Teams are composed of up to 6 people. Each team member has to raise a minimum of $350 or a collective $2,100 to participate.

This is a minimum - most teams fundraise at least $7,000 and winning teams usually fundraise $10,000+.

The top three fundraising teams and individuals will receive trophies at the event and the top team will win the coveted “Stanley Cup” of fundraising: the Workers’ Bowl “Top Fundraising Team” cup. Your team could take it home this year!

Your job as team captain is to build up your team with strong competitors who will help raise as much money as possible in the little time you have and bring the party on the day of the event. 

At first, this means getting them registered. Later, it’ll mean sending encouraging messages and e-mails to teammates, and fostering team spirit!

There is also a prize at the Workers’ Bowl for best costume - you will need to coordinate with your teammates to show up in a team get-up.

If you’ve already registered, you’re well on your way to getting a trophy at this year’s Workers’ Bowl!

Research shows that donors are more likely to donate if your page is set up, so make sure that your page includes your picture and that you set a personal goal

You will also notice that we added new badges for things like reaching 50 donations on your page or $500. Gaining badges will help other competitors know that you mean business.

The key to fundraising is to get your ask out there early. Send e-mails to friends, family and colleagues. Share it on social media. You can also get inventive and host an event or do a bake sale at work.

Your fundraising allows us at the Ontario Employment Education and Research Centre (OEERC) to support workers who are fighting for dignity and decency at work. That’s how we build a multiracial, multilingual movement to improve the lives and working conditions of people in low-wage and precarious employment in Ontario.

The OEERC — in partnership with WAC — connects with workers at workshops, ESL classes, libraries, employment programs, immigrant settlement agencies, health centres and many other grassroots community spaces. 

Every year we help thousands of workers in precarious and low-age jobs – racialized workers, immigrant workers, contract and casual workers, temp agency workers, migrant workers, non-unionized workers, the involuntarily unemployed, and those struggling in low-wage and part-time work. When workers come through our doors, we not only offer support and advice on the issues being faced at work, but encourage involvement in our community of members. Workers begin to learn about and get involved in the labour movement that we are helping to build, so that when we organize together for decent work, we win.

And if this isn’t enough of an incentive for you, we have lots of great PRIZES and trophies!

All funds raised at the Workers’ Bowl go directly to the OEERC Education and Leadership Fund for Workers in Precarious Employment. The fund supports leadership development and educational projects, executed in collaboration with the Workers’ Action Centre (WAC). In the past such projects have included: 

• The Feet on the Ground (FOG) Leadership Training Program to develop skills in community organizing for racialized and low-income workers, rank and file union members, and non-unionized workers in precarious jobs across Ontario;
• Internships for workers that have supported them to develop skills in community outreach, and public education on rights in the workplace in Mandarin, Bengali, Punjabi, Somali, Spanish and Tamil;
• ESL classes focusing on the language of the workplace and workplace rights;
• Public education on employment rights through multi-lingual community-based outreach and media

To learn more about OEERC and WAC and the work we are doing, please visit oeerc.org and WorkersActionCentre.org.

You will receive an e-mail whenever you receive a donation. You can also login to track your donations. This is a new website for us and we are learning how to best use it - feel free to edit your page to suit your needs or reach out to us (denise@oeerc.org) if you run into any issues.

All donations of $10 and up will automatically be issued a charitable tax receipt. This means that all your donors will receive a thank you message from us alongside their receipt (though it doesn’t hurt to send your own thank you message as well).

If you donated online and you didn’t get a tax receipt, we can help troubleshoot this. Please contact Denise at denise@oeerc.org to have this fixed for you.

Bring cash/cheques to the event (get it in before 2pm for it to count). Please remind sponsors that cheques should be made payable to OEERC or Ontario Employment and Education Research Centre.

Large organizational cheques can be mailed to:

Workers Bowl
720 Spadina Avenue, Suite 223
Toronto, ON
M5S 2T9.

We are unable to credit a donation you place on your credit card to someone else. The name on the credit card must match the name on the tax receipt.

In order to record your donation, log in to your dashboard and click on "My Donations" and then on "Add Offline Donation" and follow the instructions. Please note that your donation will not appear on your page until it is confirmed by our office.

If you'd like to quickly confirm an organizational donations greater than $500, have the president or treasurer of the organization reach out to us at denise@oeerc.org confirming that the donation has been approved and is being processed.

If you run into any issues, please e-mail us at denise@oeerc.org.

Reach out to us (denise@oeerc.org) and we can try placing you in an existing team. Please reach out early as teams fill up quickly!