While it might seem difficult to organize a giving and volunteer program at your company, with proper management the task is far less cumbersome. Your first priority should be to make it simple for employees to give or to sign up for a volunteer opportunity. Pre-organize an event and provide plenty of different options so that your staff only needs to look at sheet, find a spot that works and fill in their names. Be sure to publicize the event as much as possible. Hang posters in your staff break room or in other spots where workers congregate. Don't forget to discuss the event and pass around a sign-up sheet during staff meetings.
Not only do you want corporate giving to be easy for employees, you also don't want to place a big burden on busy managers or administrators. You need to make sure that your efforts are easy to manage. One way to do this is to make sure that you assign an administrator to stay in close connection with someone from your charitable organization to coordinate all the details of the upcoming event.
When you set up your company's volunteer program, be sure it aligns with your company's other philanthropic endeavors. It is important to focus most of your efforts in one key area in order to maximize results. For instance, if your goal is to promote education, focus your efforts on charities and volunteer events that promote education. To reduce the amount of management work, consider creating a custom site on the company's intranet which lists all of the charities supported by the company. Make it easy for employees to quickly make a donation, and list the types of volunteer options that are available. If other types of donations are needed aside from monetary donations, be sure to list these needs. In addition, highlight your corporate matching efforts so that employees also are aware of this option.
You also need to ensure that record keeping is a high priority. Keeping accurate records of volunteer hours, monetary donations and other philanthropic efforts is the best way to monitor campaign performance. You can easily track what parts of your program are working and which areas need to be enhanced.
Instead of trying to track this data on a spreadsheet, consider using volunteer management software as this makes the whole process much easier and far more accurate. This type of software also allows you to instantly grab a progress report and share the results of your corporate giving program with company leaders as quickly as possible.
Many employees may want to volunteer but don't quite know where or how to channel their passion. Providing vetted volunteering options for employees to choose from will make involvement easier, rather than asking employees to find and identify volunteer opportunities on their own. Remember the first rule of volunteer management: Make it easy.
Remember that input from employees is often extremely helpful, and some of your employees might already be volunteering for a cause for which they have great passion. Be sure to ask employees to share information about events in which they are participating and suggest ideas for the corporate giving program. Encouraging their ideas is a great way to make employees feel like they are truly a part of the program.
Lack of time or enthusiasm are not the top reasons why employees don't take part in volunteer programs. The main reason is simply because no one asked them to participate. People are often hesitant about making that first step, so be sure to ask your employees to help and often. Bring up volunteer events at meetings, take up signup sheets and send out informative emails discussing company goals, upcoming events and the impact of the corporate giving program. When employees do volunteer, never forget to recognize this effort. When people know that they are appreciated, they are far more likely to participate in future events.
Not only do you want corporate giving to be easy for employees, you also don't want to place a big burden on busy managers or administrators. You need to make sure that your efforts are easy to manage. One way to do this is to make sure that you assign an administrator to stay in close connection with someone from your charitable organization to coordinate all the details of the upcoming event.
When you set up your company's volunteer program, be sure it aligns with your company's other philanthropic endeavors. It is important to focus most of your efforts in one key area in order to maximize results. For instance, if your goal is to promote education, focus your efforts on charities and volunteer events that promote education. To reduce the amount of management work, consider creating a custom site on the company's intranet which lists all of the charities supported by the company. Make it easy for employees to quickly make a donation, and list the types of volunteer options that are available. If other types of donations are needed aside from monetary donations, be sure to list these needs. In addition, highlight your corporate matching efforts so that employees also are aware of this option.
You also need to ensure that record keeping is a high priority. Keeping accurate records of volunteer hours, monetary donations and other philanthropic efforts is the best way to monitor campaign performance. You can easily track what parts of your program are working and which areas need to be enhanced.
Instead of trying to track this data on a spreadsheet, consider using volunteer management software as this makes the whole process much easier and far more accurate. This type of software also allows you to instantly grab a progress report and share the results of your corporate giving program with company leaders as quickly as possible.
Many employees may want to volunteer but don't quite know where or how to channel their passion. Providing vetted volunteering options for employees to choose from will make involvement easier, rather than asking employees to find and identify volunteer opportunities on their own. Remember the first rule of volunteer management: Make it easy.
Remember that input from employees is often extremely helpful, and some of your employees might already be volunteering for a cause for which they have great passion. Be sure to ask employees to share information about events in which they are participating and suggest ideas for the corporate giving program. Encouraging their ideas is a great way to make employees feel like they are truly a part of the program.
Lack of time or enthusiasm are not the top reasons why employees don't take part in volunteer programs. The main reason is simply because no one asked them to participate. People are often hesitant about making that first step, so be sure to ask your employees to help and often. Bring up volunteer events at meetings, take up signup sheets and send out informative emails discussing company goals, upcoming events and the impact of the corporate giving program. When employees do volunteer, never forget to recognize this effort. When people know that they are appreciated, they are far more likely to participate in future events.
About the Author:
Sebastian Troup loves blogging about philantrophic solutions for businesses and non profit organizations. For further info about corporate charitable giving ideas, or to find help setting up a workplace giving campaign, please check out the Truist.com site today.
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