Beyond One-Size-Fits-All Giving: Workplace Culture with Employee-Driven Impact
30% of your employees don’t donate at work because the causes they care about aren’t available. A one-size-fits-all workplace-giving approach is missing out.
Derek Miner has pioneered a different approach. When the single cause model – where one person in corporate gives away one big check to one beneficiary – wasn’t working at his creative agency Lemonade Stand, they decided to turn it on its head. They let each employee decide where to give – and it’s transformed their culture.
Because of their success, they’ve spun out Build then Bless – a SaaS platform that empowers each employee to give where they see the need – and to collect those stories to share with the rest of the team.
Learn how you can transform your company culture by implementing similar strategies.
Podcast Transcript
Jacob: [00:00:00] Welcome to Impact Stories. I’m here with Derek Minor. Please introduce yourself.
Derek: Jacob, thank you so much for having me on. Really excited about what we’ve built and what we’ve launched here. It’s called Build then Bless and really an opportunity to make a difference. One micro interaction at a time with team members and with others.
Jacob: How does it work?
Derek: It’s a culture operating system that is built to really drive engagement with the team and within your community, right? You think about most traditional giving is done standing in front of a really big check and think that that’s it. But a lot of times team members don’t see what the impact is of where they’re giving and where those dollars are going and really what the impact is.
And so we had an idea what would happen if we empowered our team and gave our team dollars and resources to go make a difference about causes that they care a lot about. And it’s been amazing to see what’s happened not only internally amongst our team members, but also externally as they’ve literally gone out and in so many ways made an incredible difference. Where they get to truly see the impact of what they’re doing and also [00:01:00] internally with how they’ve helped and recognized other people.
We knew we were onto something when we had one of our clients that didn’t show up for a call and found out that they were not feeling well and one of our team members sent them a care package and said, Hey, we’re just thinking about you. And the client came back and said, wait, I just missed a call with you guys and you’re sending me a package. Who are you guys? How do you do this?
And it’s just really awesome in every kind of day-to-day life we see these opportunities. And we now have the opportunity with our team and with what we’ve done to actually make a difference.
We empower them with resources to go and do good, there’s so many opportunities within the community. What do you usually say? I wish I could, but I don’t have. Now it changes the narrative to say, I do have, and I can make a difference in everyday living. And there’s been incredible stories, not only shared with our team, but also we’ve seen our team members change in a meaningful way.
Jacob: Give me a case study of how this works in real life.
Derek: What we’ve done with Build then Bless is we give every one of our team members resources every month, both internally to recognize the great work that’s [00:02:00] happening internally, but then also we give them resources to go and do good in the community. And this could be everywhere from volunteering and participating in a cause that they really like, or there’s been several examples of our team members doing good just because they can.
We had one of our team members that was driving down the road and saw this lady on the side of the road and she was trying to get something out of the back of her car. And he said I turned around, went back and helped this lady. And with tears running down her face, she said, I didn’t know how I was going to do this.
One of our team members checking out at a supermarket and they saw this family in front of them start putting things back. And, he said, no, I want to be able to help you with this. And they looked at him and said, well, how do you do this? Well, my company allows me to do this. And so those are just a few of several stories and examples that we have. Every single week our team shares the impact and the stories.
One of the greatest ironies too, Is the degree to which we think about ourselves the unhappier we are. But when we reach out and we think about someone else, not only are [00:03:00] they happy and they are blessed in some way, but it also brings joy back to us. That’s one of the greatest things about the platform.
And as we’ve rolled this out now with other companies, they are sharing stories with us that are inspiring us now. One of my favorites was from a gentleman who was in the tire store. He’s just waiting in the lobby and he notices another customer that’s coming in very frantic. Finally, this gentleman gets called up and he goes up and he says, Hey, can you tell me what’s going on with that customer? And the manager said, yeah, they need a new tire and can’t afford it. This client of ours said I would have never thought this way had I not had this kind of training experience that you guys have brought to us. And immediately, he says, I want to pay for that tire.
It also builds an incredible culture around being more united and looking out for others. And doing good in the community that have truly transformed not only our people internally, but also the lives of those that are able to help.
Jacob: Tell me about the moment in your career when you decided you wanted to shift it towards making a difference in the world.
Derek: I think every [00:04:00] business or every company in some way tries to make a difference, right? They’re trying to solve a problem in all hopes to make life better. Most people say, if I had, I would, when I get to this specific number, then I can give, or now I can give either time or resources or donate in some meaningful way. The reality is you could do it today.
