COVID-19 has brought unprecedented challenges, especially for organizations relying on volunteers.

If you are one of those organizations, in a normal July, you might be planning (or planning to be a part of) an annual “Day of Service” and connecting with corporate volunteers. But this year, you might be considering canceling (or vastly rethinking) these critical events.

At Golden, we’re lucky to work with some incredible organizations who are planning ahead and innovating in this time of social distancing. Whether that means leveraging online capabilities, moving activities outdoors, or finding new ways to deliver services, here are some trends we’re seeing.

  • Now is the time to invest in relationships, which means rethinking NOT canceling. Annual “Days of Service” are incredibly important events for engaging corporate donors, building connections in the community, and recruiting new supporters.
  • Companies are more engaged than ever. Despite difficulties meeting in person, companies are more engaged than ever before. Corporate volunteering was trending up pre-COVID-19, and that trend is accelerating as employees, customers and others demand that corporations make positive impacts on their communities.
  • Anyone can organize a Day of Service. Local volunteer centers and United Ways have been incredible conveners of “Days of Service” in the past, but not every organization is lucky enough to have a great local volunteer center. But that doesn’t mean you can’t organize one on your own!
  • Days of Service help broaden your donor base. Everyone knows that Days of Service are great ways to engage corporate donors...but are you also building relationships with individual employees?!
  • Leverage software to decrease your administrative burden. There are several software tools to help you manage your Day of Service. I’m obviously partial to Golden’s brand new (and free for 2020!) “Day of Service” module that helps you collect, review and curate Opportunity submissions, and then assign them to your corporate partners all in one place.

Read the full article about organizing volunteering during COVID-19 by Steve Sherrill at Charity Navigator.