While the world slowly started to open back up this spring, the AdAction team stayed connected remotely with our first-ever Charity Challenge. The entire company participated in a three-month-long event for charity, fostering some friendly competition and social interaction while raising over $61,000 for several organizations.
The Charity Challenge was created to prioritize the health and wellness of our employees and encourage them to get a healthy jumpstart going into the summer. Through the challenge, the entire AdAction team came together to make a greater impact on the community.
“The AdAction team has been fortunate to continue to grow and thrive during the pandemic. With so many new faces all joining the team remotely, we wanted to find a way to bring our employees together,” said CEO Brian Fox. “The Charity Challenge was a perfect combination of socialization, competition, and coming together to fight for a shared cause. I’m blown away by the participation and passion from each of the teams.”
The Challenges
Each week, the four teams battled it out to raise money for the charities of their choice. Individuals could score points by hitting 5,000 steps and drinking 64 ounces of water each day. By the end of the challenge, team AdAction walked over 7,300 miles and drank over 65,000 ounces of water. Teams could also receive points by joining monthly virtual yoga classes and by getting outside to enjoy the warm weather (documented with a selfie, of course).
Some challenges were a way to form connections across teams. Individuals were rewarded points for sharing recipes, new hobbies, pictures from company events like our virtual macramé class, and their favorite summer vacation spots in the all-company Slack channel. Each team also collaborated to create a team playlist and a list of summer book and podcast recommendations.
The Impact
Each team chose which organizations they rallied around. Find out how they came together to fight for their chosen causes below.
Robert's Beards
$6,046 raised for One Colorado | $6,046 for Austin Sunshine Camps | $6,046 for American Diabetes Association
“The Charity Challenge proved to be a fun way for everyone to learn about the people we work with every day. My team was spread across two states and two countries, so our biggest goal was to support the communities in which we live. We chose three charities, one from each of our locales. At the end of the day, Robert’s Beards was full of the kinds of people you want living next to you, and that fueled the choices we made.” -Robert Anderson, Full Stack Developer
Forces of Nature
$7,832 raised for Conservation Colorado | $7,832 for Keep Austin Beautiful
“Our team was passionate about impacting the community in a direct way and found that Conservation Colorado and Keep Austin Beautiful both have an environmentally friendly mission that we all support. From physical city cleanups to outreach programs, they are an integral part of what makes Colorado colorful and keeps Austin clean (and weird).” -Mariah Chee, Media Strategist
Sundogs
$14,131 raised for Sun Valley Youth Center
“It means the world to help support the Sun Valley Youth Center’s mission and empower Denver youth to their greatest potential. I’m so proud of all the work my team did to build a donation of over $14,000 for this Denver-local community!”
-Precious Gellada, Content Creator
Red Robins
$6,779 raised for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society | $6,779 for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Texas
“It was really special seeing everyone work together to raise money for charities making a tangible difference in our backyards. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the Ronald McDonald House both champion new beginnings. The work they do for cancer survivors and families overcoming child illnesses resonated with our group and actually inspired our team name, Red Robins! Red to match their colors and a robin bird to represent fresh starts.” -Paula Novodvorschi, Content Writer
Our first-ever Charity Challenge proved to be a great success. Team AdAction formed new connections with each other while making an impact on our local communities. Interested in learning more about our company culture? Visit our Careers page to get the inside scoop and check out our open positions if you’re looking to join the AdAction team.
Anna is a writer for the HighSpeedOptions team focusing on streaming. She started her career as a content writer in 2017, working one year in the fintech industry before joining the mobile ad tech space with HighSpeedOptions’ parent company, AdAction.
