The Best Volunteer Management Practices

By Sebastian Troup


Organizing workplace philanthropy might sound like a big task, but with the right management, it can be handled easily. The first tip is to make the process as easy as possible for employees to sign up. You should provide options for pre-organized events so employees only have to choose where and when to volunteer. To capture their attention, publicize the sign-up process in as many ways as possible. Hang a poster in the break room, create a shared calendar or spreadsheet or spend time during a staff meeting passing around a sign-up sheet.

As administrators, we are always busy, so incorporating workplace philanthropy is much easier if you make the program very manageable. Assign someone to act as the liaison between the charity and your company, as this will ensure that the information is passed along and all details are well coordinated.

A corporate volunteer program should fit seamlessly with your other corporate philanthropy initiatives so it doesn't feel like a separate program. Building on the efforts of your company's other philanthropy initiatives can have a synergistic effect that will bring better results than any single program would. Have a custom-branded site on your company intranet to allow employees to access all of the charitable options available to them, including volunteering, making donations, and corporate matching. This makes it easy for employees and reduces your administrative burden, while reminding everyone that doing good requires more than one approach.

Excellent record keeping is an important skill for effectively managing an employee volunteer program. The records not only help you monitor the performance of your campaigns but also the level of engagement among employees and the impact on the community. By recording contributions, hours volunteered, and other relevant data, you can determine what is working well in your corporate volunteer program and what could use some improvement.

Instead of trying to track this data on a spreadsheet, consider using volunteer management software as this makes the whole process much easier and far more accurate. This type of software also allows you to instantly grab a progress report and share the results of your corporate giving program with company leaders as quickly as possible.

To reiterate an earlier point, while your employees might want to help out, if you don't make it easy, then participation tends to be fairly low. Provide many easy, accessible options for volunteerism rather than making staff go out on their own and try to find information. The easier you make it, the more success your program will have.

It is also important to recognize that some employees already have strong volunteer commitments they are passionate about, and they shouldn't be neglected. Asking employees to suggest events or ideas for volunteering is a great way to keep them engaged and a part of the process.

You might be surprised to learn that the biggest reason why employees don't take part in volunteer and giving programs is because no one asked them to participate. Be sure to ask and using multiple sources to get employees involved from inviting them personally to use company emails, staff meetings and sign-up sheets. It is also equally important that when employees do volunteer that they be recognized for their efforts as this will encourage further participation and make your program a great success.




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