Skills Based Volunteering: Effective Recognition Strategies

Volunteers play a vital role in driving positive change in the world and supporting community organizations’ missions. Acknowledging and honoring the contributions of volunteers is crucial for maintaining a positive and appreciative working environment, as well as for attracting and retaining them.

As an expert in volunteer recognition, whether traditional or skills-based, we wanted to share a few ideas with you while we celebrate Pro Bono Week. At the top of our list is creating both formal and informal ways to recognize your pro bono and skills-based volunteers and developing a multi-faceted approach.

Informal Volunteer Recognition Tactics

Personalized Thank-You Notes: Write heartfelt thank-you notes that highlight volunteers’ specific skills and the impact they’ve had on the company’s nonprofit partners. This personal touch goes a long way in expressing gratitude.
Casual Coffee or Lunch Meetings: Invite them for a coffee or lunch with yourself or with senior leaders to express appreciation and discuss their experiences. It’s an opportunity to learn more about their skills and interests.
Social Media Shoutouts: Give them a shoutout on your company’s social media platforms, showcasing their work and expressing gratitude for their expertise.
Small Tokens of Appreciation: Send a handwritten card along with company-branded merchandise or a gift card to show your gratitude for their efforts.
Highlight Their Contributions in Team Meetings: Ask their supervisor to take a moment during team meetings to acknowledge their contributions and the positive impact they’ve had on your company’s employee volunteer program.
Peer Recognition: Encourage colleagues and team members to recognize and applaud volunteers’ contributions through informal communication tools like a Slack volunteer channel or by posting photos in the breakroom.
Feature Them in Newsletters or Blogs: Include a section in internal newsletters or on your company blog that highlights the work and accomplishments of your skills-based volunteers.
Invitations to Community Events: Often, corporate social impact leaders receive tickets to events hosted by nonprofit partners or others in the community. Offer the chance to attend to your volunteers so that you’re seated amongst colleagues who will truly appreciate the opportunity.

Remember that informal recognition should be sincere and tailored to the individual volunteer’s preferences. Some volunteers may prefer a private thank-you note, while others may appreciate public recognition. Be sure to consider their comfort levels and preferences when showing appreciation.

Formal Volunteer Recognition Tactics

Formal Thank-You Letters: Send formal thank-you letters or emails signed by company leadership to skills-based volunteers, expressing gratitude for their expertise and dedication. Make sure their supervisor also receives a copy for their personnel file.
Awards and Certificates: Create awards or certificates that acknowledge volunteers for their contributions. These can be presented at company-wide events or volunteer recognition ceremonies.
Skills-based Volunteer of the Year: Establish a formal award to honor the individual or team that has made the most significant impact through their skills-based volunteering efforts.
Annual Volunteer Recognition Event: Host an annual recognition event dedicated to honoring all volunteers, including skills-based volunteers. Invite company leadership and colleagues to celebrate their contributions.
Performance Reviews: Encourage employees to include their skills-based volunteer work in their mid-year or annual performance reviews or conversations. This provides a platform for them to explain skills they learned or practiced that can help them advance.
Public Recognition: Include a section on your company website or internal newsletters that highlights the achievements and contributions of skills-based volunteers. This can be in the form of profiles or success stories.
Professional Development Opportunities: After coordinating with HR and leadership, offer skills-based volunteers opportunities for professional development, such as attending conferences, workshops or courses relevant to their field of expertise or creating social impact like the annual Points of Light Conference.
Mentorship Programs: Implement a mentorship program where experienced skills-based volunteers can mentor newer volunteers. Recognize mentors for their guidance and support.
Monetary Grants or Donations: Consider offering a charitable grant or donation to a cause of the skills-based volunteer’s choice as a way of recognizing their efforts. This can also serve as an incentive for getting more skills-based volunteers involved in the next project.
LinkedIn Recommendations: Encourage company leaders and colleagues to write LinkedIn recommendations for skills-based volunteers, acknowledging their valuable contributions.

When recognizing skills-based volunteers formally, it’s important to make the acknowledgment meaningful and aligned with your company’s culture and values. Tailor your approach to fit the preferences and needs of the volunteers while ensuring that their contributions are acknowledged and celebrated throughout the organization.

