How to Organize a Successful Donation Drive for Employees
Before the end-of-year holidays ramp up, corporate social impact leaders can be found hard at work finalizing their plans to host a donation drive that benefits their employer’s nonprofit partners. While useful during many times of the year, donation drives tap into the generosity of the holiday season and become creative ways to support the communities where employees live and work.
If your donation drive includes the collection of gently used items such as business attire for organizations like Dress for Success, you and your colleagues are helping to keep items out of landfills and redirect them to those who can benefit from their use.
We’ve put together a checklist to help you get started planning a donation drive for your colleagues. Add these tips to your employee champion resources should they be responsible for planning a donation drive in their market.
Before your donation drive begins
Determine which community needs will be addressed by your donation drive; Then identify the nonprofit organizations you’d like to support
Contact those agencies to determine what they need and identify whether any needs are more critical than others.
Decide in consultation with these partners which items will be collected and m
ake sure you understand any limitations (i.e., what they don’t need), any specific guidelines about clothing and how much they can store once donations are delivered.
Engage a planning committee in setting goals and how to measure progress
You could decide to set a goal for gathering a certain number of items, collecting specific tons of food or reaching out to a specific number of people. Think realistically about these goals and what might influence them; you don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver. Then keep track of how you are doing and designate someone to be responsible for updating the group on how you are progressing toward your goals.
Organize logistics and set your plans into motion
Determine the duration of the drive; often a donation drive will last two to three weeks to give employees ample time to gather the items requested and make a plan for drop-off. Develop your internal communications plan to last the duration of the drive and include a variety of messaging and formats. Make sure the communications include the reasons why these items are needed, who they will benefit, your goals and any guidelines specific to the items requested. You’ll also need to arrange for supplies that you might need including collection bins or boxes if not provided, storage space for donated items and any incentives you might employ. Don’t forget to coordinate with your buildings’ facilities team to find the right space for the collection and storage of items to occur. Plan to collect items in highly visible but fire-code-safe locations.
Consider these options:
- Single-site drop off: You ask employees in each market to bring donations to one location during set hours on a specific day. You may need to recruit additional volunteers to ensure the collection site and process runs smoothly.
- Extended donation drive: It might be more convenient to set up multiple collection points with drop boxes where people can leave their donations over the course of multiple days or weeks. Volunteers can collect the donations once per day and transfer them to storage or deliver them to partners if requested.
Plan accordingly if many of your colleagues are now hybrid or fully remote
Make sure they know where and when to drop off donations so they feel included in the opportunity to support their community. You might also consider promoting your partners’ “online wish lists” if you feel that some employees would prefer to donate those requested items, whether they are in the office or work fully remote.
During your donation drive
Remind and motivate employees to support the donation drive
Consider creating a friendly competition among departments, floors or locations. Keep track of which location gathers the most items. Record which individual or team contributes the most items. Recognize the donors with bragging rights or small rewards. Always keep in mind that no one should feel pressured to give so keep any competitions or incentives light-hearted.
Monitor and showcase the progress employees are making toward achieving the drive’s goals
As items are collected and you need to transfer them to storage or to the partners’ selected locations, take photos before moving items off-site or as they are delivered to your partner to use in your communications. Purchase more supplies or collection boxes as they are needed.
After the donation drive ends
If requested, sort and count the collected items
Go through the donated items collected and sort the items according to the organization’s guidelines. Try to get an accurate count of what has been received so that you can share with employees and with your partner organization and keep track for future drives that your employer might host.
Deliver the donations
If you haven’t needed to deliver the donations during the drive, find a mutually good time to deliver them to your partner agency. Recruit employee volunteers to help complete this task. Take photos during the delivery to use in your final communications so that those who donated can feel pride in contributing. Touch base with the recipient organization a few weeks later to see how the donations were distributed and plan for your next collaboration.
Celebrate success
Share the total number of items you collected with all of your participants. Thank employees for participating and show gratitude to those who took on a leadership role. If possible, include any stories of how the donations will support your partners’ beneficiaries. Consider how you and your planning team could improve for next time.
Business Resource Groups (BRGs): Benefits and Examples
Business Resource Groups (BRGs) are voluntary, employee-led groups that serve as a resource for members and their employers by fostering a diverse, inclusive workplace aligned with organizational mission, values, goals, business practices and objectives. They play an integral role in creating a culture that promotes an environment of understanding, acceptance and inclusion among all employees.
Research from
Great Place to Work
®
tells us that employees who trust that they will be treated fairly, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or age, are nearly
10 times more likely
to look forward to going to work, and over five times more likely to want to stay a long time at their company. Other benefits of BRGs include the development of future leaders, increased employee engagement and expanded marketplace reach.