So I don’t know that there was a specific time but just always have, really tried to be more outward-minded and find those that need help and that need some sort of encouragement. And I hope as I look back and those that I’ve had the opportunity to work with we see that.
Jacob: What problem is Build then Bless solving?
Derek: We live in a world that is pretty selfish and internal minded and what’s in it for me? And even though we live in such a connected world, we’re so disconnected. There are so many people that are lonely and have a lot of challenges. I think this is really an opportunity to bring people together in a way that I have never seen really before. I’ve seen several of our team members. who have become just extraordinary, not only members of the team but also incredible family [00:05:00] members and community members and friends in a meaningful way and hearing people find connection and see people.
So what does this really solve? Well, I think it solves a number of things. Company culture is at an all-time low. Some of the most important drivers is employee retention. How can I hang on to my team longer? Well, how do I really show up for them on a daily basis? I believe this is one of the key problems that it addresses is showing up and being there for your team members individually. Knowing where they’re at, knowing what’s most important to them, knowing what they value not just the company values, but also what they value, and having them be seen and heard. And seeing other team members rally around other team members builds internal culture and community.
Not only that but also customer retention. We’ve seen customer retention increase incredibly with some of the things that we’ve done. So, both culture and connection and community building and driving really important business metrics around employee retention, customer retention. And we’ve also [00:06:00] seen near double-digit close rates well above any sort of industry average. And it’s been extraordinary to see when clients work with us, they see now I can see the difference. They make a commitment on the front end, whether it’s on their website, any sort of messaging, but if they can feel that commitment all the way through, I think is one of the most important things.
Jacob: In an organization who tends to be the person that would implement this, what’s your entry point?
Derek: We’ve seen interest at every single level, both from the employee base all the way through to the leadership teams. We work a lot with executive teams. We work with people teams. Chief people officers in HR and other leadership teams. Those who really want to drive impact and culture throughout their company and ultimately make it so that it’s sustainable
Jacob: So you mentioned a platform. What is, what does the platform do?
Derek: So within the platform, a great opportunity to log in and see all the good that’s happening internally in the company. Key client wins, team members that have helped you, and also stories that have been shared.
One of my other favorite stories that I was able to see and read from one of our team [00:07:00] members. She actually lives in Miami and has this favorite beach that she goes to all the time. And she has a pass, so she drives through the gate, the gate usually comes open, but every time she drives through this gate guard is so wonderful, just smiles and waves and says, thanks for coming in.
She said this last weekend, I went and bought a card because I knew I was going to go to the beach. And she said, when I pulled in the gate came up and she said she just slowly pulled forward and she rolled down her window and said, Hey, I wanted to give you this, thanks so much for your smiles. Every single time you are always smiling, you’re always helpful. She just said, Oh my gosh, in all the time I’ve been doing this, I’ve never had anyone stop me and thank me.
So with internal stories and external stories, we also have on the platform the ability to remember really important dates around not only our team members but also our clients. You know, we’re building and trying to develop deep relationships with them so that they know that we genuinely care. When we remember not only a work anniversary but also a client how long they’ve been working with us and we have specific milestones where we’re sending things out to them. Something that we know through time as we build the relationships, we know things [00:08:00] that matter to them.
Another one of my favorite client stories. One of our team members was on the phone with one of our clients and there was a dog going crazy in the background. As the call was wrapping up, our account manager said, hey, I’m sure your dog is really excited to go outside and be with you. And she said it’s my dog’s birthday. And we’ve invited all the neighborhood dogs over. In the platform, our account manager went and noted, hey, it’s this client’s dog’s birthday today. And so our director of happiness sent out a bark box. And the client was like, who are you guys? I mean, I just said that in passing.
But I think in life there’s these little cues that we give off. Whether verbal or nonverbal cues of where people are at and some of the challenges that they’re going through. And an opportunity for every one of us to be outward-minded.
So we’re able to see a lot of these things in the platform that inspire. We have a community tab that you can click on and see all of our clients as well. When they share a story, it shows up on their individual feed, we can actually look and be inspired by other team members in the good that they’re doing.
Another one that I just saw that was awesome is someone said, I was a recipient [00:09:00] of someone paying off my kid’s lunch balance. And she said, I’m taking the money that my company is giving me this month and that’s what I’m going to go do at my local elementary school. And I’m like, wow, I’d never even thought about that. But that’s such a great idea. To go and do this and to see kind of the impact of these micro-interactions of doing good, rather than just standing in front of a big check and saying, man, we hope this does some good in the world.
