Catch March Madness for Charity

March 18, 2013  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Community/Charitable Support on March 19, 2013

Andy Bernstein, founder of FurnitureDealer.Net, believes encouraging a little March Madness in the workplace is a slam-dunk when it comes to creating a positive and upbeat corporate culture, and each year his employees vie for cash prizes and bragging rights during the annual FurnitureDealer.Net Bracket Challenge.

This season, Bernstein has added a new twist, inviting a number of industry friends and all of the FurnitureDealer.Net premium clients to join in a second pool. Participating retailers, manufacturers and suppliers opting into the FurnitureDealer.Net Industry Bracket Challenge can score $1,000 (first place) or $500 (second place) for their favorite charity. That is, of course, if they accurately predict the most teams that advance through the tournament en route to the NCAA national championship, which begins Tuesday and concludes April 8. 

According to Bernstein, there is no cost for employees or industry friends to enter, and FurnitureDealer.Net donates the prizes for the Industry Bracket Challenge. Prizes will be awarded in crumpled $2 bills, a nod to the company's well-known marketing tool. 

"The winners will decide which charities get the money: It can be March of Dimes, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, City of Hope, the American Cancer Society, ACLU, your child's high school booster, you name it," Bernstein said. "And, if you're not a college basketball expert, no problem. Easily half the people in our office know nothing about basketball, and fill out their bracket based on random guesses. It's even more fun when somebody who doesn't know a thing about basketball actually wins!"

Bernstein-a die-hard fan of the University of Minnesota Gophers-said that like the company's office pool, "the primary objective of our industry challenge is to have fun. Many of our clients and industry friends have personal connections to the schools, and we expect that to result in some interesting Facebook chatter. Just last week I learned that one of our client's daughters is a junior at Indiana University, and another's son is enrolled at the University of Michigan. We expect more connections like these to become evident among those participating and smack talk will be encouraged!"