own tight budget. We are willing to do a swap with you: [Product] for some marketing. We will include your logo and a link to your website in our holiday e-newsletter that goes out to [number of people on your mailing list] people. Sound good?

Thank you for your consideration and Happy Holidays,
[Your name]

Or this:

Hey FB friends! I’m trying to put together some swag for my staff. Do any of you have some sweet free things or gift cards you haven’t used that you can send my way?

If you don’t get enough, you can have fun playing games to see who gets what. Give everyone a card; write a nice, personal message in it; and include the cash.

Morale Booster: Give them extra time off. This won’t work for every nonprofit, but for a lot of you, it’s totally slow and no one will be doing work anyway, so just give them an unexpected day or at least let them go home early.

Your Board
This is a little tougher, because they are there to help, but are also donors. It’s best to go a little more personal for these. Consider a little care package for each. Grab some pretty bags and that crinkly paper and put this stuff in it:

• My book. It’s cheap, a quick read, reminds them that they need to know what they’re doing, and is a good way to start off well in January. Start the first board meeting of 2017 off by asking them their thoughts and if it changed the way they think about their work. Use it to brainstorm ideas and boost excitement.
• One small personal item. This is where the guy who loves to golf gets some golf balls, and the lady who loves her cat gets post it notes with cats on it, etc. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it should show that you know them. If you are totally lost, try etsy or put one of your staff members on it. If you literally have no personal knowledge of them, it’s time to take them to lunch and get to know them, but that’s a topic for another blog.
• A card. Write a nice personal note in it. Thank them for specific work they’ve done or advice they’ve given.

You can totally accomplish that for under $25 a person, and it can go a long way in making them feel like they are part of the organization. You might also want to invite them to whatever staff party you are having. This is a good way to reduce some of the us and them tension that happens in some nonprofits.

You
Don’t forget to take care of yourself during all this. Once you go on break for the holiday, give yourself permission to not think about work for a little while. Turn on your out of office message and do something that makes you happy and regenerates you.

Now stop reading this article and get your Giving Tuesday campaign in order. Tick tock!