About Business Resource Groups
Business Resource Groups may also be known as:
- Employee Resource Groups
- Diversity & Inclusion Councils
- Affinity Groups
- Employee Networks
Business Resource Groups are made up of employees who share common interests and lived experiences; membership in any group is typically open to any interested employee. These groups come together to foster professional growth and provide a collective voice to management and decision makers around social issues, community needs and company policies.
Initiatives and events led by Business Resource Groups help support the company’s business goals, innovation, philanthropic efforts and commitment to workplace diversity and belonging. Business Resource Groups may sponsor a speaker series, career development seminars, volunteer activities, panel discussions and social networking events to which all employees are invited. Additionally, each BRG might make community outreach an integral part of its mission.
Involvement in a Business Resource Group is a valuable opportunity to develop internal relationships and make connections across the company. BRGs will often set up chapters for each group throughout a company’s footprint to ensure there is participation across different geographies. Being a member of a BRG also provides employees with cross-cultural competence: the ability to discern and take into account one’s own and others’ world views to be able to seize opportunities, make decisions and resolve conflicts in ways that optimize cultural differences for better, longer lasting and more creative solutions.
BRGs may lead awareness or community engagement activities that correspond to their common interest such as organizing a professional clothing drive for women transitioning into civilian careers during Women’s History Month. More often than not, BRGs are involved in supporting a company’s philanthropic activities and it is important to ensure they are integrated into goals, policies and procedures related to a company’s employee volunteer program and collaborate with the team leading corporate social impact efforts as needed.
Corporate Examples of BRGs
AT&T
and
Dow
annually bring together members of their employee resource groups and business leaders for an opportunity to learn together, build connections and create social impact. Each conference includes acts of service that provide lasting benefits to the host community and in-person and virtual participants.
At
Bank of America
, one in four employees is a member of at least one Employee Network worldwide, which helps employees develop personally and professionally, build strong ties with communities and address issues that matter. One of these networks, IGEN, supports diversity by bridging gaps across generations within the workplace. During the pandemic, members of IGEN in the UK volunteered regularly to address community isolation in partnership with The Cares Family, a charity whose mission is to bring people together across generations, backgrounds and experiences to build community and connection.
Employee Resource Groups support
Dell’s
global cultivating inclusion pillar. Through their ERGs and Culture, Diversity & Inclusion Champions, they create meaningful professional connections and employee engagement. ERGs partner with leadership on corporate observances including Black History Month and International Women’s Day. To celebrate the International Day of the Girl in 2021, members of Dell’s Women in Action ERG participated in a Girls Empowerment Pro Bono Consulting Workshop. This virtual workshop connected ERG members across the U.S. with seven nonprofit organizations facing capacity-building challenges.
As part of
Intel’s
RISE (responsible, inclusive, sustainable and enabling) strategy, their nearly 40 ERGs are part of the engine that drives community and inclusion. Part of each group’s charter is to volunteer in local communities. In fact, in 2020, members of the Pacific Islanders of Intel ERG were made aware of a critical need for COVID-19 clinics to address a desperate situation for Oregon’s community of Pacific Islanders: their infection rates were 12 times higher than those of white Oregonians. The ERG reached out to county officials and local nonprofits to organize and lead clinics specific to this demographic which provided testing and vaccinations for thousands of Islanders, along with food and other services.
13 Employee Recognition Ideas for Your Volunteer Program
No matter the size of your budget or your volunteer corps,
employee recognition
ideas should align with your company’s culture and values. Successful employee volunteer recognition programs are thoroughly planned and designed, well-managed, clearly communicated and frequently evaluated.
Incentivizing employees can be as simple as writing thank you notes and as extensive as planning a large-scale award ceremony. Common elements of successful recognition programs include incorporating senior management support and participation, providing monetary funds to the nonprofit organization of the honoree’s choice and aligning with a special day of service or company event.
Employee Recognition Ideas for Your Volunteer Program
Offer Simple Rewards for Incentivizing Employees
1. If employees are going into the office regularly or occasionally, reserve a prime parking space for the Volunteer of the Month. Award this time-saving convenience to a volunteer or volunteer leader who has served the most hours during a specific time period or has gone above and beyond.
2. Produce certificates or a letter of appreciation signed by the CEO. Even better, ask for hand-written notes from senior leaders to thank volunteers or volunteer leaders for their contributions.
3. During volunteer projects, observe who is working hard and going the extra mile, and offer them an on-the-spot reward such as a gift card for a cup of coffee or a pin they can display proudly. Consider what might resonate most with the volunteers you’re working with.
4. Schedule a recurring virtual brown bag lunch with senior executives for your top volunteer leaders.
5. Create a point system based on number of hours volunteered or other inputs and have volunteers turn their points into rewards like company-branded merchandise.
Showcase Employees’ Efforts
6. Share stories and photos of
great volunteers
internally and externally. Develop a regular cadence of these stories and use communication vehicles that will reach as many employees as possible (e.g., intranet, posters in break rooms, e-newsletters, or company magazine).
