Is starting a D&D campaign to recruit volunteers a dumb idea or genius? Need advice /u/LoomisKnows DnD: Roll for Initiative!

Hey, so I’ve been trying to come up with ways to recruit younger volunteers (By which I mean under 70s) for the place I work (think charity/non-profit vibes), and I had this random idea: what if I ran a D&D campaign to get people in the door? I’m pretty experienced as a DM, and it seems like it could be a fun way to build community while getting people to help out. Shop has literally been running on a skeleton crew since I inherited it and really needs fresh blood and perspective badly. Location is bad, as in this is a really homophobic diverse-aphobic area (I’m talking people wearing Golliw*gs as keyrings unironically), but it does have two ttrpg hubs you have to pay to use and does have a local college.

Here’s the basic plan:

• We’re closed on Sundays, so I’d run a Sunday-only campaign. The idea is to spend the morning doing some volunteer tasks (sorting donations, tidying, etc.), and then we’d jump into the game for an afternoon as a reward. Like our backroom gets super crowded with stuff so the environment would necessitate tidying in order to play.
• I’m thinking of running something like Lost Mines of Phandelver or Tyranny of Dragons because they’re super beginner-friendly and easy to split into chunks and I have experience with both.
• The main goal? Recruit some new people who might stick around to help out on other days, too.

Stuff I’m worried about:

• Would people even be willing to work in exchange for getting to play in a D&D game? Like, is that enough of an incentive? I don’t want people just turning up in the afternoon to play without coming to help in the morning and such.
• What if this gets too popular? I could do a rotation system or prioritize players who commit to volunteering on other days, but I’m not sure how to balance it.
• Most importantly: How do I pitch this to my boss without it sounding like I’m just trying to turn work into a game night? I think it’s a solid way to recruit and retain volunteers, but I need to sell it as legit. As part of the offer this would already be 8 extra hours unpaid of my time, and it would be on a day we aren’t usually open?
• Should I even call it D&D, or is it better to advertise it as “TTRPG” to keep it open to other systems (not sure if it would be a weird legalise thing)?
• Transport, I think most of the town is elderly and that the younger people I meet take public transport in from the surrounding towns, on Sunday travel is usually reduced so it might act counter to the plan.
• Having to dismiss a problem player would be SUCH a headache in this situation because I have no idea how in paperwork terms i’d be able to be like “they were mean in dungeons and dragons” and have it go through XD

One bonus: If I have volunteers for a whole day, there’s actually a small budget I could use for snacks per person (as long as the shop makes money on that day, it’s like 5 quid a person or some such). So, I could definitely throw in some treats to make it feel like a proper event.

The campaign would be in-person, and people would have to go through the basic volunteer sign-up process first. I hope that once they’re in, they’ll enjoy the game and be motivated to help out more often. That and I’ll have some people on my team that don’t need me to press play on videos and switch tabs for them literally (Yes actual thing I have had to deal with).

So… does this sound like it could work? Has anyone tried something similar before? Or am I just galaxy-braining this into oblivion? Would love any advice, hot takes, or stories from people who’ve done something similar! I get to pitch this to the big boss on next week and I have absolutely no idea what sort of mood they’ll be in since the shop has been struggling due to a complete lack of volunteers so I may be poking a bear.

Please please please slap me down if this is a dumb idea, I really don’t want to make a fool of myself in front of my boss

Hey, so I’ve been trying to come up with ways to recruit younger volunteers (By which I mean under 70s) for the place I work (think charity/non-profit vibes), and I had this random idea: what if I ran a D&D campaign to get people in the door? I’m pretty experienced as a DM, and it seems like it could be a fun way to build community while getting people to help out. Shop has literally been running on a skeleton crew since I inherited it and really needs fresh blood and perspective badly. Location is bad, as in this is a really homophobic diverse-aphobic area (I’m talking people wearing Golliw*gs as keyrings unironically), but it does have two ttrpg hubs you have to pay to use and does have a local college.

Here’s the basic plan:

• We’re closed on Sundays, so I’d run a Sunday-only campaign. The idea is to spend the morning doing some volunteer tasks (sorting donations, tidying, etc.), and then we’d jump into the game for an afternoon as a reward. Like our backroom gets super crowded with stuff so the environment would necessitate tidying in order to play.
• I’m thinking of running something like Lost Mines of Phandelver or Tyranny of Dragons because they’re super beginner-friendly and easy to split into chunks and I have experience with both.
• The main goal? Recruit some new people who might stick around to help out on other days, too.

Stuff I’m worried about:

• Would people even be willing to work in exchange for getting to play in a D&D game? Like, is that enough of an incentive? I don’t want people just turning up in the afternoon to play without coming to help in the morning and such.
• What if this gets too popular? I could do a rotation system or prioritize players who commit to volunteering on other days, but I’m not sure how to balance it.
• Most importantly: How do I pitch this to my boss without it sounding like I’m just trying to turn work into a game night? I think it’s a solid way to recruit and retain volunteers, but I need to sell it as legit. As part of the offer this would already be 8 extra hours unpaid of my time, and it would be on a day we aren’t usually open?
• Should I even call it D&D, or is it better to advertise it as “TTRPG” to keep it open to other systems (not sure if it would be a weird legalise thing)?
• Transport, I think most of the town is elderly and that the younger people I meet take public transport in from the surrounding towns, on Sunday travel is usually reduced so it might act counter to the plan.
• Having to dismiss a problem player would be SUCH a headache in this situation because I have no idea how in paperwork terms i’d be able to be like “they were mean in dungeons and dragons” and have it go through XD

One bonus: If I have volunteers for a whole day, there’s actually a small budget I could use for snacks per person (as long as the shop makes money on that day, it’s like 5 quid a person or some such). So, I could definitely throw in some treats to make it feel like a proper event.

The campaign would be in-person, and people would have to go through the basic volunteer sign-up process first. I hope that once they’re in, they’ll enjoy the game and be motivated to help out more often. That and I’ll have some people on my team that don’t need me to press play on videos and switch tabs for them literally (Yes actual thing I have had to deal with).

So… does this sound like it could work? Has anyone tried something similar before? Or am I just galaxy-braining this into oblivion? Would love any advice, hot takes, or stories from people who’ve done something similar! I get to pitch this to the big boss on next week and I have absolutely no idea what sort of mood they’ll be in since the shop has been struggling due to a complete lack of volunteers so I may be poking a bear.

Please please please slap me down if this is a dumb idea, I really don’t want to make a fool of myself in front of my boss