Why organise a
solidarity seminar?
What if your next seminar left a mark beyond the minutes? A solidarity seminar doesn’t sacrifice team cohesion or business objectives — it amplifies them, adding a human dimension that lastingly transforms your employees’ relationship with their work and your brand.
More and more companies are choosing to replace classic incentives (quad biking, karting, open-bar parties) with events that make a concrete contribution to a social or environmental cause. It’s no sacrifice: it is often the most memorable event of the year — and the most effective for cohesion.
87 %
of employees want their company to engage in charitable initiatives (Don en Confiance Barometer)
+40 %
emotional engagement during a solidarity team-building session vs a classic leisure activity
3X
more shared memories after a solidarity seminar than after a traditional incentive
Contents
- The real reasons to organise a solidarity seminar
- Clarify the objective first and foremost: the ‘why’ before the ‘how’
- The solidarity challenge: the seminar’s core activity
- Which charitable actions to build into your seminar?
- Finding the right charity partners
- Replacing the quad bikes: 5 concrete solidarity alternatives
- France or abroad: choosing the right location
- Best practices for a successful solidarity seminar
- The ROI of a solidarity seminar: what you really gain
- Your frequently asked questions about solidarity seminars
The real reasons to organise a solidarity seminar
The solidarity seminar answers a convergence of needs that didn’t exist with the same intensity ten years ago: employees looking for meaning, leadership under CSR pressure, and a growing demand for authenticity in brand communication.
🧠 Deep cohesion, not surface-level
Planting trees together, renovating a classroom or feeding families creates far stronger bonds than sharing a go-kart track. Emotionally charged collective action forges lasting teams.
💚 Meaning and pride in belonging
Employees want to work for a company they are proud of. A solidarity seminar is tangible proof of the organisation’s values — far more convincing than a corporate speech on CSR.
📣 Credible CSR communication
A quantified record (trees planted, meals distributed, children supported) is high-value CSR content: annual report, LinkedIn, internal communication, labels. It is an investment in image as much as in impact.
🎯 Talent attraction & retention
Candidates — especially the under-35s — choose their employer based on its real commitments. An annual solidarity seminar is a concrete, visible and differentiating HR argument in a tight labour market.
“A successful seminar based on solidarity is not at odds with performance. It is the emotional fuel behind it.”
— Cindy Dauvin, XXL Happyness
Clarify the objective first and foremost: the ‘why’ before the ‘how’
As with any event, the purpose comes before the organisation. A poorly structured charity seminar can turn into ‘voluntourism’ or a hollow public relations exercise. Set out a clear framework by answering three questions:
- 🌍 What impact are you looking for? Social (education, inclusion, solidarity), environmental (reforestation, biodiversity, clean-ups) or a mix?
- 👥 What level of involvement for participants? A one-off action (half a day) or a 2–3 day immersion with a charity?
- 📍 Where? In France for an immediately visible local impact, or abroad for a structured international cooperation project?
💡 The golden rule
Co-create with the charity from the outset — don’t impose a format on it. The best charitable actions come from a dialogue between the charity’s real needs and the company’s capabilities. That is the condition for authentic, not symbolic, impact.
The solidarity challenge: the seminar’s core activity
The solidarity challenge is the event format that turns a classic seminar into a transformative experience. The principle: teams of employees compete or collaborate on concrete missions that directly benefit a charity — an existing one, or one chosen by the employees themselves.
⚡ The XXL Happyness flagship format
3
Each team competes or cooperates on a mission with real impact, with a jury, a timer and a final pitch in front of the other teams.
Format 1
🌅 “1 Day = 1 Impact”
Morning: plenary and strategy workshops. Afternoon: field action in teams (beach clean-up, tree planting, renovation). End of day: debrief and measurement of the collective impact.
Format 2
🏆 “Charity Challenge”
Teams compete on missions: equipment drives, charity projects, running a workshop, fundraising pitch. External jury, team scores, awards ceremony. The budget won is donated to the charity.
Format 3
🌱 “Immersion”
2 to 3 days alongside a charity: fieldwork, exchanges with beneficiaries, co-creation of a deliverable. Collective debrief with the project leaders. The most transformative format, ideal for leadership teams.
🎮 Gamification tip
Make the fundraising campaign or event competitive and fun: 1 km run = X € donated, team scores displayed in real time, photos shared on an internal feed, and an ‘Impact Team’ badge for the winners. Friendly competition in support of a cause doubles engagement.
Which charitable actions to build into your seminar?
There are three main families of action, each suited to different team and charity profiles. The most effective approach is often to combine two types of action in the same seminar.
Finding the right charity partners
The quality of a solidarity seminar largely depends on the reliability and structure of the partner charity. Here is a selection of recognised partners, sorted by area of impact, to guide you — or inspire your choice if you prefer to support a local charity.
🌱 Environment & biodiversity
Surfrider Foundation Europe
Beach and river clean-ups, awareness of plastic pollution. An ideal field format for an afternoon at a coastal seminar.
Reforest’Action
Tree planting in France and abroad. Precise impact measurement (number of trees, CO₂ sequestered). Shareable certificate.
WWF France
Biodiversity projects, climate awareness. Educational activities for teams, bespoke formats for companies.
🧑🏫 Education & local solidarity
Bibliothèques Sans Frontières
Reading workshops, donations of educational materials, activities in facilities serving communities with limited access to culture.
Secours Populaire Français
Concrete local action: collections, distribution, activities. Very accessible for half-day actions, anywhere in France.
Plan International
International education projects, particularly for girls. A reliable partner for structured cooperation projects abroad.
🌍 Global engagement & international volunteering
United Nations Volunteers
International volunteering projects structured by the UN. For 3–5 day immersion seminars abroad with certified impact.
