In the eyes of today’s employees, consumers, and shareholders, a successful company is no longer defined by just its profits. Now, you must have a purpose—a commitment to bettering your community, developing a thriving workplace culture, and acting with integrity across your business practices.
As corporate social responsibility (CSR) becomes a rising priority around the world, your company needs to refine its strategies for engaging employees in social impact to stand out.
Fortunately, for modern companies, there are modern solutions. In this guide, we’ll explore how a corporate volunteering platform can streamline your CSR initiatives and share several top options to consider. We’ll cover:
- Corporate Volunteering Platform FAQs
- Top Corporate Volunteering Platforms for Social Good
- How to Choose Corporate Volunteering Software
76% of U.S. employees want to work for a company that positively impacts the world and nearly half would consider resigning from their role if the company’s values didn’t align with their own. By investing in a corporate volunteering platform, you can make it easy for employees to step up in their communities and become a collective force for social good.
Corporate Volunteering Platform FAQs
Whether you already have an established employee volunteer program or you’re looking to launch one, it’s important to understand the basics of corporate volunteering software before you begin searching for the best solution for your company. Let’s go over some frequently asked questions:
What is a corporate volunteering platform?
A corporate volunteering platform equips companies with the tools they need to manage a successful corporate volunteering program, from sharing upcoming volunteer events to tracking hours served.
Using this type of software, you can provide a variety of volunteering opportunities to employees, such as volunteer grants, volunteer time off (VTO), and skills-based volunteering.
What are the benefits of workplace volunteer platforms?
A workplace volunteer platform allows you to maximize involvement in your corporate volunteering program, leading to a host of benefits for your company, employees, and community.
The following statistics illustrate exactly why businesses should use a corporate volunteering platform to improve their programs:
- Over 65% of people around the world want to work for an organization that has a powerful social conscience.
- 96% of companies find that employees who volunteer are more engaged than those who don’t.
- Companies experience 52% less turnover among new employees who participate in their corporate giving programs, like volunteer days.
- 73% of Americans indicate that companies must demonstrate how they’re supporting communities and the environment to win their support.
- Volunteers over the age of 60 report better physical health and lower rates of depression and anxiety.
What do these numbers tell us? A workplace volunteer platform provides the tools to drastically simplify the work needed to tap into these important benefits. Once established, this software will fuel a powerful flywheel of talent acquisition, engagement, retention, and positive brand impacts. Plus, as employees find it easier to take part in team-building volunteer events, they’ll develop a stronger sense of collaboration and trust with their colleagues.
What are some essential features of corporate volunteering software?
While there are numerous options for corporate volunteering software out there, each with its own strengths and capabilities, keep an eye out for these essential features to set your volunteer program up for success:
- Event management. Your corporate volunteering platform should allow your company to promote nonprofit volunteering opportunities and plan your own in-person, hybrid, or virtual team volunteer events.
- Registration and scheduling. Employees should be able to search and sign up for volunteer opportunities directly on your workplace volunteer platform. This feature facilitates participation and makes it easy for your company to manage upcoming volunteer shifts.
- Volunteer profiles. Your employees likely have differing interests and motivations for volunteering. Most corporate volunteering platforms allow your company to store important details in volunteer profiles so you can provide a more personalized experience for each employee based on their skills and preferences.
- Hours tracking. With this feature, employees should be able to log their volunteer hours, whether they’re working toward the minimum eligibility requirement for a volunteer grant or trying to keep track of their VTO. Your company can use this information to recognize and reward employees who go above and beyond as well.
- Mobile engagement. According to DataReportal, the average mobile user spends more than five hours per day using their phone. Look for corporate volunteering software that offers a mobile app for more convenient check-ins, hours tracking, and communications.
- Volunteer grants. 40% of Fortune 500 companies have volunteer grant programs, in which they donate a certain amount of money to a nonprofit based on how many hours their employees volunteer with that organization. Some corporate volunteering platforms automatically process volunteer grant requests to streamline these impactful opportunities.
- Reporting. VolunteerMatch reports that the top two reasons people share for volunteering are making a difference in their community and contributing to a cause they care about. Keep your employees invested in your workplace volunteer program and increase your brand reputation by adopting a corporate volunteering platform that generates real-time reports on your company’s impact.
Use these main features as a jumping-off point for your research. At the same time, if you have other workplace giving initiatives such as matching donations or payroll deductions, consider finding a corporate volunteering software solution that offers a more comprehensive set of features for all your CSR activities.
Want to learn how to develop a corporate giving and volunteering program that engages employees, boosts your reputation, and amplifies your impact in the community? Check out our free downloadable guide on CSR for business impact.
