More individuals are finding motivation in the rising trend of charitable giving, rather than personal gain or cash incentives. Companies are looking for the latest tech to engage employees in giving beyond the traditional volunteer or jeans Friday.

The World of Social & Individual Giving:

You have most likely seen the new Facebook pop-up that motivates you to give to a cause for your birthday and “donate your birthday,” instead of gifts, and to share with your friends. You may have also seen the rising trends in personal, charitable giving challenges such as ice bucket challenges for ALS, step challenges, or online fundraising for various causes. We are now seeing new examples of social impact becoming the ultimate winner over personal gain.

Giving by individuals in 2017 grew at a higher rate than other sources of giving, even outpacing giving by foundations and corporations. Purpose seems to be a higher desire than money, according to Forbes.

According to data from Blackbaud’s annual Giving Report, online giving grew nearly eight times faster than overall giving in 2016. In a report from last year, 2017 presented new highs in individual giving. The record was broken again with total charitable donations rising to a new high of $390.05 billion in 2017, according to Giving USA.

THE DESIRE TO DO SOMETHING BECAUSE YOU FIND IT DEEPLY SATISFYING AND PERSONALLY CHALLENGING INSPIRES THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF CREATIVITY, WHETHER IT’S IN THE ARTS, SCIENCES, OR BUSINESS. ~Teresa Amabile

What Science Has to Say About Giving vs. Personal Gain:

Further down the road of motivational science, Dan Pink illustrates the impact of having a greater cause in his book Drive-The surprising truth about what motives us.  He describes several scenarios where purpose drives motivation stating “the richest experiences in our lives aren’t when we’re clamoring for validation from others, but when we’re listening to our own voice – doing something that matters, doing it well, and doing it in the service of a cause larger than ourselves.”

Workplace Giving & Social Impact:

CoreHealth and MaximusLife are now partnering to connect 2m+ employees daily/weekly wellness activity directly with amazing and fully vetted charities. CoreHealth’s customers can now instantly provide employees with a robust suite of social impact tools allowing the employee to choose giving vs. personal gain.

A key piece of the partnership is that the employee decision/opportunity to give is happening throughout the year (not just within year-end activities or a mindless payroll deduction). A second big difference is employees see the impact they are making and do not just choose the traditional dollar donation vs. gift card. Leveraging MaximusLife’s platform, the next 10k steps employees walk with CoreHealth’s wellness platform could feed a homeless person a meal, provide clean water or give a new pair of shoes to kids in need. We make giving a daily/weekly experience not a once a year after thought and this is where engagement and culture starts to truly form.

Millennials have only further highlighted the overwhelming truth of giving vs. gain and companies continue to pursue creative ways to build their culture around engaging in goodness.

Reach out to MaximusLife to learn more about its new partnership with CoreHealth Technologies, a corporate wellness technology company with 2+ million users worldwide.