What is corporate volunteering and how can it work for your charity?

 

The benefits for charities

 

The number one plus point of skills-based corporate volunteering in particular is that it allows charities to take advantage of the industry-specific talents of highly skilled individuals, often with valuable digital skills to lend. With charities struggling to cost-effectively fill the gaps in recruitment and find people with the right digital skills, it may be a cost-effective solution.

 

Charities can save money and resources on the cost of paid workers and consultants. By using corporate volunteers they can carry out work they otherwise might not have the time or resources to focus on, enabling them to put their all into achieving their missions.

 

In addition to this, building bonds with businesses could be a huge boost to charities in the long-term and lead to other opportunities for collaboration and sourcing future trustees, as well as cementing their role in the local community.

 

Mid to large companies often set ’corporate social responsibility’ quotas and have formal volunteering schemes, while others let employees choose to volunteer on a more informal basis with an organisation that interests them.

 

For companies, it’s a chance to give something back, build their reputation, and encourage teams to bond and learn communication skills. There’s also some evidence that it makes staff more productive and motivated in their jobs. And for the staff, there’s the feel-good factor of doing good for others and the opportunity to add to their CV, making these kind of arrangements a triple-win.

 

 

Digital mentoring

 

With restrictions on face to face volunteering due to the pandemic, one avenue for corporate volunteering can be digital-based mentoring. The great thing about digital skills is that they can often be taught remotely through a combination of cloud-based platforms, video calls and screen sharing.

 

Digital mentors from the corporate world can also work to improve the skills of young beneficiaries or those who are digitally excluded. We’ve seen how charities like UK Youth have partnered with local tech companies to mentor young people in coding and digital skills – a pattnership model that can easily be replicated through a digital platform.

 

The UN’s Online Volunteering Service has been running since 2000, with the aim of connecting charities to volunteers within organisations around the world for online ’micro-volunteering’ that can be done soley over the web.

 

 

Where to find digitally-skilled corporate volunteers

 

Tech companies themselves are known for their volunteering schemes, offering big incentives to staff who take up a certain number of volunteer hours. They have the resources to plug into volunteering programmes and the technical skills to really make a difference. So it’s worth approaching these companies directly to find out about specific volunteer skills you are looking for.

 

Salesforce, for example, give their employees seven days paid volunteer leave a year, and also have specific pro-bono programmes built around helping charities make the most of Salesforce and the cloud. Similarly, enterprise software firm Sage offer five days a year for their staff to volunteer through its Sage Foundation.

 

But you could also benefit from approaching local IT businesses and software companies for mentorship. Most will be keen to improve their reputation within the local area and contribute in a way that isn’t monetary. The NCVO recommends approaching companies with a well thought out Terms of Reference that provides a clear outline of what each party can expect from the role.

 

As well as approaching companies directly, there are a number of volunteer organisations that exist to partner charities up with corporate talent. A few of them include:

 

• Benefacto: An online portal that connects charities in Leeds, London and Manchester with socially-distanced private sector volunteers
• Volunteering Matters: An organisation that delivers volunteer programmes for businesses, and has online volunteering matchmaking services for businesses to offer their skills particularly during the pandemic, covering areas from business planning and project management to IT, logistics, press and media support and legal advice
• Reach Volunteering: A digital platform that connects experienced professionals with specific skills, with charities looking to fill that gap. It’s also a good source for trustees
• Furlonteer: A platform built to help skilled and experienced professionals on furlough find volunteering opportunities, now extending to include those who’ve been made redundant or whose furlough has come to an end