Back in December, I organized a blood drive at my workplace and was encouraged to sign up at least 15 donors. In the end, I was only able to get 11.
In order to promote this drive, I told my co-workers that if they signed up, I would enter their names into a drawing where they could win DVDs (Blood Diamond, There Will Be Blood, Rambo: First Blood, and as a bit of a joke, Disney’s Finding Nemo).
Even with the chance to win a prize, people who were eligible to give blood were still hesitant donate. Now, I work in an office of about 60 people, and from just asking around, I know that more than 50% are able to donate if they so choose (the others can’t for medical reasons). I’m just finding it really hard to sway those who sit on the fence.
There is now another blood drive scheduled for April 15th. I’m thinking this time around, I’ll run a promotion where the first five people to sign up will get $10 gift cards to Barnes and Noble. Also, if we reach our goal of 15 donors, I’ll personally write a check for the total number of donors x $5 and give it to local charity.
This could be effective, but I was hoping to come up with an approach that is a little lighter on the wallet and doesn’t come off as a flat-out bribe.
Anyone have some ideas that may help me fill my donor sign-up list? I know for a fact that some people who gave blood last time won’t be doing so again (one person feinted and is a bit traumatized from it), so I would love to hear some creative ideas on how to induce some new donors! Thanks everyone!
I fainted once, too. But still managed to donate over 8 gallons before the blood bank moved (it was very close to work).
Some phrases you might work around could include “How to save a life lying down.” or, “The Easiest Way to Save A Life.”
Does the BB have any promotional posters you could put up? Point out that it takes a few days to process whole blood, so doations made today could be in an operating room saving someone’s life in 72 hours.
Those are some good quotes! I usually make an announcement at our full staff meetings and then follow them up with some reminder e-mails. I’ll definitely use those. Also, the blood center sent me some posters, but they just list pertinent information such as the time and location of the drive.
I have worked at companies with hundreds of employees, and was always appalled at the low turnouts for blood drives. So for starters, don’t get your hopes up too high. 11 out of 60 (almost 20%) is actually pretty good.
As to promotions, a couple things come to mind:
donation time can usually interfere with work time. Is there some way you could get management to compensate some way (maybe two lunch hours on the next day if you donate) ?
Instead of gift cards for the first N donors, what would be more effective would be something for everyone - like lottery tickets (like the scratch off ones). Worst/best case, you’re only looking at $60 expense. Plus the “unknown” payoff might intrigue more to participate.
Gifts for reaching certain goals. A free dinner for every 4 donations. Maybe a weekend hotel stay for a gallon. Something to keep them coming back for each drive.
This kind of stuff would have worked for me. But then I donate regularly anyway.
Find someone who makes mugs and commission them to make a series of mugs with a blood donation theme. Example: Red heart with an arrow through it for a Valentines Day donation, Blood from a stone on April 15th etc… Get the company to pick up the tab for the mugs and get the artist to donate the artwork. Buy enough mugs so that employees can get them in the future with proof of donation.
I coordinated the blood drives at the last place I worked. 2200 employees, maybe 60-70 donations over a period of about six hours. There would have been more, but this was a factory, and it took some shuffling to get people’s jobs covered so they could leave the line. Our only incentive was just that – donate blood and you get a nice break. If we had tried an incentive, it wouldn’t have been fair – it all depended on whether you could get off the line, and employees had no control over that.
We had incentives for other kinds of drives that might work for the OP – pizza lunch for the department with the highest participation, reserved parking close to the building (for a year – nice in winter), tee-shirts, time off, gift certificates, movie tickets, etc.
One time when I was donating, one of the people helping out told me that they always get more people when there’s free stuff given away - usually tee-shirts. When I get my reminder flyer every 50 days, the drives with giveaways are marked just like the baseball schedules. I guess people pick and choose which drive to go to solely for the giveaways.
Have you asked the Red Cross how those tee-shirts get commissioned and made? Usually when I get one it’s just a generic Red Cross one, not site-specific.
When I tried to give blood, they gave out hats. And we got to go whenever we fit into the donation schedule; we didn’t have to schedule during our break or lunch. We just signed up and then let our supervisor know when we were going.
Heart shaped cookies? Red ones? Or would that be too gross? Or cupcakes, possibly. Getting some decent goodies from a bakery might be lighter on the wallet than getting a small run of Tshirts printed up.
I was thinking the same thing…“As long as you’re getting bled, you might as well put it to good use!” or something.
Seriously though, I think the emphasis should be that time spent giving blood is time spent not actually having to work, but still making a positive contribution. And you get cookies.
If we had tried an incentive, it wouldn’t have been fair – it all depended on whether you could get off the line, and employees had no control over that.