Regardless of format, one of the best ways to recognize the work of a skills-based volunteer is to highlight the results they accomplished at a project’s conclusion. This evaluation should be two dimensional, showcasing the effect the project had on volunteers, the nonprofit organization as well as outcomes related to social impact. Use that information to nominate your skills-based volunteers for a

Daily Point of Light Award

or congratulate them with a

President’s Volunteer Service Award

5 Questions You Should Ask to Strengthen and Scale Your Pro Bono Program

Whether tapping the enthusiasm and talent of employees in St. Louis or Singapore, research continues to show that creating impactful volunteer opportunities doesn’t only benefit communities in meaningful ways—it can enhance your business, too. At Points of Light, we are committed to providing resources for community-minded companies that want to strengthen and scale effective employee volunteer programs.

Below is a quick list of research and resources that will help you address the most asked questions about skills-based and pro bono support of nonprofits and help strengthen your company’s social impact programs. Use these resources to become more effective champions of this work.

Q. How do I make the business case to senior leadership to invest resources into implementing a skills-based volunteer or pro bono program?

The case for skills-based volunteering is clear and compelling. While nonprofit organizations will always need traditional volunteers to help them advance their mission, they are also in need of strategic support that builds capacity. Pro bono volunteers can help design human resources policies, implement technology upgrades, develop marketing campaigns and review legal documents.

All of this work is necessary for any organization to thrive, but often nonprofits don’t have the budget for these tasks set aside each year, as they use their much-needed funds to continue supporting their beneficiaries. That’s where skills-based and pro bono volunteers can play an outsized role in their operations.

Providing ways for employees to use their skills in support of nonprofit partners reaps dividends for businesses, too. It can help you achieve business goals related to recruitment and retention. It can help provide a lower-cost way to train and upskill employees. It can also support leadership development at all levels. And those are only the employee-related benefits!

Inviting your employees to donate their time and talents to NGOs can also support your company’s bottom line by increasing positive public perception of your company’s brand, building customer loyalty and bringing innovation to your company’s products and services.

For additional proof points that will appeal to senior leadership, check out ACCP’s

Making the Case toolkit

for 2023.

Q. I work for a small business and am not sure if we can get involved in pro bono like larger companies might?

The most common concerns for small businesses when considering an employee volunteer program are related to cost and capacity. But there are creative ways to manage skills-based volunteerism so that it works for smaller businesses, including:

Determine the maximum amount of time an employee can volunteer per fiscal year.
If production runs are tight, recommend the employee volunteer after work hours, and determine appropriate compensation.
Ensure proper cross-training of employees (and their ability to cover others’ assignments). This allows operations to continue when the employee is volunteering.
Allow employees to utilize their sick, personal or vacation days for pre-approved volunteering opportunities.
Allow employees to “donate” their sick, personal or vacation time to other employees who would like to volunteer.
Check out our article on mobilizing employees even if you have a small team for additional pointers.

Q. Where can I find best practices for designing a great pro bono program?

There are many great resources to help you design and implement the pro bono volunteer program that will make the right sense for your business, your colleagues and the communities in which your business operates. And the most important first step is understanding the needs of those communities and the nonprofits that support them.

You’ll find that the “

sweet spot

”

(where your skills-based program runs efficiently and effectively, and delivers needed impact) lies at the intersection of those community needs, the skills and interests of employees, business priorities and constraints. Check out additional expert resources from Taproot Foundation

here

, including the

ultimate guidebook

to designing a corporate pro bono program.

Q. How do I find the right nonprofit partners?

First, consider your existing grantees, who might also be in need of pro bono support. Then, consider contacting the following networks, organizations or online resources that can connect you with local nonprofits and skills-based volunteer opportunities.

Points of Light’s Global Network is comprised of volunteer-mobilizing organizations in 39 countries around the world. They can help you identify NGOs that need skills-based support and may also be able to help you design and implement your strategy.
Taproot Plus offers an online tool to match nonprofit and small business needs with volunteers with the right skills and expertise.
Catchafire is another online tool that connects skilled, virtual volunteers with nonprofits that need their expertise.
Common Impact is a one-stop-shop that can help your business design and implement a skills-based strategy while also helping you find nonprofits that need your employees’ talents.
Points of Light Engage is an online database of volunteer projects, many of which require the expertise of skilled volunteers.

Q. What can I do to help nonprofits be ready for skills-based volunteers?

Help your nonprofit partners increase their readiness to make the most of a skills-based project by sharing with them the organizational readiness assessment available through

Capacity Commons

provided by

Common Impact

and the

Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation

. It’s a free, online tool with extensive resources to help build nonprofit capacity to navigate skills-based volunteering, including pro bono efforts.