Corporate Volunteerism: A Quick-Start Guide to Success

Creating a healthy and dynamic workplace is easier said than done. If your company wants to strengthen its workplace culture and become an influential leader in its industry, there’s one key ingredient you’ll need: corporate volunteerism. In this guide, we’ll explore how you can fit corporate volunteerism into your business strategy and unlock its benefits. Here’s what we’ll cover:

• Corporate Volunteerism: FAQs
• How to Develop a Corporate Volunteer Program
• Corporate Volunteerism Pitfalls to Avoid
• Proven Strategies for Inspiring Employees to Volunteer
• 5 Top Examples of Corporate Volunteerism

As more job seekers, employees, and consumers begin using social impact to determine whether they support a company, launching workplace giving initiatives like employee volunteering is no longer optional—it’s the key to securing your long-term success in today’s world.

Corporate Volunteerism: FAQs

Corporate volunteerism involves more than simply encouraging employees to volunteer with local nonprofits. Explore these frequently asked questions to align your team before embarking on your own program.

What is corporate volunteerism?

Corporate volunteerism is an aspect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) that encourages employees to volunteer their time and skills to nonprofits and other charitable causes.

Companies typically use corporate volunteering software to connect employees with opportunities that match their interests, track participation, and monitor metrics to improve their programs over time. Meanwhile, nonprofit causes can utilize platforms like Double the Donation Volunteering to gather employment data from supporters, connecting them with corporate volunteer programs offered by their employers.

Why is corporate volunteerism important?

A corporate volunteering program allows your company to become a force for social good within its community. By engaging employees in giving back, your company can tap into many benefits, such as:

• Increased employee acquisition. 71% of job seekers are more attracted to companies that provide paid time off for volunteering, and 56% are more likely to accept a job offer with volunteer opportunities.
• Improved workplace engagement. 84% of employers feel volunteerism is an effective way to engage employees. These programs foster a deeper connection between the employee and the company, which can lead to improved communication, collaboration, and overall job satisfaction.
• Higher workplace morale. 70% of people who participate in corporate volunteer programs believe that doing so boosts morale more than company mixers or other bonding events. Plus, many volunteering opportunities allow employees to develop or improve skills that can boost their productivity in the workplace.
• Enhanced brand reputation. 77% of consumers want to purchase from companies with CSR initiatives. Active corporate volunteerism demonstrates that your company wants to devote its resources to more than just making a profit.
• Stronger employee retention. Corporate volunteering brings a sense of fulfillment to employees’ roles and gives them the chance to bond with their colleagues outside of their day-to-day responsibilities. In fact, employees are 29% less likely to leave a company if they participate in that company’s philanthropic activities.

What’s even better is that your company isn’t the only one that benefits from corporate volunteerism. Research reveals that volunteering leads to improved physical and mental health, which means employees may take fewer sick days and feel more refreshed in the office. Plus, volunteering provides nonprofits with labor and expertise without straining their limited budgets.

What are the common types of corporate volunteering?

There are various types of corporate volunteering that your company can engage in, depending on your specific goals and employee preferences. Some of the most popular types are:

• Direct service volunteering. Employees contribute in ways that directly impact community members, such as serving meals at a soup kitchen or helping to socialize animals at a shelter.
• Indirect service volunteering. Employees support charitable causes without directly interacting with those they’re trying to help, such as sorting donated items for distribution or preparing decorations for a community event.
• Virtual volunteering. Employees contribute their time and energy to nonprofits online, completing tasks like reviewing animal adoption applications or tutoring students remotely.
• Skills-based volunteering. Employees apply personal or professional skills to help nonprofits fulfill their missions, such as providing free graphic design services or technical support.
• Team volunteering. Employees complete larger-scale volunteer projects as a team, such as cleaning up a park or renovating a library.
• Volunteer grants (also known as dollars for doers). Employees are incentivized to volunteer by your company making a donation to the nonprofit they’re supporting. This boosts employee volunteerism, recognizing their efforts and amplifying their impact. It also reinforces your company’s commitment to social responsibility, enhances employee morale, and strengthens ties with nonprofits, improving both workplace culture and your public reputation.
• Volunteer time off (VTO). Employees receive additional paid time off to use specifically for volunteering with nonprofits. This benefit demonstrates a company’s commitment to social responsibility, offering employees the flexibility to engage in causes they care about without sacrificing income.

Incorporating multiple types of corporate volunteer programs can significantly enhance the overall impact of your company’s corporate social responsibility efforts.

By offering a variety of volunteering opportunities, you can cater to different employee preferences and skills, ensuring higher levels of participation. For example, while some employees prefer hands-on, direct service volunteering, others feel more comfortable contributing their professional expertise through skills-based volunteering or participating in virtual programs. By diversifying volunteer opportunities, your company’s philanthropic efforts can reach a broader range of causes and communities, making a more significant and far-reaching impact.