So that’s just a little glimpse into the platform and what it does. These daily stories that inspire us to get outside of ourselves and reach out not only to internal team members but also to other team members who may need a little lift up.
Jacob: Maybe just quickly touch on, What’s the relationship between the agency and the platform?
Derek: Lemonade Stand is the digital marketing agency that I’m a part of with an incredible team. When COVID hit, we started to hire team members across the country, now in almost 10 states. How do we help them feel a part of what we’re doing? How do we remember really important dates of our team members? How can we remember some of these things other than just plugging them into our iPhone? And so we started thinking [00:10:00] about this and how do we maintain and how do we continue to build culture? When we talk about our culture it’s not only how we do business, but it’s how we do life. It’s how we show up for each other.
So we were thinking about that, you know, amidst the challenges where everyone is being quarantined and alone and remote and feeling afraid in a lot of ways, knowing that someone would just reach out to you and say, Hey, how are you doing? And how are you feeling? How about not only that internally, but how about asking your clients as well?
And so we were trying to figure out how do we do with this? We’re tracking things in so many different places. We really want to build our culture and community too, and that’s kind of how Build then Bless came about.
We really wanted to build it internally for ourselves, but then when our clients started asking us, how are you remembering these things? And how are you remembering my preferences? Right? We collect all this data. We have all this information and using it is really what led to us, building this internally. When we started launching it with our clients and seeing the key metrics around retention, both employee and client retention starting to increase we knew we were on to something. And so that’s why we [00:11:00] put some of our amazing developers and team members to help us build something great.
So that’s how it evolved, asking ourselves, how can we build culture and our community and our team and help people feel more connected, more outward-minded, especially in service-based businesses? It’s about building that relationship and being intentional about how you show up not only for each other but also for those who keep you in business.
Jacob: What is an ideal organization for Build and Bless?
Derek: A lot of companies we’ve worked with have a great culture already and care tremendously about their people and about doing good in the community. It goes across every industry and really for people who are trying to build culture and community in a meaningful way, we think we’ve got a really good solution. So if people who are looking to take their culture to the next level, or for people who have a culture, they’re trying to figure out how do we take this and improve it, we’ve seen the platform make that difference, not only for companies but also for individuals.
Jacob: Is there a critical mass or a minimum size that this really makes sense for?
Derek: In terms of company size, we’ve onboarded companies that have 30-40 employees [00:12:00] and we’re talking to a company that has thousands of employees right now. If you’re a solopreneur, it may not make a ton of sense, although you can build relationships and as you’re building your clientele find a way to work Build then Bless into that. But really for teams who are making a difference, who want to build in the community, we find that is really kind of the sweet spot for us and kind of the key questions.
Jacob: What’s one stat that you tend to share about this issue that really grabs people’s attention?
Derek: One of the key metrics that we talk about specifically is around employee retention and what you’re doing to move the needle there. Retention for us is really, really important. I’d say the majority of employees want to give to a cause that means something to them or do something that means something to them rather than being driven from the top. In the 80s, nearly 80% of all employees want to give to something that matters to them rather than just have the company give something to someone that may not see any impact.
When you can see the impact of when you are doing good, or you’re helping someone eye to eye, hand to hand, face to face, those are the metrics that [00:13:00] matter the most. How do you measure heart and mind growth? But we see it in terms of how our team shows up for each other every single week.
Jacob: What are you most looking forward to right now?
Derek: I think one of the most important things for me that gets me the most excited is when I see the light go on in others. We had one executive team that they said, where was this 20 years ago? This company does tremendous good not only in the community but across the country in their impact and what they do. And to see as companies and teams embrace this philosophy of being outward-minded. It’s extraordinary to see and record and document and journal the good that’s happening within an organization. All in the Build then Bless platform.
Jacob: How can this community be of service to you right now?
Derek: I think the biggest ask would be to have conversations with organizations who want to transform their culture and transform their people providing real lasting employee development rather than just a one-time training. I’d love to connect with as many like-minded people who are doing so much good in the world.
Jacob: If someone was interested in learning more, where would you point them?
Derek: Go to [00:14:00] buildthenbless.com.
Jacob: Any last words before I let you go?
Derek: Jacob, genuinely appreciate you and the light that you’re shining on the community of those who are doing so much good. it takes a band, you know doing small things.
Jacob: Thank you for the good you’re doing and keep up the good work and excited to see where this goes and the ripples that it can impact.
Thanks.
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