Volunteer Screening Blog

Business relationships can make a big difference to a non-profit organization. Whether developing partnerships for financial support, human resource (volunteer) support or product donations, nonprofits should tap into the offerings of local, regional and national businesses aiming to increase their corporate social responsibility profile and do good things.

Reaching out to corporate partners can be uncomfortable at first, but if you have a good development director, it should be a part of his or her job duties. A natural first step might be contacting local businesses, entrepreneurs and community service organizations like Kiwanis and Rotary International.

Finding avenues for business to help your nonprofit in a win-win situation is the key. While an event sponsorship might be a perfect fit for a financial institution, it might be too much for a construction company. You might ask for their help in other ways – like volunteering their employees to perform repairs on your building or to donate a crew for a day to fix up an elderly client’s home.

Another way for a business to become a valuable partner is through cause-related marketing. For example, a company donates a portion of every sale of a featured item, for a limited time, advertising their efforts and creating goodwill among the public.

Still additional avenues for businesses to get on board with a nonprofit are social enterprises and donating products or services. A social enterprise is a business venture that combines profit making with social advancement. An ice cream shop started expressly to donate all profits to a charity is one example. Another is a work training program that restores and sells used appliances, in order to fund its programs to train displaced workers in appliance repair.

For some companies, donating products or services is the easiest way to support charity work in their community. A web design firm may be able to provide your nonprofit with the new website you need—and they may do it for free or a reduced cost. Advertising, event banners, office supplies and food for events are additional ways your local business community may be willing to support your nonprofit.

Be sure to offer publicity in exchange for a business’s good deeds. Adding a logo to a banner, blasting positive posts on your e-newsletter, Facebook and Twitter and mentioning your business partners in every interview and story about your nonprofit will demonstrate your appreciation and give the company an enhanced image, which is always a good thing.

Sometimes, all it takes is an ask to start forming valuable relationships with business partners that can really make a difference to your organization’s bottom line!

Today, employees are often looking for meaningful work. Younger people, especially, want to make a difference in their lives and are more likely to expect to find purpose in their employment.

In fact, a Wall Street Journal survey in 2006 reported that 70 percent of young people “want to work for a company that cares about how it affects or contributes to society.” Further, 64 percent responded, “their employer’s social and environmental activities inspire loyalty.”

So one can make the case that employees who volunteer are good for the community and for their company. Here are several ways to integrate public service into your company.

• Pay employees to volunteer. It doesn’t have to be an every-week thing, but consider giving employees paid time to serve others in the community. A half day’s work at the food bank or VA hospital brings meaning and a sense of accomplishment to your employee, while doing a great deal of good for people who need help. Employees often return refreshed and inspired—ready to work hard and perhaps appreciate their jobs a little more!
• If you can’t spare any employees during work hours, offer perks or financial rewards to those who volunteer on their own time. A $50 gift card to a local grocery store or restaurant, an offer to buy lunch for a week, or just letting volunteers leave a half-hour early for a week are inexpensive ways to reward community service.
• If you can spare half your employees and run a skeleton crew once or twice a year, organize a half-staff work party. Contact an environmental group to see what outdoor projects a group of your size could help with. Or call the senior center to see if they need any painting or repair work done. Give them half your staff one day, and the other half the next. Consecutive days are not necessary, if that’s too disruptive. Do it on alternating Wednesdays—or whatever your least-busy day is.

Helping employees form stronger bonds with the community and with your company is one big advantage of implementing an employee volunteer program. Try it out and see if you don’t get more than you give!

Microsoft is a big, global enterprise with tens of thousands of employees. The company encourages them to develop their passion and creativity through volunteer efforts, and has several programs in place to support these efforts.

1. Microsoft matches employees’ donations dollar for dollar when they give to charity. But they take it a step further: they also match volunteer time, and value it at $17 per hour. Through the Volunteer Time Matching program, for every hour an employee gives, Microsoft gives the organization $17, up to $12,000 per employee per year.
2. Time-matching programs encourage employees to volunteer for causes they support—whether it’s an environmental initiative, civic improvement or health and human services organization.
3. Microsoft focuses on its community partners, including United Way, HandsOn Network and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, mobilizing employees to support these organizations though the Microsoft Unlimited Potential program.
4. Employees are also encouraged to step up to leadership roles by volunteering to serve on nonprofit boards and to provide business and tehnology consulting at no cost to organizations that help their communities.
5. Disaster relief is another Microsoft focus, and during times of crisis, employees give both their expertise and their financial resources.

