The recession forced Corporate America to do more with less. As such, new innovations in employee volunteering developed out of necessity, and the result has been a flowering of fresh ways to engage employees and communities that are here to stay.
As more companies have prioritized corporate volunteering and brought this spirit of innovation to their programs, they have seen the results: improvements in recruiting and retention, employee satisfaction, leadership and skill development, brand value, innovation, community relationships, and more.
The Points of Light Institute, a beacon of insight amidst the wild sea of volunteering, has researched the best practices that they have seen in corporate volunteerism over the past few years. If you’re involved with employee volunteering in any way, you’ll want to read what they have to say about the blueprint for volunteering success.
I encourage you to read Points of Light’s excellent comprehensive report, which provides specific action steps and metrics to consider. For now, here are the report’s highlights about the different stages of creating a successful employee volunteer program:
1. The Plan
The best employee volunteer programs (EVPs) know where they’re going. They have goals around impact, engagement and business goals and have articulated clear strategies about how to achieve these goals. Make sure you:
**Document the vision or purpose of your EVP.
**Identify impact and employee goals you'd like the EVP to achieve.
**Consider aligning the impact goals of your EVP to a cause that is in line with your industry or that impacts your company’s core stakeholders.
2. The Design
As you’re designing your program, consider all of the resources you can bring to bear: your employees’ skills, corporate assets (such as philanthropic dollars, in-kind contributions, equipment, real estate and other physical assets), and your company’s core competencies. Think about how you can enhance corporate operations and adopt structures and policies which will allow you to scale your program and maximize engagement. Make sure you:
**Assess employees’ interests and community needs.
**Consider skills-based or board service activities.
**Create signature activities or programs.
**Align EVPs with philanthropic dollars, in-kind contributions and other physical assets.
**Develop a structure for your EVP, such as creating volunteer councils,
assigning volunteer ambassadors to satellite cities or regions, adopting paid release time for volunteerism, integrating volunteerism into performance evaluations and providing support resources and toolkits for volunteer leaders.
3. Leadership
The best EVPs flourish from support at all levels of the company. Make sure you:
**Secure support from the C-Suite and executive-level managers, as well as middle management, as they’re crucial to galvanizing employee participation.
**Check out this great resource which shows examples of how to engage each level of leadership in your program.
4. Partnerships
Strategic partnerships and collaboration with government, private and nonprofit partners are a must. Make sure you:
**Cultivate long-term partnerships and opportunities for multiple volunteer projects.
**Pursue partnership goals by combining in-kind and financial donations with volunteer efforts.
**Engage community stakeholders and partners to raise additional funds, resources, or commitments from other institutions for a community purpose.
**Check out these tools and resources on building effective partnerships.
5. Employee Engagement
You just know when an EVP is working for your employees. You can feel it from the excitement in the air, and you can see it through the increased morale, productivity, retention, and workplace skills that come from the best of these programs. Make sure you:
**Incentivize your programs via tools such as Dollars for Doers, paid time off, or a volunteer award.
**Integrate volunteering into employee recruitment, orientation activities and supporting materials, and into team-building and social activities at work.
**Encourage storytelling amongst your volunteers and integrate it into your program. Read more about the importance of storytelling in volunteering here.
6. Measurement
Measurable impact is the name of the game, otherwise you have no idea whether your efforts are bearing fruit for your community, employees or bottom line. Make sure you:
**Collect data from both volunteers and nonprofits that have received volunteer services.
**Create strong data collection and use management systems that help you measure change over time.
**Check out these tools and resources on capturing EVP measurement.
7. Success and Growth.
Celebrating success is important, but so is continually learning from others’ best practices and improving upon your efforts. Make sure you:
**Formally recognize the success of your efforts amongst your employees.
**Report on your EVP in an annual report.
**Communicate with employees and all stakeholders so that you can report on your own impact and share learnings.
**Tools and resources around success and growth in your EVP can be found here.
Understanding the development of best practices in an EVP reminds us that these programs aren’t meant to be static. Rather, they should be an ever changing part of your company culture that evolves along with your business and the desires of your employees. If you feel that your program has stagnated, walk through these steps from the beginning to reimagine the full potential of your impact and take the recommended actions that will yield a more powerful EVP.
Also read:
Another Data Point for Performance Reviews: Corporate Volunteerism
Morning Cup of Inspiration: Employee Appreciation Quotes
Need Fundraising Ideas? Talk to a Millennial