7. Create a digital badge to add to a recently recognized volunteer leader’s email signature.
8. Highlight top volunteers during leadership or all-staff meetings, or at special company events. Post a photo and volunteer profile in high-traffic areas for both employees and guests, such as your main lobby or in elevator banks
9. Recognize
an individual or team with the most volunteer hours during a certain time period. Use different communication vehicles to display an honor roll of volunteers by number of hours served, number of projects participated in, or number of projects led. The
President’s Volunteer Service Award
is a prestigious way to offer this type of recognition. Since 2003, it has been honoring individuals whose service positively impacts communities in every corner of the nation and inspires those around them to take action, too.
10. Integrate public-facing recognition mechanisms into your strategy, such as the
Daily Point of Light Award
or the
Jefferson Awards
.
Go Big with Employee Recognition
11.
Dollars for Doers
and team volunteer grant programs (contribution programs that donate grants to qualified nonprofits based on the level of employee/team involvement as volunteers or board members) offer individual or group financial incentives in the form of grants to the organization of his/her choice. Grants can vary from $100 to $25,000 per award. Create a formal application and judging process or crowdsource who should win the team volunteer grants from across your employee base.
12. Another idea is to host an annual lunch, dinner or special event to highlight the work of top volunteers and volunteer leaders. Invite nonprofit partners to share their stories of volunteer impact to add moments of reflection to the event program.
13. If your company engages employees in an annual event such as a day, week or month of service, award your top volunteers or leaders with an all-expenses-paid trip to a different market for next year’s event. They’ll get a chance to volunteer alongside new colleagues and bring back fresh ideas to their market.
Need more employee recognition ideas? Don’t forget to check out our
Global Volunteer Month
toolkit for companies, which includes even more ideas for celebrating employees. Plus, Points of Light’s
Corporate Services Solutions
team is the go-to resource for community-minded companies looking to build and expand effective employee volunteer programs. We believe that companies, their employees, partners, vendors and customers can be drivers of transformative social change in communities around the world.
6 Tips for Working With Nonprofit Partners on Employee Activation
Companies know business, inside and out. But delving into employee activation can be tricky territory. Having a
CSR Partner
can take your success to the next level. One of the major factors of success for your company’s employee volunteer program is identifying and working with knowledgeable and experienced community partners. This includes those with
local, national or global reach
, the ability to scale as needed, and the ones that best know the community’s needs and are already working to solve society’s greatest challenges.
Here are some tips to ensure success when it comes to employee activation.
1. Prioritize Social Change Above All Else
It’s important to anchor volunteer programs in the needs of nonprofit organizations and community stakeholders. As important as company priorities are, start with knowing that you are doing this work to drive positive social change
first
. Do not decide for the nonprofit what their needs are. Instead, listen to them and decide how to best support those needs together. In this way, you can create shared value.
2. Work With Nonprofits That Have Ample Experience in Corporate Civic Engagement
Select a nonprofit partner that has experience working with organizations of your size and structure. This is also an opportune time for current employee volunteer leaders to step up, or for you to select one or more of your internal leaders to help with project planning, working with the partner and recruiting volunteers.
3. Pick a Partner and Build a Strong Relationship
As you vet nonprofit partners you might like to work with, look for organizations that you can have a transformational, rather than transactional, relationship with. While one-time or episodic volunteer projects have their time and place, focusing on long-term or recurring opportunities and deep engagement can result in feeling a sense of belonging and ownership of the shared work.
4. Communication is Key
As you work with your nonprofit partner, keep each other informed after you agree on the project specifics. Have regular check-ins (or ensure that your volunteer leaders are taking this step) so that you all know if the plan goes off course and can right the ship. This measure also prevents any surprises. Make sure you agree upon timing, tasks and policies to uphold, like taking photos or having any beneficiaries present to sign a waiver, enforcing safety precautions, determining who is purchasing supplies or what will be donated, scheduling supply arrival, and even simple things like keeping track of who will be there to open the door on the day of the project.
5. Evaluate and Reevaluate the Success of the Partnership
Don’t forget to stop and evaluate the partnership from time to time. Just like any relationship, you will want to know what’s working and where there’s room for improvement. With regular reviews of performance and overall success of the relationship, you can be clear on whether the relationship is working for both parties or whether it’s time to break up.
6. Invest in Your Program and Partnership Wisely
Keep in mind the time and effort it takes to plan a volunteer project. Think about your budget, not just for supplies and refreshments for volunteers, but also the work that goes into planning and leading a project if you’re leaning on the partner for that work. Think also about using budget dollars to invest in your partner’s readiness, especially as it relates to future skills-based or pro bono collaborations and measuring impact.
Need a nonprofit partner that knows its way around employee activation? Points of Light offers a suite of
Corporate Services Solutions
for strong community impact and a strong employee volunteer program.
