Throwing pies at your executive team sounds like a page out of “What Not to Do at Your Job“, right? Lucky for us, our executive team didn’t think twice when it was pitched as a way to raise money for Embrace Oregon.
Launching our Volunteer Committee
Clinicient’s Volunteer Committee recently launched a partnership with Embrace Oregon, a group dedicated to connecting community members with vulnerable children and families in partnership with the Department of Human Services. With the month of May also being National Foster Care Awareness Month, we felt it was the perfect time to recognize the children and youth in foster care as well as give back to the parents who care for them and the DHS workers who support them.
To kick things off, our volunteer committee announced the first event of our partnership with Embrace Oregon – a week-long fundraiser resulting in a pie (or three) to the face of our executive staff members. During this week, the competition was hosted in the Clinicient lobby with eight containers, each representing a different member of our eStaff. Each container had the face of an eStaff member on it and the goal was to fill the jar of the person you would most like to see covered in pie. The three eStaff members whose jugs were filled with the most money at the end of the week were to surrender to a delicious “dessert to the dome”. All proceeds from this week-long event were to go towards helping youth in foster care and gather enough money to provide them with welcome boxes.
And the pie goes to…
When our committee announced this fundraiser, our goal was to raise $1,000 which would fund roughly 40 welcome boxes. It’s funny what happens though when you give people the ability to avoid being hit with a pie simply by donating more money. Throughout the course of the week, we had teams getting creative on how to encourage their respective eStaff member to donate more to the cause (ahem, well intentioned blackmail), eStaff members dipping into their own pockets to avoid being pied and we also saw the Company match the amount we raised. On top of that, we were surprised and thrilled to hear that our Board of Directors decided to kick in $1,500 on top of our donations.
“The Clinicient team has been a thoughtful and willing partner in the important work of caring for Portland’s most vulnerable children! Their willingness to jump into learning and service projects is the exact engagement that helps move the dial for youth in foster care. For an entire company to stand up and say ‘we are willing to fight for marginalized youth’ is what makes the work of Embrace Oregon possible. We are so grateful to partner with Clinicient’s team this year!” Kerri Thornton, Assistant Director of Strategic Partnerships + Initiatives, Embrace Oregon.
In total, our volunteer committee raised $7,500 for Embrace Oregon – over 7 times our original goal. We will still be donating those 40 welcome boxes – but now we can also give back to this wonderful organization in ways that none of us expected. Look for more on our partnership to come soon.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled at the results of our Pie Wars contest at Clinicient. From our volunteer committee and employees, to the entire executive team and our Board of Directors, those who reached into their pockets and took pride in giving back to our community are one of the reasons we are honored to be a part of the Clinicient team. We can both say, of all the fundraisers we’ve taken part in, this one stands out for uniting the entire organization around a great cause… giving back to the community and throwing pies at executives,” Sara James and Aaron Richardson, Volunteer Committee Leads, Clinicient.
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