You’re planning social impact programming too late. Here’s why.

How far in advance should you plan social impact experiences? Here are four reasons why it’s earlier than you may expect.

One common question our corporate partners ask us is how far in advance should they plan, book, and internally promote their social impact experiences.

While many CSR, DEIB, and HR professionals reach out to us several weeks before a major cultural observance to book an event, our experience shows that planning social impact programming several months ahead of time can yield far better results.

Here, you’ll learn a few reasons why planning corporate social impact events as much as three to six months out can empower you to achieve your social impact KPIs, lessen job-related stress, and even help your company and colleagues make a greater community impact.

1. Secure nonprofit time

At Visit.org, we believe that our nonprofit partners are the world’s experts in the unique communities where they perform their work. 

As such, these exemplary organizations get extremely busy in the days and weeks leading up to popular times such as Giving Tuesday, and cultural observance months such as Pride, Juneteenth, Hispanic Heritage Month, Veterans Day, and more. 

By planning your social impact experiences earlier, you can ensure that your nonprofit partners can meaningfully participate in your corporate social responsibility events. 

2. Greater nonprofit support 

Any social impact experience that benefits a nonprofit will create a meaningful impact. 

However, Visit.org’s nonprofit partners frequently tell us that when corporations plan their experiences three to six months in advance, they can better plan for their community programming, dedicate necessary staff to share their knowledge with employees, and prepare for the vital unearmarked dollars that Visit.org experiences proffer. 

Unearmarked dollars allow nonprofit organizations to allocate funds to the areas that have the most community need, enabling them to funnel support where it’s needed most. 

3. Greater employee participation 

A top KPI that Visit.org corporate partners track to gauge the success of a social impact experience is employee participation. 

However, your colleagues are busy. Planning CSR and DEIB programming months ahead allows your team to internally market your event to all employees through channels such as email, company-wide meetings, Slack, and in-person flyers if you work in an office. 

Sending an invitation far ahead allows employees to block time on their calendar for your event, ensuring that there are minimal scheduling conflicts with other meetings.

4. Lessen your team’s stress

Scrambling to pull any event together — regardless of whether it is virtual or in-person — can induce anxiety. But knowing that you have enough time to share the event details with your employees will lessen the stress you feel around planning company-wide events.

By planning experiences far in advance, you can be confident that you’ll have time to prepare, run a tech check, order all materials, excite your team, and be strategic about your programming.

Additionally, partnering with a reliable social impact provider such as Visit.org ensures that your social impact event will go off without a hitch! 

Learn how Visit.org can help you plan experiences far in advance! Schedule a call with a member of our team today.