High Impact Volunteering: The Litmus Test

Will your company's employee volunteering program “dramatically strengthen our communities, mitigate humanity’s most stubborn problems and elevate civilization to new heights"? 

Companies are constantly carving new avenues for employee involvement in community investment programs. As the importance of corporate citizenship increases, the style and methods of these programs steadily evolve. On April 7th, we listened to a panel at BCCCC's International Corporate Citizenship Conference, entitled “From Volunteering to Involv-a-teering” where three such programs were highlighted – each successful and inspirational in its own right. Bea Boccolandro, a thought-leader in the fields of CSR and Employee Volunteering, would suggest: “Only employee volunteering deliberately designed to efficiently draw from the strengths of its host company or – in other words – strategic volunteering, will unleash the awesome potential for good.” The programs outlined in the session provided reason to believe that we are, in fact, significantly closer to that potential than ever before.

General Mills

First, Donna Svendson (Associate Director of Community Action) shared about the long-held tradition of General Mills to invest heavily in their communities. According to surveys, GM boasts an 82% volunteer rate (both in and outside of the company) and engages in both traditional and skills based volunteerism. They involve high numbers of employees in entry-level volunteer roles, with a deliberate alignment to their core mission: “Nourishing Lives.” Their program has grown naturally over the years, based in the original philanthropic vision of their founders.

Morgan Stanley

Next, from Joan Steinberg at Morgan Stanley, we heard about an entirely different program. Unlike General Mills, Morgan Stanley’s program did not grow organically over time. In fact, they specifically worked to identify the kind of program that would begin to enable them to tap into the potential of their employees. With hand picked participants and charities that applied for the privilege, teams from Morgan Stanley worked together with NPOs to strategically address growth issues. 100% of the charities they worked with have either adopted or plan on adopting the recommendations received from through this program.


PwC Cananda

James Temple from PwC Canada presented yet another approach to community involvement. At PwC, the majority of employees are under age 30, which requires the company to pay special attention to the perspective of “millennials” – needless to say, this includes focusing on “what’s in it for me.” Toward this end, PwC developed a volunteer continuum. Ultimately, the continuum is intended to help them provide a gamut of programs that will enable employees to volunteer in ways they are passionate about. Already, PwC offers a variety of opportunities to employees such as the Not-for-Profit Apprentice Program, a skills-based experience that matches employees with charities that need specific help with an organizational challenge.

As Bea Boccolandro would say, high-impact volunteering is a unique responsibility that companies are positioned to claim as an opportunity. No other sector has this potential to “dramatically strengthen our communities, mitigate humanity’s most stubborn problems and elevate civilization to new heights.” Want to know if your company’s employee volunteering program is high-impact? Here’s the litmus test: If you were to remove your company from the equation, would it matter? If your employees are able to volunteer and achieve similar outcomes on their own time using their own resources (and that of the nonprofit) then your company may be offering nothing more than a day out of the office - which is good, it’s just not good enough.

Contact us about starting a great employee volunteer program!
chrisjarvis@realizedworth.com or angela@realizedworth.com
317.371.4435

High Impact Volunteering: The Litmus Test