Mavidea Puts the “Fun” in Fundraising

When James Justice, a technician with Mavidea Technology Group in Bloomington, Illinois, passed away in February, 2013 after a long illness, his colleagues decided they wanted to honor him in the only way they know how: by holding the goofiest fundraiser they could think of.

Enter the James Justice Wiffle Ball Tournament, which took place in June, 2013 and raised more than $1,000 toward the education of the daughter that Justice left behind. The tournament included a cookout, family activities and, in true Mavidea style, awards for such things as “Team That Throws Most Like a Girl.”

For the 25-person team at Mavidea, community outreach and fun go hand-in-hand with their daily business operations. The company, which specializes in managed services, website design and internet marketing, was founded in 2007 by four business partners who all had a strong passion for creating a business culture where employees enjoy their job, customers receive excellent service and executives can freely dress up in costume for monthly staff meetings.

“Mavidea is an interesting company and we put a lot of focus on enjoying what we do and being good people. We like opportunities to give back as well as build teamwork,” says Mavidea Marketing Manager Kim James. “It’s just kind of who we are.”

It isn’t uncommon in the Mavidea offices to find employees taking a break to hold a paper airplane contest, the staff coming together to pull a prank on the COO by covering his entire office with post-it notes or a cake in the office to celebrate “Geek Pride Day.”

“It’s a really amazing culture and we really like coming to work,” continues Kim.

For all the fun they have, the company works very hard. They are extremely active in their local community and hold several community outreach events per year. They have been known to come together to build homes for Habitat for Humanity and can be seen picking up trash on the streets of Downtown Bloomington for Earth Day. They have collected recycled electronic products from the community to benefit the local Goodwill. They have hosted card-playing tournaments to raise money to buy board games and entertainment items for children in hospitals. Staff members have even golfed to raise money to build a school in Africa.

According to Kim, the company’s outreach efforts are chosen through a collaborative process in which employees work together to find charities they are passionate about and then they get creative about how they will help those charities.

In a company that values its staff, encourages family participation and celebrates each new birth taking place in employees’ lives, it’s not surprising that their most recent beneficiary of choice was the surviving child of one of their own.

It’s also not surprising how they chose to honor their colleague during their wiffle ball charity event: “We came together, enjoyed each other’s company and remembered James,” says Kim. “It was fun.”