As we enter a new year, nonprofits face both new opportunities and the same challenges in volunteer engagement. Reaching volunteers in new spaces like the workplace helps attract new supporters, brings in new fundraising revenue, and invigorates corporate partnerships when done right. But it can be difficult to carve out the staff time and resources needed to develop volunteer efforts.
My team sees firsthand the many ways in which engaging workplace volunteers can be a more manageable alternative to traditional brick-and-mortar volunteer programs (and dare we say better?). For a lighter lift and lower staff commitment, you can reach volunteers at work and use this as a part of your corporate engagement strategy.
Workplace volunteering isn’t just a win for your nonprofit — you’re doing a favor for your corporate partners. Many of us have heard that employee engagement is at an all-time low, partially due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of remote work. That’s why your effort to engage workplace volunteers is so needed — many workplaces are looking for creative ways to engage their employees and create a culture of generosity. By developing effective workplace volunteer programs, you’re helping corporate partners engage employees and bolster their CSR and ESG reporting.
Why focus on workplace volunteers?
Engaging corporate volunteer programs offers a couple of unique advantages for your nonprofit:
- Access to skilled professionals if you need specialized expertise
- Potential for longer-term corporate partnerships
- Opportunities to tap corporate funding, matching gifts, and volunteer gifts
- Greater volunteer availability by accessing individuals during business hours
- Reach new supporters you wouldn’t have accessed otherwise
Key components to your workplace volunteer program
- Virtual volunteering opportunities are a must.
Remote options are essential to reach employees wherever they’re at. This is also significantly easier on your part than hosting in-person volunteer opportunities. It reduces the cost, logistics, and barriers to participation. Virtual offerings also open the door to new partnerships and connections with companies that don’t have locations near your headquarters or offices.
- Think outside of traditional volunteering.
Sometimes the best volunteer activities have a light touch and a big impact, especially when it comes to volunteers in the workplace. For example: ask participants to write letters to program beneficiaries or thank you notes to in-country staff. Host a lunch & learn covering under-reported humanitarian crises or ask volunteers to spend 10 minutes writing their elected official. These offerings may not be the same as packing meals or re-building homes, but they still stay with volunteers in a meaningful way while contributing to your organization’s mission.
- Flexible opportunities will meet employees where they’re at.
Offering multiple, smaller volunteer activities helps reach more people than a centralized volunteer offering that has limited scheduling options. In particular, we’ve seen great success with micro-volunteering — companies like Microsoft are now encouraging employees to contribute small amounts of time (under one hour) during the workday to build collective impact. It’s an easier commitment for the volunteers and reduces the amount of your staff time spent on organizing volunteers.
- Leverage your existing corporate partnerships.
Maybe you’ve had an idea for a volunteer offering for a while but haven’t tried it out yet. Consider approaching one of your corporate partners and asking them to test out your idea with their employees. It’d be a great way to get feedback before formally launching the offering. Alternatively, build something custom with a company that you can then shop to other companies.
- Use pay-direct platforms to reach workplace donors outside of corporate partnerships.
The two largest workplace pay-direct platforms, Benevity and YourCause, host the ability for your nonprofit to publish volunteer activities that individual employees can see. This is a way to grow your volunteer offering in a more organic way. Keep the activities small and flexible, and you’ll be surprised by the interest they generate!
- Leverage key observance days throughout the year.
Your nonprofit likely already has an engagement plan for relevant holidays to your mission, such as World Literacy Day or World Hunger Day. But do your plans include a workplace component? Many corporate workplaces also want to report on how they engaged on key events like this, so be sure to design volunteer offerings around these days and designate corporate outreach in the lead-up to them. Not sure which observance day to pick? Arrange outreach for National Volunteer Week, which is April 20-26, 2025. You’re helping corporate partners create a positive story about how they engage employees and nonprofits during this week of volunteerism.
Best practices to follow
- Clear communication: Document expectations for each new offering, the time commitment for staff, and possible impact metrics. Expect things to shift slightly as you test things out, but having everything on record will help you stay organized and formalize the process as you go.
- Technology: Ensure you have the right tools to support any virtual volunteering. Can you get away with your existing technology or are there add-ins that would make things easier, like better virtual meeting spaces or design tools?
- Flexible scheduling: When sharing offerings, make sure it’s clear that you can support varying time slots and commitment levels to accommodate different work schedules and time zones.
- Impact measurement: This doesn’t need to be a huge lift but be prepared to report back to employers on the contributions that their volunteers made, so they can in turn report back on this partnership in their community impact reporting.
The investments you make now in developing workplace giving programs will pay off well beyond 2025. By creating flexible, engaging opportunities that align with workplace needs, you’ll build stronger corporate partnerships and expand your organization’s capacity to meet fundraising goals and achieve your mission.
Charity Alliance members, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your Relationship Manager if you need support creating volunteer opportunities this year — we’re happy to help!