The results:

• In 2010, 35,000 Microsoft employees made charitable contributions
• 4,000 employees volunteered 350,000 hours
• Microsoft employees, through contributing money and volunteering their time, gave a total of $96 million to 16,000 nonprofits in 2010
• The top three recipients were the United Way of King County, WA, World Vision International and the Seattle Children’s Hospital Foundation
• Microsoft employees are the largest group of donors for Children’s Hospital
• The company organized hundreds of fundraisers, including a 5K run that raised $130,000, a national poker tournament that raised $260,000 and an online auction that brought in $500,000.

As long as Microsoft continues to be profitable, charities in Washington State and around the world will continue to benefit from the company’s generosity and that of its employees.

Disney means fun, laughter and childhood memories for millions of people around the world. Did you know it also means 1 million pledges by kids to take care of the planet? And an extra 3 million trees being planted in Brazil’s rainforest?

Walt Disney himself frequently visited children in hospitals and funneled resources to organizations that help children in need. Since then, the company has had a tradition of supporting the arts, as well, including developing artists, and encouraging the arts among youth and communities.

A truly global presence, the Disney company has employees in 42 countries and resorts on three continents. Employees are encouraged to volunteer through Disney’s VoluntEARS program.

In 2008, Disney employees raised funds and headed up projects around the world. In North America alone., there were over 1,900 projects, totaling over 440,000 volunteer hours given. In addition, employees raised $1.5 million. Worldwide, nearly 500,000 volunteer hours and $1.7 million were raised.

To help employees become vital VoluntEARS, Disney supports efforts with a paid staff that organizes and manages volunteer projects. Since the inception of the VoluntEARS program 26 years ago, more than 5 million hours of service have been donated.

Other ways Disney supports staff volunteer efforts is by providing financial support for charities where employees give their time. In addition, volunteer events are used as team-building exercises and they have an annual awards program that recognizes outstanding employee volunteer service.

To celebrate the VoluntEARS program’s 25th anniversary, the entire company came together to demonstrate the power of volunteerism. In one month alone, more than 25,000 volunteers participated in 650 projects in 37 countries. Now that’s, a big impact for a better world through volunteerism!

Here are a few ways Disney employees have made the world better:

1. In 2008, the Disney Tri-Team, a triathlon team, raised $240,000 for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Since its inception seven year ago, the team has raised more than $1 million for various charities.
2. The Disney VoluntEARS Community Fund raises money for local charities through employee donations. Disney covers the administrative costs so 100% of donations are invested in the community.
3. In 2008, the VoluntEARS program received an Excellence in Workplace Volunteer Program award from the Points of Light/Hands On Network.
4. Disney also received a Visionary Partner Award for work in renovating elementary school libraries and encouraging family reading from The Wonder of Reading.

It looks like Walt’s desire to provide meaningful service to communities worldwide is alive and well today through the Walt Disney Company’s corporate volunteer program !

According to recent studies, customers really respond when companies are involved in helping their communities, with a direct result to revenues. In this economy, with social funding being cut out of state and federal budgets, volunteers are more vital than ever to thousands of non-profit organizations nationwide.

Here are 10 benefits of implementing a corporate volunteer program:

1. Employee volunteer programs allow corporations to develop more personal relationships in their communities, by sharing their human resources with non-profit organizations in need.
2. According to a 2003 study called Good Companies, Better Employees, employees that participate in company-sponsored volunteer programs think more highly of their employers, with 63% calling it a great place to work compared to other companies.
3. The same study reveals that 67% of employees who participate in volunteer programs are fairly or very satisfied with their jobs.
4. These employee/volunteers also speak more highly of their employers to others, with 54% saying nice things vs. 49% of non-volunteers.
5. Volunteer activities strengthen work teams, build employee skills and contribute to professional development.
6. Employers see higher retention rates for employees who participate in volunteer activities. In addition, they are more likely to pursue promotion and development opportunities after volunteering.
7. Employers can enjoy a higher level of workforce skills when employees volunteer. A 1998 study showed competency improved 14 to 17 percent as a direct result of volunteering.
8. 51% of employees surveyed in 2007 said they believe an employee volunteer program is the greatest contribution a company can make to a non-profit organization. In contrast, only 37% named financial donations and 8% mentioned product donations as the greatest contribution.
9. Corporate-sponsored volunteer events raise visibility in the community. Businesses benefit from positive perceptions and free publicity. Good-news stories about employee volunteers often generate greater media coverage, too.
10. Employee volunteer programs help attract new employees. 62% of 18- to 26-year olds said in the 2007 study that they prefer to work for companies that provide opportunities for them to apply their skills to a non-profit organization’s benefit.

REI is the nation’s largest consumer cooperative. What began with 23 mountain climbing buddies has become three million members strong. REI specializes in outfitting consumers with everything they need to enjoy the outdoors, selling gear and accessories for camping, climbing, biking, skiing—and much, much more.

