Amnesty at Work
Working for Human Rights
What is a Workplace Giving Campaign?
A Workplace Campaign is any activity that supports Amnesty International in the workplace. It can be a large or small activity, from putting an ad in your company newsletter on Human Rights Day to conducting fundraising and promotional activities all year round.
A Workplace Campaign is a terrific vehicle to help promote human rights and let your coworkers and employer know why you are committed to human rights and how their support can also make a difference. When supporting Amnesty International, employees have an added sense of global citizenship and greater connection to the world.
As a member of Amnesty International, you are the best spokesperson for the organization in your workplace and you are Amnesty's best partner to launch this exciting program. If 100 members decided to conduct a Workplace Giving Campaign and recruit ten new Amnesty supporters at work, it would greatly assist our goal to stop torture and end human rights violations!
Many people are familiar with the United Way Campaign, which enables companies and their employees to give to a number of different charitable organizations. What many people don't know is that you can give to Amnesty International through the United Way, even though Amnesty is not a member agency. This is done as a courtesy by the United Way.
Be a Campaign Coordinator at your office
- As a Workplace Giving Campaign Coordinator you are highly motivated, have experience working with people and have the ability to enthuse others about human rights work. You are a leader and human rights activist.
- As the Campaign Coordinator for Amnesty International, you would work with your staff and Amnesty International to create awareness, raise funds and recruit new members.
- Here are some ideas for getting your Workplace Giving Campaign started: Meet with your CEO and key members of your company requesting permission to launch an Amnesty International campaign.
- Get your CEO to sign a letter (or email) to be sent to all the staff to launch the campaign.
- Hold a special staff meeting/brown bag lunch and show the Light in the Darkness or Cry for Justice video.
- Hand out the donation forms to all the staff immediately after the video showing. Hand deliver (if possible) the donation form to all those who could not attend.
- Make other information available, such as brochures and appeal cases. If you work in a factory, perhaps you'd be interested in having all your employees write a letter on behalf of a factory worker suffering human rights abuses in another country.
- If your company offers a payroll deduction plan, promote this way of giving to Amnesty International to fellow employees and have them give a per paycheck donation.
- Contact human resources or your company's donation committee to see if there is a matching gift policy so that all contributions will be matched by the company.
- Approach your company's donations committee for a corporate gift on behalf of Amnesty International.
- Hold a fun fundraising event (or ask your social committee to organize an event) at your workplace or offsite, like a Bowl-A-Thon (with Amnesty International merchandise as prizes).
- Promote your Amnesty Workplace Giving Campaign through public service announcements in your company newsletter, or through posters and display materials during key dates (such as International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10).
- Or work with Amnesty staff and volunteers to come up with a campaign or a special event that is just right for your company and coworkers!
Make Every Payday Human Rights Day
Does your employer offer a Payroll Giving Plan? Your donation and your co-workers' donations work harder as there are less administrative costs when you give automatically through your paycheque.
Payroll Giving is one of the easiest ways to make your donation since your employer processes everything without you having to write a cheque. Your employer deducts your donation directly from your pay and gives one cheque to Amnesty International at the end of the year, possibly doubling the amount if there is a matched giving policy in place. You then receive one tax receipt early in the New Year for your entire previous year's contribution for income tax purposes.
For example, if you choose to give $20 per paycheck and you are paid biweekly, your contributions will total $520 in one year, without much change in your NET take home pay. There could not be an easier way to increase your tax-deductible charitable support and become a major contributor to Amnesty International!
You can also give contributions automatically through your VISA, Mastercard or automatic withdrawals through your chequing account. Just call 1-800-Amnesty or click here for more information.
There are many other ways of supporting Amnesty International through your workplace. Ask your employer if they have a matching gift policy. Your donation to Amnesty International may be matched by your company, doubling the contribution you will make to help support the protection of human rights. You could also approach your company for a corporate gift to Amnesty International and have the staff take action on behalf of prisoners of conscience.
If your employer does not have a Payroll Giving plan suggest that they start one. It is easy and inexpensive to run. If your employer would like help in setting up a Payroll Giving plan, please let us know.
Remember that you can contribute to Amnesty International through the United Way if this is the charity set up by your employer. Just make note that you want to support Amnesty International Canada (Charitable registration number 11878 5914 RR0001) and the United Way will generously forward your gift.
For more information on Amnesty's Workplace Giving Program, email work_giving@amnesty.ca