How to Develop a Corporate Volunteer Program

There is no universal formula for successful corporate volunteerism. Instead, your company should structure its approach around its goals, employee expectations, and budget. Follow these steps to build a corporate volunteer program that resonates with your employees and overall community:

1. Survey your employees.

To create employee giving and volunteering opportunities that employees actually want to participate in, start by learning about what’s important to them. Then, use these priorities to guide your decision-making. For example, 88% of U.S. employees are concerned about the state of the global economy, and 73% are concerned about climate change.

As you prepare to map out your corporate volunteering program, send out a survey to employees with questions such as:

• What causes or issues are you most passionate about supporting?
• What skills would you like to learn or practice while volunteering?
• On a scale of one to five, how interested are you in virtual volunteering?
• How would you prefer to hear about upcoming employee volunteering opportunities?
• Are you more interested in one-time or ongoing volunteer projects?
• Would you prefer to volunteer individually or as part of a team?
• What obstacles, if any, would prevent you from volunteering?
• What incentives would motivate you to increase your volunteerism?
• Would you be interested in utilizing Volunteer Time Off to partake in volunteer activities?
• How can our company best support you in your personal volunteerism?

As your planning progresses, consider establishing a volunteer committee composed of employees who are enthusiastic about the program. Members of this committee can act as ambassadors of your corporate volunteerism, helping you build momentum, motivate employees to participate, and coordinate engaging activities across the company.

2. Outline your corporate volunteer program’s guidelines.

Formalize your corporate volunteering activities by compiling your company’s processes and guidelines into an official policy. In this document, you should include key details such as:

• Program goals. Connect your corporate volunteering program with your company’s overall mission, values, and CSR strategy. Emphasize what you hope to accomplish by supporting employee volunteerism, such as giving back to the community and helping employees develop new skills.
• VTO procedures. If your company offers VTO, specify how many hours employees can use and the process of requesting this time off. Companies that provide VTO allow employees to take an average of 20 VTO hours per year. From there, you can determine which types of activities count toward VTO, if there are any requirements around eligible nonprofits, and what the process is for getting time off approval.
• Volunteer grant process. If your company awards volunteer grants, know that they can vary in structure, offering different ways to reward employees for their volunteer efforts. Common models include flat rate donations after reaching a certain number of hours, per-hour donations where employees earn a set amount for each volunteer hour, or a tiered system that increases donation amounts as employees volunteer more hours. Determine how employees will track their hours and submit a request for the grant, and whether you’ll want to verify hours before donating to the chosen nonprofit.
• Eligibility criteria. Describe whether full-time, part-time, and retired employees are eligible to take VTO, request a volunteer grant, or sign up for team volunteering opportunities. Additionally, your company can designate which nonprofits it will and won’t support—for example, many companies exclude religious or political organizations from their corporate giving initiatives.
• Employee conduct. When employees participate in your corporate volunteering opportunities, they act as your company’s representatives. Include a code of conduct that defines expectations related to professionalism, safety, and respect.

Add this policy to your employee handbook and consider publishing a condensed version on your website to promote transparency with your whole community.

3. Invest in corporate volunteering tools.

Before engaging employees in your corporate volunteering opportunities, ensure you have the right tools to manage and streamline their experiences. Look for a corporate giving platform with the following volunteering features:

• Event management. Plan in-person, hybrid, and virtual volunteering events in conjunction with nonprofits.
• Registration and scheduling. Make it easy for employees to search for upcoming volunteer openings and sign up for a role.
• Volunteer profiles. Store employee details, such as their interests and skills, in individual volunteer profiles to promote opportunities that resonate with them.
• Hours tracking. Employees should be able to log their volunteer hours so your company can monitor their VTO usage or progress toward the volunteer grant hours requirement.
• Mobile engagement. Make volunteering more convenient for employees with a mobile app that has check-in, hours tracking, and messaging capabilities.
• Volunteer grants. Automatically process, approve, and fulfill volunteer grant applications based on your company’s predefined criteria.
• Reporting. Access real-time reports on employee participation and your company’s impact to gain insights into your program’s performance.

Once you’ve narrowed down your top choices with these features, request demos to see how the software works firsthand. Ask the provider about the training and support they provide, as well as integration options with your existing software, to find the perfect fit for your company.

For example, consider working with vendors who partner with nonprofit organizations to enhance your program’s reach and impact. Platforms like Double the Donation and Uncommon Giving have established partnerships that connect companies to nonprofit databases, helping your employees easily find volunteer opportunities and allowing your company to support a wide range of causes. This collaboration improves the visibility and accessibility of your corporate volunteering program, creating mutual benefits for employees and the causes they care about.

