#ThreeTips: Workplace Giving and Volunteering Programs
In collaboration with Joel Pollick, Founder and CEO of Percent Pledge.
The data is quite clear, today's talent CARES! As a result, workplace giving & volunteering has gone from "charity" to competitive advantage. Relating to retention alone, a recent 2M+ employee study found that engaging employees in both donating and volunteering reduced turnover by 57%.
To engage - and retain - today's talent, you need to show you CARE. With these three tips - and some simple planning - you can easily introduce a modern giving program at your company:
Ditch the Ad-Hoc for Year-Round
Establishing a year-round program - which can take many forms - is the way to achieve your two desired outcomes:
Your employees view philanthropy as a part of company culture.
Your market views your company as a leading corporate citizen.
Give Employees Choice
Employees care about different things, and your program should be inclusive of those individual differences. Many companies fear the "scale" of doing so - and thus limit their giving to the C-Suite's favorite charities - but with today's technology or even simple surveys, it's easy enough to make room for everyone in your company's philanthropic tent.
Additionally, know that employees expect flexibility with how they give back - donating, volunteering, or both. Here's a simple starting structure that enables both: year-round workplace giving, with quarterly group volunteer events.
You MUST Measure Your Impact
Impact transparency is the most important component of modern giving programs, for two main reasons:
Displaying impact internally creates a virtuous cycle which increases both engagement and retention.
Marketing impact externally makes you look great.
Technology has evolved alongside employee desire to give back, and you no longer need a CSR team to engage your team in giving because of companies like our partner Percent Pledge. With a combination of modern workplace giving technology, volunteer concierge services, and personalized impact reporting, they make giving programs accessible - and easy - for companies of any size.
