Hi Reader,

Picture your gym or studio on a Saturday morning in December.

The room is full. Members have brought their partners, their children and their neighbours. There’s a pile of tins by the door.

And half the people there have never trained with you before.

That’s the Christmas food drive workout: free sessions in December, where the only entry fee is a tin or packet of food for your local food bank.

Most gyms and studios do the opposite in December. Members get busy, sessions thin out, and everyone waits for January.

Then January starts cold, with ads to strangers.

A food drive flips that. You go into January with a list of local people who’ve already been through your door, had a good time, and done some good.

I first came across the idea at NPE, where it ran at Thanksgiving. A boot camp owner in Sussex ran it for his camps, and when I was coaching in Australia, our clients moved it to the run-up to Christmas.

I’ve seen what a community event can do. When we ran Push-ups for Charity in Perth, about 100 people came: members, their families, and people who lived nearby.

Here’s the plan:

1. This week: call your local food bank. Ask what they need most, and whether they’ll share your sessions with their supporters.
2. Pick two or three dates in December, and ask every member to bring someone.
3. Collect names and emails at the door, with a box to tick if people would like to hear from you.

Step 3 is where most events lose their value.

In the full outline, I show you how to follow up so guests become January members. And I tell you why our second charity event fell flat. It wasn’t the idea.

👉 Read: Charity events for gyms and studios​

Andrew

P.S. One idea, done well, beats five half-done. If this isn’t the right one for you this year, skip it without guilt. Next month’s idea arrives in early December.