, you may need to provide supporting reasons for your leadership to invest. Here are four facts to help you make your case for formalizing employee engagement.
can be a valuable human capital resource for communities, especially as local governments are often left with a shrinking pool of resources. Employee volunteers may hold the key to bolstering nonprofits and boosting community impact.
According to VolunteerMatch, nonprofits continue to operate with reduced resources when compared to pre-pandemic operations, even in light of the record number of philanthropic dollars given in 2020.
65% of nonprofits said they’re working with reduced resources compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.
10% reported their operations were “temporarily halted” altogether.
Almost 90% of nonprofits say the demand for their services is rising while nearly 60% say they can’t meet demand.
see a sense of purpose at work as more important than a big paycheck, and you’re left with an unprecedented opportunity for companies to step up to lend their time and talent to drive positive impact in communities
Volunteers provide a skilled and talented volunteer pool to raise awareness of critical community needs and create quantifiable social impact. In fact,
spends just 2% or less of its total budget on infrastructure, compared to the 20% average traditionally spent by companies.
Employee engagement and employee retention are linked
Employees can discover a host of benefits through their engagement, including the satisfaction that comes from sharing time and talent for a good cause and amplified awareness about the diverse needs of their community.
, nearly one-third of all employees mention opportunities for education in their reviews. Through a wide variety of volunteer opportunities, employees have access to growing their skills at work and becoming community ambassadors at the same time.
Pride and sense of purpose can come from a strong employee engagement program, enabling volunteers to feel good about their coworkers, their team and the company itself. It builds camaraderie and teamwork and allows for a change of pace by doing something different or applying talents and skills to a new situation. In fact,
that the more a person volunteers, the happier they become. In fact, people who begin with lower levels of happiness may get an even bigger boost from their engagement.
Varied perspectives give your CSR program a competitive edge
Creating a successful community engagement program takes hard work, an investment of time and resources, and a variety of perspectives. Many companies invest too little in their programs, making measured success difficult to attain. Companies that don’t invest enough will often get limited results, leading to potential cuts in program investment and poor participation. This deterioration continues until the program is so misaligned with the company’s goals that it simply no longer makes sense.
shows that companies with diverse and inclusive cultures have a competitive edge. It’s not a reach to see how the same idea would generate better outcomes for employee engagement. Getting participation from multiple functional areas of the company and senior leaders is essential, each offering different motivations and perspectives. Managers have the difficult task of bringing these diverse parties together to develop a successful volunteer program that molds and adapts as the business continues to grow. A well-thought-out volunteer program can satisfy overlapping motives and unify all stakeholders.
A
s you build your case for initial or deeper investment in your social impact strategy, consider partnering with a knowledgeable and experienced strategic partner like
to help you create a strong employee engagement program.
How to Support Volunteer Engagement at the Intersection of Civic Engagement and Mental Health
What do civic engagement and mental health have in common? Points of Light Chief Growth and Strategy Officer Christine Schoppe and Crisis Text Line Chief Program Officer Becka Ross got together to talk about these two cause areas and how they intersect, starting with an overview of each organization.
Since 1990, Points of Light has acted as a cultural catalyst, working in partnership with
to build a world where it’s impossible to sit on the sidelines. Through its corporate partners and 177 affiliates in 38 countries, the organization has mobilized 5 million volunteers. In recent years, Points of Light has worked to define a
for the 21st century, one that calls on people to give their time, talents and resources to build a brighter future for everyone.
Crisis Text Line began in 2013, hosting more than 7.5 million conversations around mental health since its launch. The organization provides text-based crisis intervention by empowering a community of thousands of trained volunteers to support people in their moments of need. The service is offered in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Ireland. It’s free, anonymous and available round-the-clock.
Both organizations have a deep understanding of mobilizing volunteers and a focus on research in their respective cause areas.
Research Shows That Civic Engagement and Mental Health Go Together
“There’s a lot of research out there around the mental health benefits of volunteering combating loneliness in particular,” said Ross. “Volunteers are telling us that they are using their training in their personal lives, too, and it’s improving romantic relationships and work relationships and being able to build the skill of empathy and understand the importance of validating somebody’s perspective”
is open-source, sharing data-informed insights into mental health with other nonprofits, corporate partners, policymakers, media and the general public to raise awareness around mental health issues.
is also shared publicly and shows that four out of 10 people see mental health as a top cause area of concern. This cause area tops a list of more than 20, including poverty and gun rights. These trends, led by Gen Z and
, a framework of nine pathways to civic engagement. These pathways include volunteerism, listening and learning, using your voice and being strategic when choosing where you work.
“The company you work for, and the internal volunteerism you can do there. The resource groups you can join to advocate for your kind of special interest group, you can use your place of employment to express your values and your beliefs,” Schoppe pointed out. “There’s more than one way to get it done.”
In addition to choosing a workplace that supports your values, Points of Light research shows that the two of the most common actions people are taking to advocate for the issues they care about are
. Points of Light research shows that a strong motivator for people when choosing which social issue to champion is having personal experience around that issue. That connection and personal investment is central to strength and longevity of commitment.
