16Sep

The Key to Unlocking the Benefits of Corporate Volunteering, part 1

Posted by HandsOn Network | Category: Volunteerism | No Comments

Today’s post comes from Chris Jarvis, Co-Founder and Senior Consultant forRealizedWorth and appeared on Realizing Your Worth on September 6. This is the first of two parts.

Skills-based volunteering vs. general volunteering: When it comes to long-term impacts, skills-based will win every time. So why am I still an advocate for general volunteering? Read on and join the conversation. You can comment at the bottom of the page or contact me at .
I want to be very clear – I am a fan of Taproot and, the President and Founder of the Foundation. Realized Worth lists Taproot as a highly competent option for companies seeking out help with their skill-based or pro-bono volunteering efforts (read more about our thoughts on ).

If you’re unfamiliar with Taproot, I recommend you learn about them. “Taproot is a nonprofit organization that makes business talent available to organizations working to improve society.”

Recently, Aaron and I exchanged a couple tweets about the value (or lack thereof) of non-skilled volunteering. Aaron strongly believes that skilled volunteering is the way to go for companies looking for genuine impact through their employee volunteering programs. This past June, he wrote an article for the Huffington Post entitled “The Fortune 500 Need to Take Their Own Advice.”

“The vast majority of companies still support employee volunteering programs that consist primarily of painting fences and cleaning parks, despite the fact that data clearly shows it has less community impact and provides less employee satisfaction, skills development and networking value compared to pro bono service.

On behalf of the nonprofit sector, I would like to ask companies to act more like businesses. If you truly care about making a sustainable difference in the community, do less hands-on volunteering and focus on where you can make your talent matter.”

Not only am I a fan of Aaron’s, but I think he’s right. When it comes to high impact employee volunteering, pro-bono or skill-based volunteering is the way to go.

But there’s a bit more to consider….

This is Not an Either/Or Conversation

Typically, when people refer to employee volunteering they tend to categorize the activity into one of two types:

  • General Volunteering (also known as non-skilled or hands-on volunteering). This type of volunteering involves activities that usually require little to no skill or long term commitment.
  • Skill-Based Volunteering (also known as pro-bono volunteering). This type of volunteering utilizes a specific skill set possessed by the volunteer. Often the engagements involve a longer commitment but that’s not always the case.
Given these two options, skill-based volunteering will always yield a greater return. For example, let’s say you are an accountant and you have the option to either: a) paint a fence, or; b) help a nonprofit with their financials. Which would provide the greater benefit for the nonprofit?

Admittedly, these two categories offer an easy way to discuss volunteering. However, when it comes to corporate volunteering this simple duality creates some confusion.

The litmus test for effective corporate volunteering is not skilled vs. non-skilled.

This is the litmus test: If you remove your company from the equation, does it matter? If your employees are able to volunteer in the same way, achieving the same outcomes on their own time using their own resources (and that of the nonprofit), then your company may be offering nothing more than a day out of the office. This kind of volunteering is still good, it’s just not good enough ().

The company’s resources are the key ingredient for creating high-impact volunteering – whether it is skilled or non-skilled volunteering.

 

What has your experience with employee volunteer programs been? Let us know in the comments!

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