A holiday bonus with a catch: You can't keep it

— -- Since their holiday party, State Bank & Trust employees have been buzzing — not about which colleagues consumed too much eggnog, but about which worthy individuals or causes will receive the money each worker was given with instructions to "pay it forward."

The bank, headquartered in Fargo, N.D., gave each full-time employee $1,000 and part-timers $500 each to donate to someone else. That adds up to more than $500,000, says Michael Solberg, the bank's chief operating officer.

Money can't go to family members or co-workers, and employees must videotape their donation with cameras the bank gave them to keep. At last year's Christmas party, bank employees were given $1,000 gifts for themselves.

Solberg's wife, Charleen, suggested this year's surprise after seeing Oprah Winfrey do the same thing with her TV audience. An Oprah impersonator was flown in from Las Vegas to make the announcement to surprised employees of the company's 14 banks in North Dakota and Minnesota. They have until June 30 to give the money away and document their good deeds, Solberg says.

Amber Dahl, 29, a teller, has chosen her beneficiaries: Jason and Kelli Medders, friends who recently lost three of the quadruplets they were expecting; the surviving baby is hospitalized. "They were speechless," Dahl says. "I'd love to give them more." Jason Medders says Dahl's gift is "very humbling."

Greg Hammes, 42, the bank's counsel, is trying to enlist as many co-workers as he can to pool their money and seek matching funds from companies in Fargo. He hopes to collect enough to build a new home for Nokomis Child Care Center, which serves low-income families and children with behavior disorders. Hammes hopes the idea catches on at other companies. "If we all leave the woodpile a little higher, this world's going to be a better place," he says.

Arday Ardayfio, 30, a private banking officer, considered giving his $1,000 to cancer research. The party announcement "was jaw-dropping," he says. "It kind of blew me away." He has worked at the bank for a year and a half and says it has "a culture of giving."