It’s possible to combine the desire to foster better working relationships and camaraderie among staff members with doing good for the community in which the business draws staff, support and customers. Many charities have regular annual drives for support, or themed days which require help to get organized and make a success. What better opportunity for businesses to let their staff bond, while doing something of value.

Charity team building activities are an opportunity to make team building real, but still separate that real purpose from the day-to-day office activities and environment. If you’re running an event to try to escape from a room, in a fictional scenario, the team knows it’s all ‘just for fun’ and some, particularly the boomer generation, may even find the whole thing to be of little value, and a waste of time. Getting out into the community and helping real people eliminates a lot of these objections and helps everyone pitch into help people in need, achieving the dual purpose of helping your team and helping a charity much in need of support.

The Tennessean reports that the Tennessee Titans football team view their annual Titan Up For Tots charity drive as an essential team building event as well as a great way to support the community. It was also an important way to build bridges and relationships across their entire organization, with people from all departments working together on the charity drive.

The entire Titans organization, from players to coaches to scouts to cheerleaders to front office executives, helped United Way volunteers stuff 1,500 baby bags during the second annual Titan Up for Tots Baby Shower on Tuesday afternoon.

It doesn’t need to be an event as large as the Titans organized, of course, many businesses engage in charity events, organized by their staff, which are much easier to get off the ground. For example, over in the UK, Leeds Building Society staff undertook a trek across the Lake District, raising thousands for charity, sharing a new experience as a team, and even earning some well-earned media coverage for the business on top in the Yorkshire Evening Post.

With charity events already common across many businesses, we expect to see more companies looking to expand their investment in this area for strategic and team building purposes, rather than just focusing on expanding activities with corporate events companies. Not only does it cost less to invest in charity team building events, but most of the money goes to a good cause, and participants leave with a real sense of achievement. Those two factors can combine to a highly worthwhile team building experience.