Top Corporate Volunteering Platforms for Social Good
To support your journey in researching corporate volunteering software options for your company, we’ve compiled a list of top solutions to consider:
1. Uncommon Giving
Uncommon Giving is a modern, lightweight corporate volunteering platform designed to meet all of your company’s CSR needs and help you build an engaging corporate culture driven by purpose. We’ve provided companies like Bloomerang, Regent Bank, and Prime Finance with the tools they need to engage more employees, improve their brand reputation, and make a lasting social impact on their communities.
Our innovative platform minimizes the time and effort it takes to launch and conduct an impactful workplace giving program, freeing up significant resources that you can devote to other areas of your company’s success.
Companies of all sizes can tap into the following game-changing features:
- Volunteering. Launch volunteer grant programs, plan team-wide events, and share volunteer opportunities with ease. Allow your employees to log their volunteer hours and follow nonprofit social media posts through a personalized Generosity Feed.
- Corporate giving. Leverage an easy-to-use dashboard that launches in less than 24 hours and integrates with your payroll system to manage all of your corporate giving activities in one secure place.
- Employee giving and matching. Facilitate employee giving by running a matching gift program, offering automatic payroll deductions, and enabling one-time or recurring donations to any 501(c)(3) organization through the platform.
- Charitable wallet. Donor-advised funds (DAFs) are charitable giving accounts typically reserved for wealthy donors who want to consolidate their future gifts to nonprofit causes in one place. Uncommon Giving makes DAFs accessible to all of your employees by providing them with a charitable wallet for making donations and a database of over 1.2 million vetted nonprofits to explore.
- Full-function mobile app. Empower employees to participate in your workplace giving programs whenever or wherever they’d like with Uncommon Giving’s free mobile app. Employees can sign up for volunteer opportunities, track hours, share photos, and use their charitable giving wallet on any mobile device.
- Real-time reporting. Measure your company’s employee engagement and social impact with configurable dashboards that display real-time data on your programs. Share these reports with key stakeholders and use these insights to identify ways to improve your results moving forward.
For a more in-depth look at Uncommon Giving’s extensive features, check out our short video overview of the platform:
As highlighted in the video, investing in a corporate volunteering platform like Uncommon Giving allows you to create tailored giving and volunteering experiences that engage all of your employees. Our solution will simplify workplace giving and awaken generosity within your company by automating your processes and measuring your impact.
2. Benevity
Benevity’s workplace volunteer platform aims to enhance employee engagement and strengthen company culture with tools that automate key processes such as event signups and time-tracking.
Benevity’s solution allows companies to:
- Create or share existing volunteering opportunities within the community.
- Provide personalized dashboards for employees to view their volunteer participation as a whole.
- Run and manage volunteer grants.
- Engage volunteer ambassadors around the world to make a global impact.
- Access real-time reports on volunteer engagement.
Plus, employees can strengthen bonds within the workplace by inviting their colleagues to join opportunities for which they’ve signed up.
3. Corporate Connect by Galaxy Digital
Corporate Connect is a volunteer management software solution that supports companies in reaching their volunteer program goals and amplifying their community impact.
Some of Corporate Connect’s key volunteer engagement tools include:
- Automated tools for tracking hours
- Real-time infographic reports on impact
- Mobile app for check-ins and hours tracking
- Personalized volunteer opportunity recommendations for employees
- Custom-branded company dashboard
Galaxy Digital’s Customer Experience Team provides a custom launch process and ongoing support as needed.
4. Goodera
Goodera facilitates a variety of corporate volunteering opportunities for employee onboarding, service months, retreats, and more.
Companies using Goodera can:
- Tap into a network of over 50,000 nonprofits to find volunteer opportunities.
- Curate engaging volunteer activities based on their specific requirements.
- Schedule an in-person or virtual volunteer event hosted by a Goodera emcee.
- Access a 24/7 support desk with questions or concerns.
Additionally, Goodera allows you to send out post-event surveys to collect feedback on employee experiences, so you can better adjust your corporate volunteering strategy to their preferences.
5. Selflessly
Selflessly is built for companies that want to develop a socially conscious brand through corporate volunteering.
With this corporate volunteering platform, companies can:
- Plan a variety of team and skills-based volunteering events.
- Find over 60,000 local and national volunteer opportunities across the U.S.
- Identify key insights through purpose-driven reporting.
- Track individual and company-wide volunteer history.
Plus, if your company offers VTO, Selflessly allows employees to easily log and keep track of their hours.
6. Volunteer from Submittable
Volunteer from Submittable is an employee-first workplace volunteer platform for companies that want to maximize participation with high-quality employee volunteering experiences.
Submittable’s solution allows employees to:
- Create and share their own volunteer events.
- Search through your company’s library of volunteering opportunities and sign up.
