Megan Stewart

It’s Only Make Believe…or is it?

Posted by Megan Stewart, Jul 15, 2014 0 comments


Megan Stewart

Megan Stewart Megan Stewart

Only Make Believe (OMB) is a non-profit that creates and performs interactive theatre for children in hospitals and care facilities in New York and Washington DC. OMB is dedicated to the principle that freeing the imagination is a valuable part of the healing process. We send a team of three professional actors into a hospital once a week for six weeks and the actors engage the children in a performance where each child becomes an integral part of each show. The children get to dress in a costume, take on different roles, and really just take an hour to laugh, play, and enjoy being a child rather than thinking about their treatment or being a patient. We want them to just have fun with “laughter being the best medicine” through the joy and escape that the theatre can provide.

My role at OMB is to manage our corporate relations efforts through volunteerism and sponsorship, and to coordinate OMB events including the annual gala on Broadway, young professionals and networking events, cocktail parties, and other various events. The majority of my job is spent running our corporate volunteer program which has grown steadily over the past six years.

While the OMB program is centered around the theory that arts are therapeutic, so are our corporate volunteer efforts. Volunteers can contribute without leaving their office during a Costume Collective, where volunteers decorate costumes that the kids can wear during OMB shows (and sometimes even keep the costumes!), or they can see the OMB program firsthand by going to an OMB performance in one of the hospitals and hosting a party for the kids, which we call a Cast Party. Volunteers can even take on projects based on their expertise that help shape the strategic planning or future of the organization.

Volunteering with OMB, or any arts organization, within the workplace can lead to engaged employees, who are said to be better overall employees. Exploring volunteerism with arts organizations can be beneficial for business in the following ways:

BOOSTS CREATIVITY – Many writers and researchers have stated over and over how creativity is a vital part of any successful business. It allows employees to explore, think outside the box, challenge themselves, and not be bored or stagnant at work.

THERAPEUTIC – Not only is the OMB program therapeutic for the kids we serve, the volunteers feel rejuvenated after spending a few hours focusing on being crafty or artistic rather than being inundated with email or paperwork. The arts can reduce stress, help communication, enhance mental health, and explore different parts of an individual’s personality, amongst other things (which the children experience through OMB too).

TEAMBUILDING – Colleagues can get to know each other in a very different way than they would in meetings or sitting next to someone in an office cubicle. Put people around a table together with something they don’t do on a regular basis = MAGIC.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT – Corporate philanthropy or social corporate responsibility is becoming the norm in many major corporations throughout the US and is catching on globally, and engaging your employees in meaningful volunteerism is a big part of it. Being able to say that you are making an impact in your business and in your world is an effective tool.

Not only is volunteering with arts organizations good for business, but it also benefits the organization as well. The OMB Corporate Volunteer Program fuels our organization through:

MARKETING – It helps us spread the word about what we do, helps build more supporters, donors, volunteers, it provides name recognition, and increasing followers and fans alike. It also fosters relationships and partnerships that we hope will lead to more donations and involvement in our program, period.

COSTUMES – It allows us to always have great costumes for the kids to wear in the hospitals – you cannot imagine what some of the things bankers, lawyers, fashionistas, techies, and anyone else in between can come up for the kids!

FUNDING – This is the BIG one. Each of our corporate volunteer events has a donation associated with it, so not only does it provide reimbursement for supplies/materials, but it helps us fund our program of bringing joy, laughter, and fun through theatre to children in hospitals.

At the end of the day, businesses have engaged their employees and their non-profit partners in a mutually beneficial relationship. Find what works for your organization and start a corporate volunteer program now–you have no idea where it could lead or what doors it could open!

 

Our blog salon on Unique Business Partnerships this week is generously sponsored by Drexel University Online.

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