Celebrating mental health awareness enhances your culture and demonstrates your commitment to employee wellbeing. This guide provides Culture, Social Impact, and ERG leaders with steps for impactful initiatives that align with organizational goals and improve workplace engagement.
Why celebrate mental health awareness?
- Cultural appreciation: Recognizing mental health helps honor the importance of mental well-being, enhancing inclusivity and employee morale.
- Employee engagement: Engaging in this celebration attracts and retains employees who value a supportive work environment, giving ERGs a platform to enhance engagement.
Benefits to companies
- Corporate culture: ERG-led initiatives that promote mental health awareness strengthen understanding and support within the company.
- Brand reputation: Active engagement in mental health initiatives boosts your brand’s appeal and positions your company as a leader in corporate responsibility and employee care.
How your company can celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month
The following initiatives were curated by our team of social impact experts that execute thoughtful social impact efforts for our customers every day. All of these initiatives will be more successful and engage more employees with a social impact platform that easily conducts campaigns, like Percent Pledge. Not to mention we will save you time and relieve the planning burden.
[1] Top-rated mental health nonprofits
Supporting vetted nonprofits aligns with a company's social responsibility and boosts employee morale. But ERGs often face the challenge of vetting nonprofits, a process essential to ensuring their efforts align with the company’s values and truly impact the community.
Our team of Social Impact Managers have researched and vetted the following nonprofits to take the burden off you and your ERG leaders. Support these charities with trust and confidence.
Child Mind Institute
The Child Mind Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families dealing with mental health and learning disorders, promoting awareness, reducing stigma, and advancing the science of the developing brain.
Hope for the Day
Hope for the Day focuses on proactive suicide prevention and mental health education, empowering early intervention through outreach and innovative programming to disrupt the highest risk factors for suicide.
The Trevor Project
The Trevor Project provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth under 25, offering support through platforms like TrevorLifeline and TrevorText.
Percent Pledge allows all companies and employees to donate to these nonprofits simultaneously through its Workplace Giving Platform.
[2] Mental health workplace giving
Donating to worthy causes reflects a company’s values and resonates deeply with employees and ERGs, enhancing their sense of purpose and connection to their workplace.
Employee engagement in giving
When our customers launch their programs with giving incentives, they see a 50-89% employee engagement rate compared to 13-20% engagement launching without.
Matching donations
Amplify your employees‘ contributions by matching their donations, effectively doubling the support directed towards mental health nonprofits.
Gift donations
Ignite participation and impact by gifting employees Cause Credits—gifted donations—to support top-rated mental health nonprofits during May.
Corporate grants
Enhance your support by offering corporate grants to mental health-focused nonprofits, providing substantial backing for initiatives that make a lasting impact on local and national levels.
We understand your employees want to give back but you have limited time and budget. Our Giving Platform empowers employees with choice to donate globally, automates impact reporting, and hosts campaigns for your ERGs.
[3] Mental health volunteer events
Volunteering enriches the community, boosts employee morale, and fosters team cohesion. ERGs can lead these opportunities for your employees to give back, reflecting positively on your corporate values and enhancing the impact on the community.
Get involved where it matters most
Volunteer with Crisis Text Line, a 24/7 text-based support service in the U.S. Volunteers train remotely to master skills in reflective listening, problem-solving, and crisis management.
Share your personal story
Encourage employees to share their mental health journeys with IDONTMIND, an initiative that uses personal stories to foster open conversations and offers resources and support.
Be a voice of support
Support NAMI by volunteering to answer help line calls, offering support and resources to individuals affected by mental illness.
We streamline corporate volunteering with our Volunteering Platform, and organize Volunteer Events for your ERGs to give them programming that’s translatable to your broader community.
Campaigns and bonus ideas
Campaigns and bonus ideas are located in our Mental Health Kit, the ultimate guide to engage employees while making a positive impact for Mental Health Awareness Month. The guide also contains additional context on the nonprofit vetting, giving, and volunteer event.
As always, our mission is to make your corporate social responsibility easy. Lean on us to save time and relieve the burden of planning and implementing successful campaigns.