Since its founding in 1976 REI has given nearly $29 million to nonprofit organizations. The cooperative’s annual giving budget is about three percent of its operating profits.

REI can also brag it’s been on Fortune Magazine’s list of “100 Best Companies to Work For” every year since they began it in 1998. One reason people like to work for REI could be the cooperative’s commitment to stewardship, both social and environmental.

Here are a few ways REI employees give back through volunteerism:

• Employees identify local programs that need help and that can qualify for over $1 million in grants. REI’s grants program is focused on communities where the co-op is located, where the employees live and where they volunteer.
• In 2008, that support tallied up to $3.7 million, and over 250,000 individuals donating over 2 million hours of volunteer service.
• REI employees volunteer thousands of hours each year in service projects to increase accessibility to public parks, trails and waterways. In 2008, they groomed, improved and maintained 14,481 acres of land and 6,500 miles of trails.
• In 2008, REI’s Charitable Action Campaign raised $1.25 million for nonprofit organizations around the world by matching every dollar (up to $1,000) donated by an employee to non profit. 1350 employees participated, donating $677,000 of their own funds to local, national and global organizations. REI’s contribution of $582,000 took the fund to a record high—even in a tough economic environment.
• Perhaps the most unusual way REI gives back to the communities that surround its stores while creating future outdoorspeople is through programs that support recreation access and help kids become more active. REI’s Passport to Adventure Program strives to make it easier for children to experience nature and become more healthy for life. The program is growing, with nearly 24,000 kids participating by registering and picking up adventure journals at their local REI store—this is an increase of 71 percent over 2007. Kids can draw pictures, play games and write about hikes and bike rides that REI employees help them plan.

For REI employees, giving back to local nonprofit organizations, helping keep the outdoors accessible, and giving kids opportunities to be outside lines up perfectly with the co-op’s mission and values.

Starbucks is a global company with a real dedication to the communities it serves. Since its founding in 1971, the firm has expanded its corporate responsibility umbrella to include Diversity, Community, Environment Wellness and Ethical Resourcing.

Under its Community initiatives, the company has a created a program to motivate partners (employees), customers and young people to come together for the greater good.

Starbucks’ stated goal is to encourage employees and customers to contribute more than 1 million hour of community service per year by 2015. With an employee base of 150,000 worldwide, they have a built-in volunteer force ready to be mobilized for change.

One way Starbucks helps is by providing Youth Action Grants to inspire young people to take action and find solutions to problems in their neighborhoods and communities. The company is working toward a goal of engaging 50,000 youth to innovate and create action in their communities by 2015. Starbucks makes grants to organizations that provide training to young people to help them develop skills and knowledge to identify community needs, create and execute action plans, evaluate outcomes against goals, build ongoing leadership skills and communicate success stories.

One grant recipient was an Argentina-based program called Strengthening the Youth for Health Network, which trains young people to produce and communicate prevention messages to their peers through theater, film and other artistic genres.

The Starbucks Foundation, first started to fund literacy programs in the U.S. and Canada, now works around the world to help support the communities in which their coffee and tea is grown. Funds from the foundation also help finance sustainable water-access programs, foster education in China, and rebuild the Gulf Coast of the U.S. after the devastation of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

Starbucks involves its customers through initiatives like (STARBUCKS) RED, a program that allows customers to choose to buy products like a special African coffee blend or pay for their usual coffee drinks and other Starbucks items with a RED card. So far, they have funneled enough money to help purchase 14 million days of medicine for HIV-positive people in Africa.

Examples of Starbucks’ commitment to community:

• Number of employees who helped rebuilding efforts in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina: 9,000
• Number of employee volunteer hours in New Orleans: 36,000
• Total employee and customer volunteer hours in 2009: 186,000
• Total Youth Action Grants awarded in 2009: $2 million
• Number of youth engaged in community activities through grants: 20,000
• Total cash and in-kind contributions toward community-building programs in 2009: $17 million

Not only does Starbucks increase awareness of the need for community building worldwide, the company also provides the means for people to get involved and make a difference themselves—working in communities to provide a hand up, not a hand out. For Starbucks, it’s all about sustainability and creating partnerships that last.

Wells Fargo is one of America’s largest financial institutions, one of its biggest employers, with 275,000 team members, and one of the largest contributors to non profits supporting education, community development, human services, the arts and the environment.

Wells Fargo’s commitment to social and community responsibility is revealed in some very impressive numbers:

• Average daily awards to nonprofits: $554,235
• Number of employee volunteer hours in 2009: 1.23 million
• Number of employees volunteering in 2009: 32,000
• Total invested in 2009: $202 million
• Number of nonprofits receiving awards: 18,000

Working through their local financial centers, the company learns what a community’s needs are, then provides the resources—financial, social or human—that will help the most.
Wells Fargo employees, or team members, are very involved in their communities. They serve on 10,000 nonprofit boards and raised $41.9 million during the 2009 United Way campaign—the largest employee campaign in the U.S. That figure is an impressive 21 percent increase over 2008 (even when combining Wells Fargo and Wachovia’s separate 2008 campaigns).

