In this program, every mile matters. You’re feeding people, you’re giving back to research, whatever cause you’ve chosen, with every mile. It motivates you throughout the entire month, in a different way than focusing on a prize at the end does. It hits home for people more.”
Dillon Woodard was surprised when his team walked and biked around the world.
An experiential marketing manager at Presidio, Dillon thought about setting the circumference of the Earth (around 24,900 miles) as a goal when he launched a Charity Miles initiative for his team.
He ended up choosing not to. “Like Gene says all the time, people don’t need another challenging thing in their life. They need something that’s fun. And walking, running, or biking for a cause is more motivating than a challenge.”
His decision paid off. Without any challenge, the team raised $9,000 and moved 25,900 miles — 1,000 miles more than the circumference of the Earth. And they did it in just one month as part of their yearly sales kickoff.
“It might seem unfathomable to some people to be able to move that far in a month, even as a group,” says Dillon. “That’s a huge number. But with all of us together, we went that far.”
Dillon believes that the low-key approach to the initiative was the reason it got so much engagement.
“People liked that they could participate in the capacity they wanted to. Everyone could create their own competition level with friends and colleagues instead of being forced to try to win something. It was a different feeling for a contest.”
And focusing on raising money for charity instead of winning a prize really resonated with employees.
“People got to give back and feel good about what they’re doing, instead of just running a 5K to get a t-shirt or medal for participating,” says Dillon.
“It adjusts your train of thought for the whole initiative. In this program, every mile matters. You’re feeding people, you’re giving back to research, whatever cause you’ve chosen, with every mile. It motivates you throughout the entire month, in a different way than focusing on a prize at the end. It hits home for people more. They have other motivating factors besides a small reward.”
That was especially true because Presidio let each employee choose which charity to support. “People are more engaged when it’s a charity of their choice,” explains Dillon.
Many employees chose charities to they or a loved one had personal ties. The three most popular were St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Alzheimer’s Association, and the Wounded Warrior Project.
Congratulations to the entire Presidio team for moving around the world without even trying to — and for doing it in support of such wonderful organizations! #EveryMileMatters
