A Quick Guide to Popular Corporate Volunteer Programs
Building relationships with corporate partners remains one of the most effective ways to scale your organization’s impact and reach new audiences. However, getting started can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re already juggling all of the daily operations of running a nonprofit. But pursuing corporate volunteerism is worthwhile because not only does it help you build relationships with corporate partners, but it can also help you gain the bandwidth your organization needs to manage its various activities effectively.
To help you navigate these opportunities, this guide will explain a few popular types of corporate volunteer programs. We’ll also offer actionable tips on leveraging these programs to secure sustainable, long-term support.
The Basics of Corporate Volunteerism
Corporate volunteerism is a strategic alliance between nonprofits and businesses in which businesses encourage their employees to dedicate their time and expertise to organizations committed to social causes.
Both nonprofits and businesses benefit from this type of arrangement. Companies can boost their reputations as socially responsible businesses and significantly increase their employee engagement. At the same time, nonprofits acquire essential volunteer assistance and form community partnerships that frequently lead to other mutual benefits in the future. In fact, according to Double the Donation’s Nonprofit Corporate Engagement Report, about three-fourths of nonprofits believe that workplace volunteering is crucial to their strategies.
Successfully pitching these programs to potential partners requires framing your nonprofit’s needs as direct solutions to a company’s internal goals. When you demonstrate how volunteering with your organization can improve businesses’ team building and employee retention metrics, corporate leaders become eager to participate.
Popular Types of Corporate Volunteering Programs
Direct Service Volunteering
Direct service volunteering allows corporate groups to interact face-to-face with your mission and, often, your beneficiaries. This type of volunteering program involves hands-on work, such as serving meals, caring for shelter pets, or cleaning up local parks.
To ensure a direct service volunteering program is a success, you should have well-structured, easily explainable tasks ready to go before a group arrives. This preparation lets teams start making an impact right away and maximizes their time with your organization.
Indirect Service Volunteering
Indirect service volunteering generally doesn’t involve any face-to-face interactions with beneficiaries. Instead, volunteers provide behind-the-scenes support—they can assemble care packages, organize inventory, or sort donations in your facility.
Make sure to implement clear guidelines and quality control measures so volunteer outputs are as useful as possible to your organization. You can train your volunteers for these tasks when they arrive or provide tutorial videos to watch in advance. For more in-depth roles, online courses and other resources are ideal.
Volunteer Grants
Also known as Dollars for Doers, a volunteer grant program involves companies making a financial donation to an eligible nonprofit after an employee volunteers for a specified number of hours. Because of this unique stipulation, accurately tracking volunteer hours is crucial to securing these grants.
A surprising number of professionals don’t know that their employers offer volunteer grants. Therefore, you should proactively remind your supporters to check their employers’ grant policies to multiply their overall impact—for instance, by sending out letters directly after events or near the end of each calendar year. That way, you can remind your volunteers that they may be eligible for a grant while the experience is still fresh in their minds.
Skill-Based Volunteering
Skill-based volunteering (SBV) allows employees to use their skills in furthering your nonprofit’s mission. Common examples include a lawyer offering pro bono legal services to help an organization negotiate a contract, an accountant helping nonprofits file tax forms at no cost, and graphic designers making marketing materials for an upcoming fundraising event.
To recruit the right support for your nonprofit, you need to understand what type of assistance your team needs. Be sure to clearly define what roles you need on your website’s volunteer page. In addition to role-specific and general requirements, you may also include your overall philosophy and address a few frequently asked questions.
Volunteer Time Off
Volunteer time off (VTO) allows employees to volunteer during standard work hours as a subset of their paid time off. Companies that have VTO policies usually offer their staff between 8 and 40 hours every year, and all types of volunteering (including direct, indirect, and skills-based) are applicable.
This type of corporate volunteering program encourages coordinators to define roles specifically suited to VTO participants. These individuals perfectly fill critical midday operational gaps that your traditional weekend volunteers can’t cover. For example, if you’re running an animal shelter, you would need someone to provide basic care for your rescue pets multiple times per day, including in the mornings when staff are busy with admin work. In this situation, you can promote morning volunteer shifts to your VTO-eligible volunteers.
Like with volunteer grants, consider sending volunteer time-off letters to your volunteer base that explain how to check their eligibility and highlight the specific roles you’re looking to fill in these letters.
Corporate Volunteerism Tips for Nonprofits
Attracting and retaining corporate partners requires a proactive, professional approach to relationship management. Here are a few strategies you can try:
- Build long-term partnerships with companies. Clearly communicate your mission from the first interaction with a potential partner and consistently highlight the mutual benefits of the partnership. You can also keep them engaged by sending them recurring impact reports and providing tailored sponsorship perks. When companies feel like true partners, they are more likely to renew their commitments and increase their contributions over time.
- Share educational content about corporate volunteerism. As mentioned previously, many employees aren’t aware of their employers’ corporate volunteering programs. You can remedy this issue by distributing informative content about corporate volunteerism to your supporters to encourage them to advocate for your nonprofit within their own workplaces.
- Invest in comprehensive volunteer management software. Adopting dedicated volunteer management software streamlines the process of scheduling, tracking, and communicating with corporate volunteers. When shopping for this type of software, Better Impact recommends choosing a provider with a robust database, a customizable recruitment form builder, user-friendly hours tracking features, and built-in email and SMS communication tools.
Above all, make sure to cultivate corporate relationships year-round and treat volunteer programs as integrated partnerships. Doing so will provide your nonprofit with reliable service from dedicated supporters who are deeply invested in your long-term success.
Wrapping Up
Navigating corporate volunteering requires intentional preparation, a variety of engagement options, and the ability to clearly demonstrate impact to partners. By building structured, mutually beneficial relationships, your organization can reliably expand your workforce and community footprint.
By Tim Sarazen, President of Better Impact
Timothy Sarazen is the President and CPO of Better Impact, a global software company dedicated to enhancing the experiences of nonprofits and volunteer-driven organizations in the healthcare and government sectors. With more than 13 years of experience working with product-led software solutions, Timothy believes strongly in turning complex challenges into simple, effective solutions that make customers’ lives easier through the smart use of technology. Based in Winston Salem, North Carolina, with his wife and three children, Timothy leads his team to empower organizations to align their efforts, improve decision-making, and showcase the measurable value of volunteer contributions.
