As many of you know, charitable donations have taken a hit due to the economic downturn. A while back we came up with an idea that I wanted to share with you that may work at your place of employment. Each Friday we have dressdown day. For every "violation" of our dress code, the employee must contribute $1 to our charity fund. Examples of violations would be, T-shirt instead of collared shirt; tennis shoes instead of business shoes; jeans instead of business casual slacks. Even a ballcap costs $1. So, the maximum "fine" would be $4. The employees like it because they get to dress more comfortably on Friday's and it really doesn't cost them that much. Plus they are contributing to good causes. We've accumulated over $500 so far. Today, I just contributed $100 each to the following:


1. Make-A-Wish Foundation

2. American Heart Assoc.

3. American Cancer Society

4. The Carter Center

5. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

This program seems to have been well received by our people and as you can see it helps charitable causes as well. Perhaps you can suggest this at your firm. Just an idea I wanted to share with you.

(P.S. This is for office employees only. Client facing employees must conform to the dress code)