- View an individual dashboard that displays their impact and remaining VTO.
Additionally, your company can measure its impact and volunteer time spent on causes using employee dashboards and cross-organization reporting.
7. GivePulse
GivePulse is an all-in-one volunteer management software solution that companies, nonprofits, and higher education institutions can use to manage their volunteer programs.
GivePulse’s main tools allow users to:
- Schedule shifts, check in volunteers, and track hours on any device.
- Store volunteer information and past applications in a single database.
- Create email templates and automated reminders for volunteers.
- Track partnerships and affiliations with other organizations.
Companies can access GivePulse’s dedicated support team, which has an average response time of less than three hours, at any point during their engagement.
8. Bonterra Volunteerism
Bonterra Volunteerism, formerly known as CyberGrants, allows companies to provide a wide variety of volunteering opportunities to engage their employees.
The corporate volunteering platform’s key features include:
- Virtual or in-person volunteer event creation
- Dollars for Doers program management
- Volunteer gamification with leaderboards and other social elements
- Reporting on data such as number of hours volunteered and community impact
Every Volunteerism customer will receive a dedicated point of contact for support, along with access to an online help center containing resources such as videos and articles on best practices.
9. isolved Giving & Volunteering
isolved Giving & Volunteering is a workplace giving platform for companies interested in increasing employee engagement, recruiting top talent, and tapping into the tax savings of corporate giving.
isolved Giving & Volunteering allows companies to:
- Automate corporate volunteering processes such as campaign launch and tax reporting.
- Process employee donations with isolved Payroll software integration.
- Spotlight employees and share program milestones.
- Connect to a network of over 2 million nonprofits to find volunteer events.
The top industries that leverage this workplace giving platform are healthcare, financial services, and professional services.
10. Chezuba
Chezuba is a CSR platform that supports companies with employee volunteering and workplace giving programs.
By using Chezuba, companies can:
- Curate volunteer opportunities based on employee skills and preferences.
- Access comprehensive real-time impact reports.
- Collect feedback from employees and nonprofits to improve their programs.
- Set up matching gift and volunteer grant programs.
The CSR platform will seamlessly integrate with your existing payroll systems and comes with a 24/7 customer support team.
11. Goodup
Goodup is an employee engagement platform for companies interested in amplifying their community impact and creating fulfilling volunteer experiences for employees.
Some of Goodup’s key features include:
- Personalized volunteer opportunity matching based on employee skills, interests, and location.
- Time-tracking, signup, and calendar reminder automation.
- Filtering based on skills, in-person vs. online, and individual vs. team opportunities.
Furthermore, Goodup’s basic plan comes with tools for workplace gamification and an easy-to-use interface for sharing impact stories.
12. Deedmob
Deedmob’s corporate volunteering platform is designed for purpose-driven companies that want to engage more employees in their volunteer programs.
This solution provides companies with:
- A customizable website
- The ability for employees to start and share volunteering opportunities
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) impact tracking
Plus, you can connect the platform to your Corporate Foundation to measure progress toward your specific goals and share the results of your programs.
How to Choose Corporate Volunteering Software
Ultimately, the most suitable corporate volunteering platform for your company will depend on your employees, budget, and goals. Follow these steps to narrow your options down to the best fit:
- Assess your corporate volunteer program needs. Do you want to offer VTO or volunteer grants? Are you looking for a corporate giving solution that streamlines other aspects of your workplace giving program beyond volunteering? Use these priorities to inform your search.
- Research popular options and read reviews. Look online for popular corporate volunteering software solutions and reach out to your professional connections to see if they have any recommendations. Read reviews to find out more about other companies’ experiences with the platforms and choose your top picks.
- Schedule demos and look for free trials. Request demos to get a better feel for the software and ask specific questions related to its functionality. See whether there are any free trials available for testing the platform further.
If you need a little more help in deciding on the right fit for your company, consider surveying your employees to learn more about their priorities or putting together a small focus group to try out some of your top options.
Unlock Meaningful Impact with a Workplace Volunteer Platform
With corporate volunteering software on your side, your company will be well on its way to becoming a CSR leader in its industry. Your employees will appreciate the engaging volunteer opportunities you provide and your customers will recognize the meaningful impact that you’re generating within their communities.
If you’d like to learn more about employee engagement best practices and tips for furthering your social impact, check out these additional resources.
- Creating a Company Culture using the Power of Purpose. Learn how to acquire and retain top talent by infusing purpose into your company culture in this guide.
- 4 Ways to Promote Workplace Generosity. Bring new energy to your company by exploring these four ways to awaken generosity among your employees.
- Engage your employees with the benefits of year-end charitable giving. Explore tips and benefits of engaging employees in workplace giving in this guide.
