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I am interested in starting a "jeans for charity" policy at my workplace. My company is going to allow people in our office to pay 3-5 each for the option to the wear jeans on the last Friday of each month. I am concerned about the best way to implement this as it is new to our company.

What sorts of things do I need to consider in order to ensure this policy is successful?

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    What is the problem you are trying to solve by asking this? – IDrinkandIKnowThings Oct 30 '13 at 18:59
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    @Kristen: Welcome to the site! Hopefully you'll be able to get help here. In an effort to make your question more acceptable on this site and keep it open, I've edited your question. If I've changed the meaning, you can edit it yourself to undo what I did with a rollback or make other revisions – GreenMatt Oct 30 '13 at 20:12
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    I don't understand these campaigns. If there is a real business need to have everyone dress with a certain level of formality, the need exists regardless of donations. If there is no real business need for formal dress, don't impose an unnecessary dress code in the first place. – Patricia Shanahan Jan 7 '16 at 17:10
  • I don't understand the criteria to determine if the policy is successful. – Chan-Ho Suh Jan 7 '16 at 17:57
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    @PatriciaShanahan: the real "business need" here is for management to be able to tell each other how great they are because they were able to intimidate their employees into "contributing" to the boss' pet charity. – Nolo Problemo Jan 7 '16 at 23:45
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Does anyone have a charity for jeans written policy?

We have such a policy (not written down, though).

We already permit jeans on every Friday, so no payment is needed.

We have done "Casual Summer" where folks are required to donate $10 per month for the 3 summer months in exchange for permission to dress in jeans every day. Almost everyone donates, most (but not all) wear jeans.

And we have sporadically had "Casual Holidays" in Decembers. Same deal - $10/month.

Most people like the idea. The only downside seems to be an increased feeling of resentment toward the standard dress policy in the non-summer months. Here's what I wrote on the topic this year: http://www.allthingsquality.com/2013/05/its-casual-summer-in-my-office.html

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    There can also be resentment if the specific charity is mandated and not agreeable to everybody. – Monica Cellio Oct 30 '13 at 18:10
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    Yup. Note that objections might be abut the type of charity but could just as easily be about efficiency of the funds (avoiding charities with high overhead). – Monica Cellio Oct 30 '13 at 19:16
  • While true, there are some charities that are almost universally accepted: just stick to a fairly safe one and you're unlikely to run into issues: children's charities are usually a safe bet. – Jon Story Jan 7 '16 at 17:16
  • @JonStory Except for those concerned with overpopulation. No joke: a charity fund got banned at my last job because of that very objection. – Weckar E. Oct 20 '16 at 11:49
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My company actually implemented this a few months ago.

Each month, employees are given the option to donate to a local charity through HR. This charity rotates each month. I'm not sure how the charity gets chosen, but I think that employees can suggest charities.

It's not a "handbook policy", per se, but usually is handled through an email near the end of the preceding month.

One thing to be mindful of is clients coming in for meetings; to alleviate this, my business put up a sign at the reception desk explaining the policy and naming the charity to which the donations were given for that month.

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  • Yes. Sorry, I completely forgot to specify! I figured that would be a given from the question. – aletson Jan 8 '16 at 19:11

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