Employee Engagement Toolkit

    Set your coat drive up for success before collection begins.

    Prepare Your Team

    • Appoint a coat drive leader (especially if you have several offices participating)
    • Provide regular communication and reminders to your office/participating offices 

    Create Friendly Competition

    • Recognize the office, department, or team that collects the most coats
    • Award prizes based on coats donated per employee
    • Offer fun prizes such as extra PTO, team lunches, gift cards, or company swag

    Create a Coat Drive Success Kit

    Place flyers and collection boxes in high-traffic areas such as:

    • Office entrances
    • Break rooms
    • Shared community spaces

    Share your coat drive page with employees:

    • Coat drive goals
    • Your company’s commitment (donation, matching donations, etc)
    • A list of collection locations
    • Photos and updates from teams

    Make it easy for employees to participate.

    Launch Your Drive

    • Hold a kickoff meeting (virtual launch events can connect offices across the country)
    • Invite remote employees to donate coats in their community and tell the coat drive leader how many they donated so their contributions can count toward company goals
    • Highlight the impact your drive will make in your local communities
    • Tie your coat drive to your company mission, vision, and values

    Inspire Giving

    • Invite company leaders to record a short video encouraging participation
    • Encourage company leaders to make a meaningful donation to encourage others to join them
    • Set a company participation goal and share progress throughout the drive
    • Leverage your company’s matching gift program or volunteer grants
    • Donate to One Warm Coat for every coat collected, for example:

    Emily T. from New American Funding, shared:

    “Our company pledged $5 per physical coat donated, up to $5,000, to add value to the donation of physical coats. We liked this because it encouraged participation while making the incentive one that benefits the communities we’re trying to support.”

    Engage Employees

    • Host in-person or virtual engagement events, such as lunch-and-learns or sorting events
    • Share photos of collection boxes, donations, and delivery days

    Complete your coat drive by delivering donations to your nonprofit partner.

    • Record the number of coats you collected by clicking the “Coat Goal” button on your coat drive page
    • Find a nonprofit partner where the coats can be delivered at the end of the drive
    • Invite employees to write pocket notes to include in the pockets of donated coats
    • Sort, count, and organize the coats you collected, use the Delivery Tags to prepare the coats for delivery
    • If you receive any coats that are not wearable, please recycle them