France Volontaires
National support network for international volunteering. Helps identify and structure missions suited to corporate groups.
A charity of your choice
Your employees can nominate and vote for the charity that will benefit from the challenge. It’s often the most engaging and memorable approach.
Replacing the quad bikes: 5 concrete solidarity alternatives
Quad biking, karting or laser tag aren’t bad in themselves — but they create no meaning, leave no lasting mark and contribute to nothing beyond a fleeting moment of fun. Here are five alternatives that deliver just as much adrenaline and ten times the impact.
🌳
Collaborative mini-forest
Each team plants its own plot, puts up signs and measures the area covered. A quantified carbon impact, a shareable certificate and a lasting landmark for the event.
🌱 Environment
🎨
School or community-centre renovation
Painting, furniture, murals, gardening. A visible, photogenic impact — and infinitely more rewarding than laser tag.
🏫 Social
🌊
Gamified beach clean-up
A team race, weighing the litter collected, raising awareness of plastic pollution, before/after photos. Outdoor, physical, emotional.
♻️ Environment
🧑🍳
Community kitchen
Preparing meals for a food bank or a local charity. A cooking format that brings people together, ideal for teams of all generations.
🍲 Solidarity
🐢
Biodiversity mission
Installing nesting boxes, creating wildlife refuges, taking part in a nature survey with local experts. An impact that raises awareness and lasts.
🦋 Biodiversity
France or abroad: choosing the right location
Where you hold your charity seminar radically changes the logistics, the partners you’ll need to mobilise and the type of impact generated. Both options are valid — provided a few fundamental principles are respected.
🇫🇷 In France
- Simpler to organise, legally and logistically
- Local impact that teams can see immediately
- Ideal for supporting community charities (priority neighbourhoods, rural areas)
- Minimal carbon footprint from travel
- Easier post-seminar follow-up (visits, long-term relationship)
✈️ Abroad
- Requires a reliable, well-organised local partner
- Beware of ‘voluntourism’: avoid pointless or superficial actions
- Favour projects co-designed with local stakeholders
- Choose projects that last over the long term (not one-offs)
- A transformative experience for teams — a powerful shared memory
⚠️ To avoid at all costs
“Voluntourism”: travelling to a country to do something that the local people could do themselves, with less environmental impact and greater economic benefit for the local community. A good solidarity-based seminar abroad, organised in partnership with local stakeholders, either funds their existing projects or provides specific skills that they lack.
Best practices for a successful solidarity seminar
🤝 Co-design with the charity from day one
Meet the charity before finalising the programme. Ask what it really needs — not what you feel like giving. Real impact comes from dialogue, not one-sided good intentions.
📊 Measure impact in concrete terms
Trees planted, kilos of litter collected, meals prepared, children supported, hours of skills contributed… These figures are your impact scorecard. They let you communicate honestly and improve from one edition to the next.
🎓 Prepare your teams in advance
Share the charity’s background, the nature of the action and who benefits before the seminar. An employee who knows why they’re taking part commits twice as hard as one surprised by the activity on the day.
🚫 Avoid pointless or token gestures
“Painting a wall that will be repainted the following week” or “planting trees without a follow-up plan” are actions that undermine the credibility of the initiative. Choose projects that are useful, sustainable and verifiable.
🔄 Plan post-seminar follow-up
The relationship with the charity shouldn’t end on the last day of the seminar. An impact report sent three months later, a follow-up visit, an annual donation or a long-term partnership: that’s what turns an event into a lasting commitment.
🎯 Involve employees in choosing the charity
Holding a vote to choose the charity that benefits from the challenge is one of the most powerful engagement levers there is. Employees take far greater ownership of a cause they helped to choose.
The ROI of a solidarity seminar: what you really gain
–28 %
staff turnover in teams that have taken part in corporate volunteering
Source: France Bénévolat Barometer / HR management research
+62 %
of employees say they feel more engaged after a seminar with a charitable dimension
Source: Deloitte Workplace Volunteering study
x2,4
the perceived value of a charity seminar vs a leisure seminar, in terms of memorability at six months
Source: XXL Happyness internal survey (panel of 200 participants)
100 %
of companies that have run a charity seminar with XXL Happyness want to repeat the experience
Source: XXL Happyness client satisfaction 2024
Your frequently asked questions about solidarity seminars
Not necessarily. A hands-on charity challenge (clean-up, planting, renovation) can replace a paid activity (quad biking, laser tag, private chef) at an equal or lower cost. The perceived value is often far higher. Some charities offer free sessions in exchange for organisational support or a donation. XXL Happyness helps you calibrate the optimal budget for your objective.
Two approaches:
- you choose in line with your company’s CSR values (a food company might pick a food bank, a tech company a digital-education charity).
- you hold an internal vote so employees choose for themselves — the method that maximises engagement. Either way, check that the charity is a recognised public-interest organisation or carries the Don en Confiance label, to guarantee financial transparency.
Yes, provided you:
- work with a well-organised, recognised local partner,
- fund an existing project rather than inventing one for the occasion,
- bring skills that local stakeholders lack (technical expertise, training),
- leave project delivery in the hands of local project leaders, and
- plan post-seminar follow-up.
XXL Happyness supports you in identifying reliable international partners and structuring a credible approach.
Several quantitative indicators: number of trees planted, kilos of litter collected, meals prepared, volunteering hours, funds raised, number of direct beneficiaries. And qualitative indicators: testimonials from beneficiaries, participant satisfaction score, memorability at three months. XXL Happyness provides an impact report after every charity seminar.
Your next seminar can
change lives
In France or abroad, a charity challenge or an immersion with a local charity: we design the team-building event that means something to your teams and leaves a lasting mark.