Commentary

Agencies Give Back For Thanksgiving

Many agencies are celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday by giving back to their communities in some form or other.

Here’s just a small sampling of what some shops have planned.

Barker is distributing $100 to every team member to direct to the charity or cause of their choice. There are no guidelines to this donation, says the agency. It can be a local food bank, a far-away hospital, an organization curing disease, or something that is very personal and private.

Kinetic's Los Angeles office is collecting and donating nonperishable food items to the city's Westside Food Bank. Meanwhile, the agency's New York office is taking part in the New York Cares Coat Drive which provides coats to the less fortunate as well as the Holiday Angel Project, an initiative that helps turn letters to Santa from children in homeless shelters across the city into personalized gifts.

California-based Fluid is organizing a donation drive that includes the subtenants in its office building.  The donated items are being directed to the homeless that St. Vincent de Paul serves or are being sold at the non-profit's thrift stores. A group from the agency also went to their community center in West Oakland to volunteer their time as they did last year.  

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Project Worldwide, which includes GPJ, Argonaut, Pitch and Partners + Napier, among other agencies, is recognizing Giving Tuesday by triple matching any employee donations made through its Project Pledge program. Project launched its Project Pledge program back in March of this year aiming to match charitable donations for all of the network’s nearly 2,000 employees, with help from donation platform Benevity.  The company set out to match donations up to $5,000 per employee - tax-exempt - ultimately pledging to donate a total of $1 million per year.

VSA Partners reports staffers will be volunteering at Chicago's Irving Park Food Pantry as well as enjoying its annual "Worky Turkey" that spoofs Friendsgiving by celebrating the holiday with all VSA employees.

Traction's CEO Adam Kleinberg notes that his agency gives back year-round by enabling all workers to have two paid days off so there isn't a real push for any specific project timed to Thanksgiving. That said, due to popular demand, the agency republished his "famous Thanksgiving roast garlic Parmesan mashed potato recipe" on the Traction blog. "The secret ingredient is innovation, so it’s awesome," he jokes.

As I said, this is just a small sampling but kudos to the hundreds of agencies around the country that are no doubt giving back in some way this holiday season. And no doubt many of you, like Traction, try to do something year round.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

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