What is the Chicago Charity Challenge? Local businesses partner up with local charities to outperform other business-charity pair ups. Lets take a look in this presentation.

1. HOW AN INNOVATIVE
CHALLENGE IS ADDING TO
THE CITY’S HISTORY OF
SOLIDARITY
By Yosef Meystel
Image courtesy of Thomas Hawk
at Flickr.com

2. Deep Dish Pizza. The Blackhawks. The Bulls. Parking
dibs. Dying the river green for Saint Patrick’s. The ivy wall
at Wrigley. These are just some of the most popular things
associated to the Windy City. While they are truly symbols
of Chicago, none of them quite resemble the city and its
nature like one thing. Chicago has long been recognized
as one of the most charitable, if not the most, city of
the world. Giving in order to help others is not a way to
get back taxes but a way of life. For some, this culture of
solidarity came to exist after the Great Chicago Fire of
1871. The fire that consumed the city from October 8th until
October 10th gave birth to another city.

3. Chicagoans banded together to lift the city from the ashes and
into prosperity and thus the innate nature of helping others in
need that we see in modern Chicago was born. From sports
teams, to hospitals. Universities to Fortune 500 companies. If
you’re in Chicago, then chances are you are involved in
bringing much needed help to those in need. The size of
your business is not important here, it’s the size of your heart.
Another of the city’s greatest values is its competitive nature.
Chicago is also known as a city of champions. Craig Foster, the
founder of Call One (telecommunications technology firm from
Chicago), discovered a way to combine charity with some good
natured competition. He founded the Chicago Charity Challenge
in 2014 as a way to increase donations throughout the city. It’s
currently in its third year and has helped the city immensely.
According to the official Chicago Charity Challenge website
nearly 21 million dollars and almost 70 thousand community
hours have been collect by participating charities since the
challenge began.

4. What is the Chicago Charity Challenge?
Local businesses partner up with local charities to
outperform other business-charity pair ups. From April 1st
to December 31st the partnerships do their part to collect
donations or provide community services. Those who
show the have impacted their social concern or
communities the most are given different awards (more on
this in a minute). There are 11 teams currently competing
and teams can sign up at any time.

5. What’s the prize?
Giving back to the community and helping those in need is the
greatest reward. However, the Challenge does hand out five
specific awards to motivate people and companies to participate
a little more. The awards are as follows:
· Grand Prize Give Back Award: It’s a 10,000-dollar prize
given to the team that has the best overall performance in
money collected, time donated, and impact made.
· Philanthropy Award: This 5,000-dollar prize is given according
to the amount of money raised by employee in favor of the
charity partner.
· Helping Hand Award: Another 5,000-dollar prize, but this one
gives recognition to the time that was volunteered by employee
towards the charity chosen by the business.
· Issue Impact Award: A 5,000-dollar prize goes out to the
challenger who has the greatest impact on a certain cause.
· Community Impact Award: The last of four 5,000-dollar
prizes, this award is given to the team that makes a difference
within a lower to middle class community.

6. GiveTrak: Keeping tabs on the donations and time
given
All teams are given access to GiveTrak. It’s a platform
designed for each team to register their donations, both
monetary and in time, made to the charities by the
businesses. Employees register how the have helped and
the team captains confirm and accept the donations. It’s a
quick and easy way for teams to analyze how and where
they are making the best and most impactful contributions.

7. Do the Cha Cha
Just like the dance, participating in the Chicago Charity Challenge
(popularly known as the Cha Cha) is a great and at the same time fun
way for companies to give back to the community. A little friendly
competition can go a long way. And it paves the way for a more
sustained form of charitable contributions. These are definitely
bragging rights worth having.
The Chicago Charity Challenge is definitely doing its part to add to the
city’s rich and storied history of caring for others. Even though it has
only been around for three years it is steadily establishing itself as a
different and viable way of gathering funds and contributing time to
different causes within the city and the greater Chicago area.
Companies also benefit greatly from the exposure generated through
the Challenge. They need to show the population that they are about
more than just the bottom line. Social work should be just as important
as revenues for companies and Chicago is a world leader of how
business and charities can work together for a better world. Chicago is
definitely more than a couple well known pop culture icons. It’s huge
heart will be its enduring legacy.