Giving Compass' Take:

• Service projects should be well structured and have a vision, plan, and process to achieve the most impact. 

• How can corporations utilize these tips to build more effective CSR programs? 

• Read about the benefits of corporate volunteering. 

Running service projects requires a lot of planning, coordination, and execution. Projects can include tasks such as painting classrooms, building pergolas & benches, and landscaping a large open space.  You have to gather input from a number of different people to ensure you’re fulfilling a need the community truly wants.

  1. Build a Team Around a Vision:  It can be a challenge to get a big project done by yourself, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Bring people along to be a part of the change you’re trying to create. But don’t become a taskmaster and delegate things to do from a position of authority.
  2. Ask All the Questions: Do your best to discover as much as you can as early as possible and what takes precedence. There are a lot of things to consider when planning on top of the actual work that is getting done.
  3. Map Your Process: Planning a service project is just as much a process as cooking breakfast. It’s very important to map out what needs to be done then follow those directions or your results may not come out the way you intended.
  4. Keep Volunteer Experience at the Forefront: Move with purpose as opposed to running to handle issues as they come up. I make it a point to be intentional about not running at a service project.
  5. Tell the Story: Be sure to talk about why everyone is in the space they’re in and what impact they will have on the space.

Read the full article about service projects by Marvin Cadet at Mission Continues Blog