Engaged employees are 14% more productive and 44% more likely to stay in their jobs (according to Gallup). Looking at cause awareness events can provide great inspiration for ways to engage employees and recognize causes that are meaningful to them.
In this article, we’ll give you some ideas for activities, tips on choosing days to align with, and a full list of cause awareness months, weeks, and days in 2023 (with a focus on the United States).
What can my company do to recognize cause awareness days?
Here’s a list of ideas – do one, all, or a combination of a few to recognize a cause awareness day:
- Plan volunteer events with local nonprofits
- Bring in a guest speaker for an educational lunch-and-learn
- Start a discussion in Slack, including statistics and resources to learn more
- Collaborate with employee resource groups
How do I choose which cause awareness days to recognize?
There's a lot of important causes out there. Don’t let decision paralysis stop you from organizing great content and events for your employees! When you scroll down the list, take note of the cause awareness days that make sense for your company to plan around.
Here are some questions to help you with prioritization:
Does my business align with any of these causes?
Look at your business’s industry and customers. What do you do and who do you serve? Select causes that align with your work, mission, and vision. This can help to strengthen purpose in the employee experience.
For example, if your company works in property management, you could plan volunteer events and lunch-and-learns around housing and homelessness. Partner with nonprofits that address these issues locally.
How can I honor my employee population?
Review employee demographics and survey results. But don’t just go with the biggest populations – representation for minority groups is even more important to recognize. We also recommend collaborating with employee resource groups – build events and educational content together, and amplify their voices.
What are my employees passionate about?
If your company logs volunteer time off or has an employee volunteer program, check the data – where have employees spent their time? Find the cause areas of those nonprofits. (If you’re not tracking nonprofit engagement at the employee level, consider using a tool that does this for you.)
2023 cause awareness calendar
January
Days:
- 1: New Year's Day (holiday)
- 15: Makar Sankranti (holiday)
- 16: Martin Luther King Jr. Day (holiday)
- 22: Lunar New Year (through February 5) (holiday)
- 27: International Holocaust Remembrance Day
All month:
- National Blood Donor Month
- National Mentoring Month
- Poverty Awareness Month
February
Days:
- 11: International Day of Women and Girls in Science
- 15: Nirvana Day (holiday)
- 17: Random Acts of Kindness Day
- 20: World Day of Social Justice
- 22: Ash Wednesday (holiday)
Weeks:
- 19-25: National Engineers Week
All month:
- Black History Month
- American Heart Month
March
Days:
- 3: World Wildlife Day
- 8: Holi (holiday)
- 8: International Women’s Day
- 14: National Equal Pay Day
- 17: St. Patrick's Day (holiday)
- 21: International Day of Forests
- 21: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- 22: World Water Day
- 22: Start of Ramadan (through April 20) (holiday)
- 31: Transgender Day of Visibility
All month:
- American Red Cross Month
- National Women’s History Month
- Ethnic Equality Month
- Gender Equality Month
April
Days:
- 2: World Autism Awareness Day
- 5: Start of Passover (through April 13) (holiday)
- 7: World Health Day
- 9: Easter (holiday)
- 22: Earth Day
Earth Day engagement ideas: Organize an environmentally focused volunteer event on Earth Day with a local nonprofit, like pulling invasive ivy with Forest Park Conservancy in Portland. Start discussions in Slack leading up to Earth Day, like “What’s a sustainable action you take at home?” “What’s your favorite hike?” “How do you connect with nature?”
Weeks:
- 1-8: National Robotics Week
- 3-9: National Public Health Week
- 22-30: National Park Week
- 30-May 6: National Small Business Week
All month:
- Autism Awareness Month
- Celebrate Diversity Month
- National Volunteer Month
- National Financial Literacy Month
- National Arab American Heritage Month
- Second Chance Month
- Stress Awareness Month
May
Days:
- 5: Cinco de Mayo (holiday)
- 5: Teacher Appreciation Day
- 5: Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day
- 15: International Day of Families
- 17: International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia
- 25: Anniversary of George Floyd’s death
- 25: Memorial Day
Weeks:
- 1-7: Children's Mental Health Awareness Week
- 14-20: National Women's Health Week
All month:
- Asian American, Native Hawaiian, andPacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month
- Jewish American Heritage Month
- Mental Health Awareness Month
- National Foster Care Month
- National Physical Fitness and Sports Month
- Older Americans Month
June
Days:
- 5: World Environment Day
- 10: National Get Outdoors Day
- 15: World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
- 19: Juneteenth
All month:
- Black Music Month
- Caribbean American Heritage Month
- LGBTQA+ Pride Month
- Immigrant Heritage Month
July
Days:
- 4: United States Independence Day (holilday)
- 12: Malala Day (Rights for Women and Children)
- 18: Nelson Mandela International Day
- 26: Anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- 30: International Day of Friendship
All month:
- HIV Awareness Month
- Disability Pride Month
August
Days:
- 9: International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples
- 12: International Youth Day
- 17: National Nonprofit Day
- 19: World Humanitarian Day
- 26: Women's Equality Day
All month:
- Black Philanthropy Month
August is a great time to partner with local nonprofits for back to school supply drives.
September
Days:
- 5: International Day of Charity
- 7: Labor Day (holiday)
- 8: International Literacy Day
- 10: World Suicide Prevention Day
- 15: International Day of Democracy
- 15-17: Rosh Hashanah (holiday)
- 21: International Day of Peace
- 24: World Rivers Day
- 24: Start of Yom Kippur (through September 25) (holiday)
- 29: World Heart Day
All month:
- Healthy Aging Month
- Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 to October 15)
- Hunger Action Month
- National Recovery Month
October
Days:
- 2: World Habitat Day
- 2: international Day of Nonviolence
- 5: World Teachers Day
- 9: Indigenous People's Day (holiday coinciding with Columbus Day)
- 10: World Mental Health Day
- 11: National Coming Out Day
- 16: World Food Day
- 17: Spirit Day (LGBTQ+ awareness)
- 22: Make a Difference Day
- 27: National Mentoring Day
All month:
- National Arts & Humanities Month
- Breast Cancer Awareness Month
- Domestic Violence Awareness Month
- Global Diversity Awareness Month
- LGBTQIA+ History Month
- National Disability Employment Awareness Month
- National Polish American Heritage Month
November
Days:
- 1: Día de Los Muertos (holiday)
- 11: Veterans Day (holiday)
- 13: World Kindness Day
- 14: World Diabetes Day
- 15: National Philanthropy Day
- 16: Dutch American Heritage Day
- 20: Transgender Day of Remembrance
- 20: World Children's Day
- 23: Thanksgiving (holiday)
- 28: Giving Tuesday
Weeks:
- 11-18: Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week
- 13-19: World Kindness Week
All month:
- Homeless Youth Awareness Month
- Hospice Month
- Native American Heritage Month
- Military Family Appreciation Month
- Movemeber (men's health awareness)
November is a great time to partner with local nonprofits for holiday food and toy drives through December.
December
Days:
- 1: World AIDS Day
- 3: International Day of People with Disabilities
- 5: International Volunteer Day
- 10: International Human Rights Day
- 12: Diwali (holiday)
- 21: Homeless Persons' Memorial Day
- 22: Winter Solstice/Yule (holiday)
- 25: Christmas (holiday)
Weeks:
- 18-26: Hanukkah (holiday)
- 26-Jan 1: Kwanzaa (holiday)
All month:
- Universal Human Rights Month