4. Promote your corporate volunteer program.

With your corporate volunteering platform in place, it’s time to promote your volunteer initiatives to employees and generate excitement. Start by presenting your program in a company-wide meeting or kick-off event. Highlight the benefits of participating, and ask leaders and managers to set an example by signing up for your upcoming activities.

Follow up by spreading the word via multiple channels, including:

• Your website. Create a dedicated corporate volunteerism page that outlines your opportunities and program guidelines. Then, as employees get involved in their communities, produce blog posts that share success stories and illustrate your company’s impact.
• Social media. Post clips and snapshots of employee volunteers in action, shouting out key contributors and their impact. Encourage employees to post their own experiences on their social media pages to maximize awareness.
• Email newsletters. Add a section in your company newsletter that spotlights upcoming volunteer opportunities and reiterates the benefits of participating.
• Printed posters. Put up eye-catching posters around the office encouraging employees to learn about your company’s volunteering program and announcing events they can sign up for. Include a QR code that employees can scan to access more information and take action immediately.
• Nonprofit databases. Make sure your company and its volunteer program are added to databases like Double the Donation so that it’s quick and easy for employees to locate and access your volunteer incentives.

Provide an email address or form that employees can fill out to submit feedback or volunteer project ideas. By allowing employees to shape your corporate volunteer program more directly, you can secure their long-term interest and involvement.

5. Measure your corporate volunteerism results.

Whether your company has a new or well-established corporate volunteer program, you should always be on the lookout for ways to improve employee engagement and impact. Use your corporate volunteering tools to monitor and analyze:

• Employee participation rate
• Total number of volunteer hours logged
• Total number of volunteer projects or events completed
• Employee satisfaction rate
• Volunteer impact
• Cost of donated services

Use these insights to better adapt your strategies to fit your community’s needs and employees’ expectations. When you receive significant employee feedback related to one area of your program, make changes as needed and report on them to demonstrate that your company is committed to improving its volunteer experiences.

Additionally, many companies compile their corporate volunteerism statistics into an annual impact report that they can share with employees, customers, and other stakeholders to promote transparency, trust, and accountability.

Some nonprofit software developers even maintain databases of corporate giving and volunteerism data. Having accurate numbers and detailed information about your program allows you to contribute to these databases, increasing visibility and participation for your company’s efforts.

Corporate Volunteerism Pitfalls to Avoid

While a strong corporate volunteerism strategy can transform your company’s culture and reputation for the better, there are a few common pitfalls to watch out for:

• Misaligning volunteering initiatives with employee interests. Avoid only focusing on your company’s or executive leadership’s charitable priorities. Use surveys and polls to stay tuned into the causes your employees care most about. When you promote new initiatives, remember to tie them back to your company’s values so it’s easier for employees to understand why you’re asking them to get involved.
• Making employee volunteering mandatory. While more employee participation is certainly better, mandatory volunteering can lead to a lack of enthusiasm across your teams. Rather than feeling motivated to give back to their community and make the world a better place, employees may feel as though they’re simply fulfilling an obligation. Instead, emphasize that volunteer participation is voluntary while offering a variety of opportunities that make it easy to get involved.
• Failing to provide flexible and accessible volunteer opportunities. A recent study revealed that young people with disabilities had a lower prevalence of volunteering compared to young people without disabilities (48.4% vs. 55.6%). Organize virtual volunteering opportunities so employees can contribute in ways that don’t require physical activity, and consider offering stipends to cover childcare costs while employees volunteer.

Think of your corporate volunteer program as a collaborative effort between your company’s leaders and employees. Stay proactive in addressing any concerns that employees raise and focus on incorporating as much flexibility as possible into your program to appeal to varying employee needs and preferences.

Proven Strategies for Inspiring Employees to Volunteer

While the average corporate volunteer participation rate is 33%, top-quartile companies reach up to 66% participation. Implement these strategies to inspire more of your employees to volunteer:

• Name your corporate volunteer program. Simply naming your volunteer program can foster a sense of ownership, community, and pride among employees. For example, a cryotherapy company might name its program “Cryo Cares” and encourage its employees to use #CryoCares when posting about their volunteer experiences on social media.
• Partner with nonprofits. If many of your employees are interested in volunteering with a specific nonprofit, consider forming a long-term partnership with that organization. You can co-host volunteer events throughout the year and even provide higher volunteer grant donations to the organization to encourage more employees to get involved.
• Recognize employees who volunteer. Reinforce employee participation by shouting them out on social media and sending personalized eCards celebrating them for embodying your company’s values.

