How to Develop a Corporate Volunteer Program
Corporate success is often accompanied by a wish to share success with others. Creating a corporate volunteer program is one way to carry that thought into action. The key to a good program is organized planning. Matching volunteers with needs they can address well will benefit both workers and their beneficiaries.
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Things You'll Need
- Questionnaire for employees
- Information about local community needs
- Big notebook for contact info
- Big folder for organization/project information
- Company liability information
- Time to coordinate volunteers and needs
- Other volunteers to help with organization
- Project feedback from volunteers
Instructions
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Developing a corporate volunteer program
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Ask employees about community concerns that interest them and how much time they believe they can volunteer. You may wish to organize categories to help employees think this through. Categories of concerns might include housing, hunger, enriching education, support for elderly residents, green space and literacy. Categories of time available might include 1-2 hours a week; evenings only; 1-4 hours a month; and weekends only. You can also ask volunteers whether they wish to work alone or in a group, and whether they prefer one-day or continuing projects. You might also ask volunteers to distinguish between activities that mostly raise money (walks, runs, benefits) and those that are hands-on (collecting food, cleanng a park, helping rehab a house). The responses you get will help you work out the shape and scope of your program.
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Find local resources for getting involved. These can include large philanthropic organizations like the United Way and American Red Cross, local or regional organizations that specialize in placing volunteers and keep lists of organizations that need help, and local projects that meet your group's interests.
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Test your volunteer capacity by holding a meeting on a possible project with interested volunteers. Do this four to eight weeks before the project actually occurs, to allow volunteers to learn about it, assess their abilities and commit their time. Be prepared with full information about both the organization and the project, and expect lots of questions. Set a deadline for volunteer responses so you can be certain whether you'll have enough or whether you'll need to try again.
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Check with your company about whether your volunteers are covered by insurance. Some community organizations carry their own insurance, and some do not. Volunteers may be asked to sign a hold-harmless waiver, and you and they must know ahead of time whether they are covered if they accidentally get hurt. Determine whether corporate volunteers are covered for liability (if, say, volunteers incorrectly assemble a swing set and a child using it gets hurt). This is a concern for all volunteers but is particularly important if your company name and reputation are also involved.
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Involve volunteers in planning the actual activity or event. A large effort may work most smoothly with volunteer team captains, one for each corporate department or one for each skill required (perhaps everyone in Accounting wants to paint; or the cooking team has volunteers from several departments). Participating in an establshed planned event, such as a walk to raise money for blood disorders or a local child care center, will probably have a guide to organization and perhaps enough personnel that you can concentrate just on getting your volunteers there. Ask for the help you need.
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Ask for feedback from volunteers after your project ends. For a small group, taking notes is enough. For a larger one, consider creating a rating scale. Take criticism as it comes--yes, having the supply van arrive late made it harder to get things done. You had too many volunteers in the morning and not enough in the afternoon. Ice next time--lots more ice! Let your feedback-ers know that you appreciate their responses, so the next event can be more successful.
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Tips & Warnings
It may take you more than one try to find the kind of corporate volunteer program that works for your company. Usually, the more people you can involve in planning, the better the event--those who work to get it ready have a stake in its success, and are often your best source for getting others involved. You may not know George in Maintenance--but one of his closest colleagues is working on your team and can get George to contribute his mastery of carpentry. Consider assigning a volunteer to assemble a "what if" kit. Simple first-aid supplies, tissues or wet wipes, extra paper towels, masking tape and a few sheets of paper, a couple of markers, scissors, and extras of anything you'll need lots of (work gloves, a bottle of sunscreen--you'll know from the project).
You'll always struggle getting a perfect fit between the project and the number of volunteers. It helps if you have a chore you can add if your volunteers outnumber the tasks. If you are repainting a room in a day care center, carry some extra cash--volunteers crowded out of painting can be sent to a plant nursery for pots, soil and flowers, to add a last-minute but attractive touch. Hold your add-on in reserve, and watch for unoccupied volunteers.