Team members also give time to teach money management skills, build homes, mentor youth and raise funds for nonprofits in their communities. The company helps out by matching team members’ financial contributions to schools dollar-for-dollar, up to $5,000 per person. Last year that added up to $14.4 million in donations!

Wells Fargo gives directly to the organizations their employees support, through Volunteer Service Awards. These grants reward team members who volunteer in their communities by contributing cash to the nonprofit or school. The top award in 2009 was $50,000 to Project Night Night, an organization that provides blankets, books and stuffed animals to homeless children to help them get a better night’s sleep. A Wells Fargo team member is involved with the nonprofit and will use the funds to provide Night Night packages to 20,000 more homeless children.

Finally, Wells Fargo offers a valuable service that few other big companies do: they give team member time off with pay and benefits to work with a nonprofit that matters to them to help build long-term sustainability. In 2007, 20 team members took advantage for the program. The company allows up to four months’ leave for team members who are accomplishing great things, like establishing orphanages in Nigeria.

Costco is known to provide good values to its members and as a good place to work for its employees. Costco has also pledged to give back to the communities it serves—and not to build market share, but because it’s the right thing to do.

The entire corporation got behind the fund drive for the Children’s Miracle Network (CMN). Employees encouraged members to buy paper balloons and print their names on them—with all proceeds going to CMN. To promote more balloon purchases, a Seattle employee even wore them while working! And he alone was responsible for $10,000 in donations. Altogether, more than $11.5 million was raised this year through Costco’s employees and members.

Costco launched a company-wide Volunteer Reading Program in 1998. Interested staff are trained to tutor children who need extra help developing better reading skills. They meet weekly with their students, who range from grade school to high school age.

At Costco headquarters outside Seattle, WA, the employee-run Volunteer Center acts as a clearinghouse for identifying local needs, then promoting and tracking volunteer opportunities. The center has registered about 300 Costco employees. Each month, local charities can present their programs to the group, which finds ways to help. From soup kitchens to Toys for Tots; Outdoors for All to Gilda’s Club, volunteers from Costco are giving back in big ways.

The Costco Backpack Program is a nationwide program, started in 1993. Each warehouse identifies a local school to “adopt.” Employees then distribute new backpacks filled with supplies to each student in a chosen grade. Since 2005, more than 225,000 backpacks have been given away each year by Costco in the U.S.

Individual Costco employees also find their own ways to give back, from taking bakery items to the homeless to holding disc golf tournaments to raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters. In Alaska, the Anchorage Costco warehouse manager helped the Alaska Air National Guard as they delivered Christmas gifts to needy families in remote villages. And in Maryland a Costco employee helps knit items for infants, soldiers and nursing home residents.

These are just a few of they way Costco and its employees volunteer in their communities, making them better for everyone!

Tom’s of Maine is a natural care products company that was started back in 1970, by a couple who wanted to simplify their lives. Unable to find the unprocessed foods and pure personal care products they desired, the decided to make their own. Their simple philosophy was that their products would not harm the environment.

Now part of Colgate-Palmolive, Tom’s of Maine still practices the business acumen that made them successful—listening to customers’ needs and coming back with natural, sustainable solutions.

Tom’s of Maine also works with its customers to fund deserving nonprofit organizations (NPOs). This year, they are inviting NPOs to nominate their community programs for a chance to share in a $100,000 Community Action Fund award. To involve more of the community, nonprofits can rally their supporters to vote for them.

This year, Tom’s of Maine is taking the program a step further—and getting volunteers involved, too! Partnering with VolunteerMatch, the online volunteer recruiting and sign-up website, nonprofits can describe their volunteer needs when applying for the Community Action Fund awards.

Through July 2, any qualifying nonprofit with a budget under $2 million can apply online at www.50statesforgood.com. Nonprofits are encouraged to explain how they will use volunteers to benefit their communities. The 50 States For Good program is designed to make it easier for people to find out what charity organizations in their communities need help. Connecting with others and spreading the word about the chance for funding and volunteers is also part of the fun.

40 finalist organizations (in honor of Tom’s of Maine’s 40th anniversary) will have their project and volunteer request showcased on the company’s website. Then in August and early September, voting begins. Five programs will each receive $20,000, to be announced in October.

Tom’s of Maine has always donated 10% of its profits to its community and offers employees paid time off to volunteer in their local communities—up to 12 days per year!

For more information, visit www.50statesforgood.com.