Consider allowing employees to plan and execute their own team volunteering projects to exercise their leadership skills and advance the causes they care about most. These employee-driven projects give employees the chance to take the wheel and play a more direct role in your company’s social impact.

5 Top Examples of Corporate Volunteerism

While you should avoid copying other corporate volunteer programs to a tee, learning from successful companies can give you a strong foundation to build upon. See how these innovative companies approach corporate volunteerism:

Vibe Credit Union

Driven by its vision to elevate community and create opportunity, Vibe Credit Union engages its employees in volunteering for food pantries, neighborhood renovation projects, libraries, and schools. Last year alone, its employees contributed over 6,500 hours to their communities. Plus, Vibe hosts free Financial Literacy workshops on topics such as credit, savings, and protecting online accounts.

Vibe uses Uncommon Giving’s lightweight workplace giving solution to create a streamlined program experience for its employees, provide a centralized location for accessing volunteer information, and make it easy for volunteers to share highlight photos with their peers.

Guidewire Software

The Guidewire Gives Back program has two strategic pillars:

• Supporting technology education for underserved communities and women
• Supporting people in need due to violence, natural disasters, or a lack of daily living resources

The company developed these strategic pillars by collaborating with its employees and customers. It provides employees with three days of paid VTO and donates $25 for every hour of logged VTO. Plus, every quarter, Guidewire recognizes employees who meet or exceed 24 hours of volunteer service as GGB Champions, who receive $240 to donate to a nonprofit of their choosing.

Gilbane Building Company

Gilbane Building Company’s motto is “Building More Than Buildings.” Beyond providing employees with a half-day to volunteer in their community each year, Gilbane has partnered with United Way for more than 70 years. It regularly engages its employees in the ACE Mentor Program, which inspires high school students to pursue careers in architecture, engineering, and construction.

Recently, Gilbane implemented a company-wide Community Impact Challenge, resulting in more than 4,500 volunteer hours contributed to 150+ nonprofit organizations in just a week.

Actualize Consulting

Actualize Consulting is a financial services firm that partners with several nonprofits to engage employees in volunteering:

• Employees often participate in Alex Lemonade Stand’s Million Mile—walking, running, or biking to raise funds to help cure childhood cancer.
• Employees hold mock interviews with The Doe Fund’s program participants, helping men who were formerly incarcerated prepare for their job searches.
• For over 10 years, Actualize Consulting has partnered with a local organization to pack lunches, donate hot meals, and host wellness fairs for children.

Beyond helping employees give back, the firm embraces CSR by working with the Environmental Protection Agency to assess how it can make more sustainable decisions across its operations.

The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company, a global entertainment leader known for its iconic films, theme parks, and media networks, is deeply committed to corporate social responsibility through its VoluntEARs program. This initiative encourages employees to engage in volunteer opportunities, contributing to a variety of causes such as children’s hospitals, environmental sustainability projects, and local schools.

Disney supports its employees’ volunteering efforts through its EARS to You Grants program, which rewards employees with grants for the nonprofit organizations where they volunteer. Additionally, the company recognizes exceptional volunteers with the VoluntEARS of the Year grants, which typically supply an additional $2,500 to be donated to the volunteer’s chosen nonprofit.

Wrapping Up: The Impact of Corporate Volunteerism

By investing in corporate volunteerism, your company can open the door to a more engaged workforce and stronger ties to its community. As your volunteer program develops, look into other ways you can increase your impact, such as matching donations or allowing employees to give to nonprofits through payroll deductions.

Whatever size or shape your corporate giving program takes, make sure you have the tools to expand your horizons—not hold you back. Uncommon Giving is a comprehensive platform designed to streamline your CSR initiatives, power employee generosity, and provide you with detailed insights into your social impact.

If you’re interested in learning more tips and recommendations to strengthen your CSR strategy, check out these additional resources:

• Employee Giving 101: A Blueprint for Modern Companies. Discover how your company can create a compelling employee giving policy and maximize participation in this guide.
• Donation Matching for Companies: Complete Program Guide. Want to help employees double their impact on the community? Explore all you need to know about donation matching here.
• 11+ Best CSR Software for Impact, Engagement, and ROI. Find the right CSR software to meet your needs and goals. Jump-start your research with our top recommendations!

Andy Howell is the CEO of Uncommon Giving, which provides modern, cost-effective workplace giving and volunteering tools for employers to live their corporate values, improve employee morale, and enhance brand reputation. Andy has years of experience working with SaaS companies serving the nonprofit, HR, and social impact spaces, including Blackbaud, Benevity, Benefitfocus, and Bloomerang. He has served as a featured speaker at the DisruptHR conference, and his company was recognized as one of the best tech startups in South Carolina by the Tech Tribune multiple years running. In his role today, he brings a distinct point of view to the meaningful connection between CSR and employee engagement.