Participating in corporate volunteering programs can have a huge impact on how current and prospective employees perceive corporations.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. This famous quote from renowned management consultant Peter Drucker could be an advertisement for the benefits of corporate charity volunteering programs. Participation is shown to increase positive perceptions of workplace, career, peers and management teams, and allows them to develop increased morale, initiative and motivation.
Recognising this, many organisations are implementing targeted corporate volunteering opportunities for their employees, where they strategically plan their staff’s volunteering days to align with their charity partners’ volunteering programs.
Additionally, by combining partnerships and volunteering, awareness of the company’s community initiative is increased, alongside the feeling of contributing to something larger through the company they work for. Put simply, enabling employees to volunteer can engender loyalty towards the business and positively influence employee engagement.
We have substantial interest in volunteering opportunities at our Centre for Country Kids.
This has led the way in the creation of a formal volunteering program for our corporate and philanthropic partners here at Royal Far West. We have created a meaningful program that provides options on levels of commitment and interaction with our families, providing profound experiences for many corporate volunteers.
The program allows for various avenues of volunteering, whether it be skilled volunteering, a busybee day to assist with maintaining our facilities or helping the families celebrate special times of year, or possibly regular weekly volunteering to assist our country families during their stay at Royal Far West. This provides benefits for Royal Far West and also increases inclusion and unique interactions for company employees, particularly those who may not have ventured to regional or remote Australia.
Tying volunteering with a charity partnership is one way to increase the impact of and engagement in company led volunteering. Other suggestions that may be useful to increase participation are:
-Closer ties with Volunteering Program and Professional Development departments within the company
-“Volunteer Hours Pool” a mechanisem for unused hours to be obtained by willing staff to increase outreach
-Allow unused Volunteer FTE to be transferred to a cash donation via pre-tax payroll workplace giving platforms*
*Corporate Citizenship and Volunteering Australia
To reach out regarding Corporate Volunteering please contact Tori on 02 8966 8583 or email Corporate@RoyalFarWest.org.au
Read more about Volunteering Australia’s findings
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