 - Sudeshna Das-Menezes Director of Volunteer Services, FeedMore June 13, 2013

 Why corporate partners play a key role in your organization  Expectations and Challenges  How to set up a corporate volunteer program  Logistics  Cultivation

By encouraging employees to participate in community activities through company sponsored volunteer programs, a business contributes to building better communities. Corporate volunteering allows people to contribute skills and knowledge to a not-for-profit organization and actively participate in the community. It makes people feel good. Corporate volunteering can be a low-cost, short-term, low-risk, high-impact way of making the knowledge, skills and experiences of the business sector accessible to the not-for-profit sector while building understanding, employee skill and community goodwill.

Corporate volunteering provides an opportunity for potential partners to experiment with a relationship by getting to know each other before embarking on something more complex. Corporate volunteering programs can be structured and formal or ad-hoc and informal Excerpted from Take Your Partner for the Corporate Tango by Kate Reynolds 2001, Volunteering SA, Inc. pp

 People power  Availability during the week and weekends  Company retiree programs  Skill sets  Energy  Exposure  Funding  Skill based volunteering  Project based partnerships

 Team building opportunities  Sense of achievement  Fun  Accommodating  Organized & prepared  Structured  Be prepared to add additional activities  Provide details of activity – job description, dress code, parking and any additional information that might be needed  Engage the staff!

 Research and identify corporate partners aligned with your mission – enlist volunteer help with the research, comb websites for information.  Get with staff and create a menu of opportunities.  Show off your facility and talk up your programs.  Chat with your volunteers - individuals and groups and ask them to spread the word and get feedback.  Make it EASY for corporate volunteers!

 Confirmations should include –  Date & time, age requirement, group requirements:  Group contact (Name, cellphone, work number, )  Volunteer Job Description  Dress code  Other notes (might include parking details, photo releases, signing in procedures if you have an automated process etc.)  Directions to facility  Contact details for the onsite coordinator (Name, cellphone, work number, )

 Keep in touch with the lead  Meet and greet; orientation  Involve staff from the organization to talk about the activity and impact other than the volunteer coordinator  Provide direction and support during activity  Appreciation

 Follow up with a thank you or notecard  Have the lead fill out a survey about the experience  Learn from the experience  Provide them with options for the next time  Add the group to your list so you can notify them of upcoming opportunities

 employee_volunteering.pdf   in-corporate-social-responsibility/ in-corporate-social-responsibility/  communications-trends-to-watch-next- year/article/273824/ communications-trends-to-watch-next- year/article/273824/

Q&A

THANK YOU!

SUDESHNA DAS-MENEZES DIRECTOR OF VOLUNTEER SERVICES FEEDMORE