How do you balance purpose and corporate responsibility? And how do directives from leadership fit into your employee volunteer program goals? Last (but certainly not least), how do you create a program that’s inclusive of employee wants? If this feels like a lot to juggle, you’re not alone.
3. Logistics
● Type questions in box (left sidebar)
● Q&A will take place after the presentation
● You’ll receive webinar recording and slides tomorrow.
4. ❑ How purpose and CSR differ, and where they overlap
❑ Strategies to align company purpose with your volunteer
initiatives
❑ Who the key stakeholders are in an employee volunteer
program, and how to account for all of their interests
❑ Real-life examples of companies that have successfully
overcome these challenges
Today You’ll Learn:
5. About VolunteerMatch
Making it easy for good people and good causes to
connect.
• 20+ years in operation
• 13.6M annual visitors to
VolunteerMatch.org
• 121K nonprofits
• 103K opportunities/day
• 29 cause areas
• 100+ corporate partners
& organizations
• 14M connections
= $11,820,490,373
in social value
7. The Many Definitions of Purpose
“How [a company] provides its various services in totality. Why is it
in business? Why does it serve its stakeholders?”
— Dan Pontefract, author, The Purpose Effect
“Broadening the social mission of corporate jobs.”
— Bea Boccalandro, founder, VeraWorks
“Your company’s impact on the lives of customers.”
— Graham Kenny, Strategic Factors
“A bold affirmation of a company’s reason for being in business.”
— Nate Dvorak and Bryant Ott, Gallup
8. “Every organization on the planet knows
what they do... but very, very few people
and very, very few organizations can clearly
articulate why they do what they do.”
- Simon Sinek
9. Finding Your Purpose
● About Your Company:
○ Why do you do what you do as a company and why does it matter?
○ What do you (your company) stand for?
○ What is the positive impact you want to make on the world?
● About Your Employees:
○ What are their core values; what is important to them?
○ What inspires them?
○ How can you connect their visions for the world to that of your company?
10. Purpose vs. Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR)
Purpose:
“A bold affirmation of a company’s reason for being in business.”
CSR:
“A business approach that contributes to sustainable
development by delivering economic, social, and environmental
benefits for all stakeholders.” - The Financial Times
11. A Balancing Act
We want our programs to
have positive impact on:
● Our company
● Our employees
● Our community
13. Example: Airbnb
Purpose: To make people around the world feel like they could
“belong anywhere.
CSR alignment:
Open Homes: Airbnb hosts have the option to offer temporary
housing to over 11,000 people displaced by natural disasters,
conflict, or illness.
“A lot of companies struggle with trying to figure out how their
mission aligns to their corporate giving strategy. As much as you
can, try not to make them two different things.”
— Laura Ellis, Social Impact, Airbnb
15. Example: US Bank
Purpose: We invest our hearts and minds to power human potential
CSR Alignment:
Transitioned their volunteer program to align with three pillars of human
potential:
● Work: Workforce education and economic prosperity
● Home: Neighborhood stability and revitalization
● Play: Artistic and cultural enrichment and learning through active
play
16. Example: LEGO Group
Purpose: "To inspire and develop children to think creatively, reason
systematically and release their potential to shape their own future -
experiencing the endless human possibility."
CSR Alignment:
● Prioritize child-focused nonprofits for volunteerism and monetary
support
● Kids summer camps: Both creating programs and volunteering in
existing programs
● LEGO® Build the Change: Events that inspire and empower children
to build the future they want to see
17. Action Steps:
● Find your company’s purpose or mission statement (define it
for yourself if it doesn’t already exist).
● Develop a clear framework for how CSR initiatives will advance
this purpose
● Allow for flexibility within that framework
○ VTO
○ Recognition for outside volunteer activities
● Keep nonprofits needs top of mind
● Access the VolunteerMatch Network database of searchable,
high-quality volunteer opportunities, filterable by keyword,
cause area, skills, location, and more.
19. VolunteerMatch + Your Existing Program
● Complement your company’s existing focus areas and partnerships
● Turn on the network in your existing giving platform, or facilitate your
own integration.
● Save time and money.