Objectives

In the United States, Martin Luther King Jr. Day has become a day of service for people who want to honor his legacy by volunteering in their communities. While participation is growing, people often limit their observance or volunteerism to just one day.

For this reason, on Jan. 15, 2024, Travelers decided to launch the MLK DreamMaker Challenge – a company-wide effort meant to inspire employees to expand their day of service into a week, a month or even a year of ongoing service.

Strategy and Execution

When Dr. King said “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?’” he believed it was up to all of us to take action to make our communities more equitable. With that in mind, Travelers created the MLK DreamMaker Challenge in the hopes that it would inspire employees to commit to longer terms of service in our communities.

Several tactics were employed to raise awareness of the Challenge across the company. Banners were strategically placed in Travelers offices across the country, daily emails encouraging participation in the Challenge were sent to employees across the company, and a link to the Challenge’s digital platform was posted on our internal intranet.

Once on the platform, employees could choose four different ways to participate in the Challenge. These included:

• Volunteering for a cause
• Visiting a museum or monument
• Learning about MLK
• Sharing reflections on MLK’s dream

After committing to the Challenge, the platform was able to monitor each employee’s participation and reward their actions with points.

Results

Beyond making communities better, multiple studies[1] have shown that volunteering also helps instill happiness, satisfaction and a sense of fulfillment and purpose in those who volunteer. In a paper published by Harvard Health, authors noted that volunteers benefit from what they call the “happiness effect” – especially when they volunteer for a cause that they truly value.   

• The Travelers MLK DreamMaker Challenge was the first mission challenge offered in 2024. 
• Of the three challenges that were released in 2024, the DreamMaker Challenge had the highest number of participants with 386.
• Participants completed 477 activities – indicating that a number of employees completed multiple activities.
• A total of 38 employees completed all four activities.
• Five winners were chosen and awarded $250 in volunteer rewards.

Employees said that their participation in the Challenge gave them a sense of fulfillment, and enabled them to serve their communities, meet new people, forge stronger relationships and honor Dr. King’s legacy – all in perfect alignment with the Travelers Promise to care for its employees, its customers and its communities.

[1] Volunteering: A Formula For Help And Happiness; Cultivating Happiness, Does Volunteering Make Us Happier?

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