Here is a sample of corporate social responsibility team-building programs offered by CVBs or event planning firms such as Impact 4 Good:
The City of San Diego’s Park and Recreation Department (www.sandiego.gov/volunteer-program/opportunities/park-and-recreation.shtml) has several different volunteer opportunities available, from native plant restoration and grounds maintenance to golf course and beach clean up.
Habitat for Humanity (www.sdhfh.org/index.php) helps to make affordable housing a reality in San Diego (or in other destinations) and relies on volunteers to make it happen. There is no minimum requirement for volunteering, and groups can volunteer as much or as little as they wish.
Voluntourism: Voluntourism enables an organization to get involved with volunteer activities that benefit Seattle’s local community and environment.
Go GREEN Racing: Teams are tasked with creating solar cars with tools provided and using materials used and thrown away every day by millions of Americans. The cars will be put to the test and judged for performance. The event concludes with a drag race to determine which team’s car is the fastest.
Build-A-Bike: This event is high-energy and interactive, with participants competing in teams to complete their own “Tour de France.” The “Tour” consists of physical and mental challenges that result in teams earning materials to build their bikes. Children receive the bikes as a donation.
Community HeArt: The goal of this activity is to create stimulating artwork to donate to local communities to help brighten the halls of public institutions, such as schools, hospitals and community centers. The end result is a lasting, memorable donation of murals to the destination community.
Teams must mix the different skills from their team palette to complete tasks required to obtain the materials needed for their artistic creations. No artistic skill is necessary.
Literacy Builders: In this activity, participants work in teams to create an environment that fosters motivation for—and exposure to—literacy by building and stocking bookshelves that will be donated to a school in the local community where your meeting/event takes place.
During this two-hour activity, teams are tasked with completing different literary-themed challenges designed to earn the items necessary to build a bookshelf.
Teams are racing against the clock to complete their tasks and to build a high-quality bookshelf for local children in need of a better library and literacy-encouraging environment.
Kiva.org is a nonprofit organization that is revolutionizing the fight against global poverty by enabling people to connect with and make personal loans—of as little as $25—to low-income entrepreneurs in the developing world.
These small loans—used to purchase business-related items such as sewing machines, livestock or other items—can empower the recipients to earn their way out of poverty.
During a two-hour activity, teams craft a hypothetical application for a microfinance loan for a crucial small business project and then make their case to a review board. All teams earn the opportunity to use “Kiva Cards” (in $25 denominations) to make real loans to real Kiva borrowers of their choosing.
At the end of the activity, however, the winning team gets to donate even more.
Operation Care Kit: This event challenges knowledge and raises attendees’ awareness of what our national servicemen and women face overseas.
Participants will decipher military “secrets” and scramble through challenges to earn points for their team, essential for ranking high on V-day.
Players won’t have to do 150 one-armed push-ups, but they’d better know corporals from captains.
As teams overcome each fun challenge, they’ll obtains the necessary ingredients of a Care Kit to send to highly appreciative men and women in uniform.