Preparing for a speech to a group of corporate volunteer professionals, I decided to run a reality check.
I called several colleagues who handle corporate volunteer programs in Maryland, neighboring Delaware, Chicago and California.
My topic was to be on trends in corporate volunteerism, and my minisurvey helped me gain insights into the challenges and opportunities for those who work in this arena.
Let's face it, corporations are under intense pressure today from shareholders to increase value. This relentless scrutiny from unforgiving financial markets is forcing companies to re-examine the relationship between their strategic goals and volunteerism.
For one thing, I've noticed a trend toward a closer connection between those goals and the work force available to a company. More companies are seeking to maximize the potential of their work force by providing incentives to, or in isolated cases even coercing, employees to volunteer their time and skills to community programs.
For example, many banks, accounting firms and management consulting firms are tying their volunteer goals with business development. They are training employees to be more effective volunteers, thereby serving as goodwill ambassadors to the nonprofit community.
Nonprofits who understand this trend are forging alliances with corporate programs and bringing a new crop of volunteers into their fold. As much as I'd like to believe that integrated volunteer programs are the rule, they are unfortunately still the exception.
My telephone survey also confirmed a disturbing trend. Corporate volunteer coordinators at major corporations report having an increasingly difficult time recruiting from their ranks. More employees are part of a two-career family, shuttling kids from ball game to ballet and juggling work and personal schedules.
Even more frustrating to most of my corporate contacts is that downsizing has increased what employers expect of workers and the time employees spend at work. This has reduced the number of volunteers as well as the number of hours spent volunteering.
What many corporate programs have done is develop more volunteer options that are time-limited and task-specific. Events such as United Way's Day of Caring provide opportunities for a company to engage employees in community work, create an immediate impact, and boost employee morale. By committing specific one-day blocks to participate in defined tasks, it is easier to recruit volunteers.
One of the most significant recent innovations is integrating team-based workplace approaches with community volunteerism. Companies like Federal Express are providing employee teams with defined resources, such as money, skills training, planning time off, and in-kind materials. Teams are told to define their interests and volunteer approaches, then apply their team problem-solving skills to community efforts. Reports from the field show that this approach improves team effectiveness.
Interestingly, while every one of my contacts believed that volunteerism faced enormous challenges, each believed that corporate volunteerism would play an even larger role in their company's future.
While large company volunteerism is an important contributor to an improved quality of life, there is another key, an often overlooked player in this critical area. Next week we'll examine the role of emerging companies in the fabric of our communities.
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Les Picker is a philanthropy consultant. Write to him at The Brokerage, 34 Market Place, Suite 331, Baltimore, Md. 21202; (410) 783-5100