As an event planner, you spend countless hours trying to create engaging, uniting events for attendees across the globe. In addition to your event content, you may also give away swag and maybe you host unique speakers or performances, all in hopes of creating a memorable experience for you and your guests. One of the biggest benefits to producing events, whether virtual, hybrid, or in-person, is that you are getting people together. If you are looking for unique ways to foster bonds between attendees, then you should consider creating a meaningful component.
If you show your organizations true values through participation in charitable service-oriented events, they will be remembered for years. According to Forbes, almost 3/4 of Millennials identify themselves as philanthropic, compared to only 1/3 of Boomers as of 2022.
These are the people that are attending your events, and they are approaching everyday decisions like where to work, what to buy, and where to give based on doing good. People want to make the world a better place, and one way to differentiate your business while helping a good cause is by doing both. By stepping outside the box and joining people who are like-minded to charitable endeavors, you can get involved in countless ways of giving that not only helps the global community, but it sets yourself apart as an organization. Define Financial says only 20% of charitable donations are coming from corporations in 2022 and you can help to increase this number by modernizing how you approach events over the coming years.
THE CHARITABLE PARTNERSHIP TO BRING TO YOUR NEXT EVENT
OVATION is excited to announce its partnership with HeroBox, a nonprofit organization that connects brands with deployed service members and first responders around the globe. With #TeamOVATION located nationwide, OVATION is proud to be representing the many states that are home to some of our employees. We hire the best talents and together, all of us share the passion and commitment for giving back and serving our local communities.
“With more and more events happening, we saw a need to provide our clients with the opportunity to add meaningful activities within their events, to not only leave a positive impact, but to create more event engagement among participants.” – Josh Perlman, OVATION CEO.
OVATION encourages other organizations to join in to make a difference, especially with an organization like HeroBox that makes having a BIG impact, efficient and easy. Event planning can be stressful, and many event planners are turning to OVATION to help simplify the process. While many of us enjoy the fun, free, thrilling gifts and other opportunities offered at events, there is nothing like the feeling of making a true, positive difference through a partnership like this.
A partnership with HeroBox will be offered and encouraged to all existing and future clients of OVATION. To receive more details about having this partnership opportunity at your next event, please contact us today!
WHO IS HEROBOX?
HeroBox is a service organization that connects over 10,000 first responders serving overseas such a military personal, firefighters, and more to people looking to make a difference. They focus on providing physical and emotional support that first responders need when serving far from home. They make supporting our heroes easy. This opportunity allows you, as an organization, to leave a lasting impression.
“You remember when company’s show their support for charities,” said Engineering Officer Shawn Roemer, who was previously an Army Active-Duty member. “When I started job hunting, looking at company values was my number one priority – I wanted a place that gave back. Knowing that your company supports a cause is important.”
Shawn Roemer was the recipient of several HeroBoxes while working in the Saudi Arabia Desert. He received food, essential clothing items such as socks and T-shirts, and even fun books like Sudoku and puzzles, which allowed him to feel connected during his time abroad.
HeroBox has the ability not just to show up at your events, but they also have the passion to make volunteering and service a core part of what you do as an organization, without having to put in a lot of additional work. They are working hard to provide for the physical needs, morale boosts, and even some of the event swag, all shared through Gift Shares around the globe.
“If you can imagine being deprived of everyday things, even something as small as your favorite snack, and then receiving it in the mail through a HeroBox is incredible. It’s amazing to know that someone outside of your isolation in your mission really cares,” Roemer commemorates. HeroBox has a history of working with large organizations like HomeDepot, Microsoft, and Cretex Medical to provide support for service members.
HOW WOULD HEROBOX WORK AT MY EVENT?
HeroBox is designed to connect your groups, events, or business attendees to service members no matter the size. Brooke Rex, Quality Control Manager at Bay Equity and a longtime HeroBox sponsor is a frequent event volunteer. She is constantly looking for organizations giving back to their communities. By hosting your own OVATION Event, and using our award-winning team, you now have a chance to directly engage with heroes, showing them your appreciation for selfless acts that they perform all over the world. A HeroBox partnership has multiple ways to support your next event and if you contact OVATION, the team can collaborate on the best opportunity for you.
Rex said, “It would be really great if more companies gave back to their local homeless shelter, HeroBox, or any causes that they believe in. Incorporating some kind of giveback into their events, even flyers encouraging services, would be a real draw to myself and my colleagues.”
ADD A BOX MAKING STATION
Whether it is setting up box-making stations at your events or giving guests QR codes to digitally send packages, together, we can make it a seamless process. By adding an activity like this, it allows your attendees to bond over doing something good in a supportive and collaborative environment.
Our only ask is that you notify OVATION of your activity needs a month in advance and we will ensure you are provided with all the material needed! Items like boxes, shipping labels, and supplies to go inside the kits. HeroBox isn’t a middleman provider; they get you directly connected to first responders. Whether you’re sending 20 or 20,000 boxes you can be assured that your efforts are immediately sent out to those who need it through the team at HeroBox! Contact HeroBox Today.
“There are soldiers who are don’t have families, or people that can send things to them,” Rex says. “Some of them are on active duty in distant places for years on end, and even as young as 18, they need our support.”
If you have event swag/merchandise that you are planning on giving attendees, consider including it as part of the materials that are sent to heroes. Along with the necessities for service members, sending these care packages and getting your attendees involved will truly make a lasting impression. For more details on the various packages that will best fit your event can be found here. The excitement that your event attendees get from receiving merchandise or gifts is the cherry on top to the experience you are already providing them. Imagine the greater impact that you could give them by providing this, and so much more, through engaging in a genuine act of service.
LETS GIVE BACK TOGETHER
Create an event, an experience, that brings a WOW factor to your audience, that also includes a charitable activity to truly impact your attendees. Showing that you care about what goes on in the world and putting in the effort to do something good, will go a long way.
“I want to give my money to the company that is giving back,” Rex said. “I always have a choice as a consumer of where I want to shop, and I want to do that where I see an organization that truly cares about making our world better.”
Think consciously about what causes your organization wants to support this year. By exposing your event to something incredibly meaningful, you’re increasing the memorability and reach of your brand and making it stick.
“The ‘Thank You’ I get when giving back is worth a million dollars,” Rex says of her experience from hearing from the service members she’s provided too. By participating in a simple, group-based method to giving back like HeroBox, the impact of your gifts goes well beyond anything that you could achieve with just one marketing campaign. The team at OVATION would love to partner with you and HeroBox! If you are planning an event, contact us today!