Schoppe and Ross touched upon how to find willing volunteers and how to retain and incentivize them to keep up this work. Efforts should reach beyond how meaningful the work itself is.
“Many of our volunteers come to us because they want to make an impact and make a difference in somebody’s life. [Our crisis counselors] are really changing the mental health landscape, reducing stigma, ensuring that people know that it’s okay to reach out for help and get support,” said Ross. “We center our volunteers and their experience.”
Crisis Text Line knows a lot about volunteer engagement with a volunteer base of more than 55,000 people who have gone through a 30-hour virtual training to become crisis counselors. One of first things volunteers are asked to do is create a self-care plan, so they can recharge after a tough shift.
This type of thoughtful method of supporting a volunteer force is essential to sustainability as volunteerism remains one of the most valued pathways to civic engagement. Points of Light research shows that the top three actions people are taking around the issues they care about are:
Schoppe said, “That’s really what drives our research is understanding those goals, and then creating insights and actions with our ecosystem.”
Listen and Learn About the Intersection of Civic Engagement and Mental Health
Watch the entire conversation between Points of Light Chief Growth and Strategy Officer Christine Schoppe and Crisis Text Line Chief Program Officer Becka Ross:
A Return to Fundamentals Answers Challenges to Civic Engagement
and the news was sobering. UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated in his forward, “As the world faces cascading and interlinked global crises and conflicts, the aspirations set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are in jeopardy.” Some thought leaders suggested that based on current levels of action, attitudes and shifting priorities, we could not reasonably expect to achieve these goals for another 60 years beyond 2030. This expectation must be challenged.
When the SDGs were originally announced in 2015, the business community rallied as champions, including many of Points of Light’s partners. More than 50% of the companies Points of Light supports and partners with signed on to the
, a public commitment to advancing the SDG agenda that asked companies to “…first do business responsibly and then pursue opportunities to solve societal challenges through business innovation and collaboration.”
Since this time, the expectations for companies have only grown. According to Points of Light’s
released in April 2022, 82% of respondents believe companies play a critical role in addressing societal challenges.
So what needs to be done? Points of Light suggests a return to fundamentals. When the SDGs launched, Guterres stated, “It simply is not possible to attain the SDGs without a wide range of people engaged at all stages, at all levels, at all times” and called for increasing community-based engagement for success to be achieved.
For Points of Light, the fundamentals of corporate community engagement are represented by
. Since it was launched in 2012, The Civic 50 has provided a framework for community-based engagement and good corporate citizenship. This framework is broken down into four dimensions: investment of resources, integration across business functions, institutionalization through policies and systems and impact measurement. Companies that are building their strategies across these dimensions have better fundamentals and are well positioned to achieve their social impact objectives, including those defined by the SDGs.
Investment: How the company strategically invests its resources in community engagement and social impact activities through volunteerism, financial giving, in-kind contributions, civic engagement and advocacy.
Integration: How the company integrates its community engagement and social impact programs throughout its business functions and interests.
Institutionalization: How the company institutionalizes its community engagement and social impact programs through organizational policies, systems and incentives.
Impact: How the company measures the social and business impact outcomes of its community engagement and social impact programs.
. This report not only recognizes the 50 most community-minded companies in the United States as determined by the above dimensions, but it also provides a great indicator for the overall state of corporate community engagement.
The data in this year’s report suggest that the challenges of the last two years have dampened some aspects of the community involvement of the country’s best corporate citizens, The Civic 50, and grown other aspects.
Overall corporate giving is down, but contributions as a percentage of revenue are up. In aggregate, companies represented by The Civic 50 contributed a total of $2 billion in cash and $1.8 billion in-kind to societal causes. These figures are not only less from pre-pandemic levels but less than 2021. On the other hand, contributions as a percentage of revenue increased. As the global economy faces headwinds related to inflation and other disrupters, we will continue to pay attention to the impact this has on the critical investment needed in social causes areas.
External volunteering has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, but internal volunteering is higher than ever. Across companies represented by The Civic 50, 22% of employees participated in external volunteering activities and engaged in 5.8 million hours of volunteering, compared to 40% and 10.5 million hours in 2019. What is encouraging is that we are continuing to see high levels of internal volunteering, with 48% of employees participating in activities like employee resource groups, green teams and more. This is up from 33% in 2019 before the pandemic.
One hundred percent of The Civic 50 companies reported significant efforts in integrating their community engagement into business functions. Community engagement is best served when companies share accountability across business functions. This responsibility must extend beyond expected departments, like Human Resources and Corporate Social Responsibility, and into departments and functions, such as marketing and PR, purchasing and procurement, research and development, sales and more.
Impact measurement is still a challenge. The Civic 50 report showed that even the country’s top corporate citizens are struggling to consistently measure the social and business impact outcomes of its community engagement and social impact programs. This challenge was mirrored in The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022, where the report cited that despite some progress, serious data gaps persist in SDG monitoring.
The fundamentals may not be easy, but as The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022 shares the outputs and outcomes of the world’s collective efforts, it is important to cross-reference it with reports like The Civic 50, which track the inputs of corporate efforts toward community engagement. The trajectory of business as a societal leader is without question, and we want a promising future for our planet and its people to be without question too.
