Employee Volunteering is More Than Corporate Social Responsibility

Giving Compass’ Take:

• Tessa Srebro highlights the benefits of consistent employee volunteer programs versus a few big employee volunteer events. 

• Limiting the number of volunteer opportunities does not take into consideration the interests and passions of the individual employees. How can employees become more involved in the planning of corporate volunteer initiatives? 

• Read about how to build a corporate nonprofit volunteer partnership. 

---

Team-building is a great reason to volunteer. Employees who volunteer together have the opportunity to form closer bonds. At larger companies, a corporate volunteer event might be an employees’ first interaction with a co-worker from a different team or department.

But that’s only part of the equation.

Not everyone likes to volunteer the same way. By restricting your company’s volunteer initiatives to a few large events per year, you’re also restricting employees’ individual passions and skills. People who opt-out of these large-scale volunteer activities won’t have the opportunity to feel like they’re making a difference in their community.

To start, offering variety in the type of group volunteering your company does is key. Not everyone enjoys using their hands to volunteer (although some do!).

Also, empower volunteers to find their own way to give back. Offering volunteer time off (VTO) is a fantastic way to allow your employees to explore their passions.

Read the full article about Corporate Social Responsibility by Tessa Srebro from VolunteerMatch.