Volunteering: employee volunteering with a purpose

The UK government plans to work closely with the business community to develop a ‘corporate challenge’, promising new initiatives on employee volunteering and promotion of corporate giving tax incentives, it was announced in the pre-budget statement of November 27. Next steps on volunteering and giving in the UK, a joint discussion document from the Home Office and Treasury published on December 4, sets out plans to encourage employee volunteering and corporate giving, profiling current good practice examples from The Royal Bank of Scotland and Yorkshire Water. The Chancellor’s pre-budget statement also announced a pilot financial scheme to help young British volunteers from low income backgrounds undertake a year’s community service after leaving school. The concept is based on the American Americorps scheme. Research published by the Charities Aid Foundation on November 7 shows that more than eight in ten (83%) young people did something charitable in October, and over nine out of ten (96%) said they would give money and/or time in the future. Contact Mark Pillans, Home Office, on 020 7273 3774 (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk); Vicki Pulman, CAF, on 01732 520 094 (http://www.cafonline.org)

Anglo American, KPMG and GlaxoSmithKline are supporting ENGAGE, a three year global campaign to increase the quality and extent of employee volunteering. Launched in Belfast on October 30, and led by the International Business Leaders Forum and Business in the Community, the initiative includes a target for business to donate one million additional business days of employee time to local community initiatives within three years. Contact Clarinda Cuppage, IBLF, on 020 7467 3659 (http://www.iblf.org)

American Express sponsored street banners in New York City, the Chinese Bank in Hong Kong issued a credit card, Benetton launched a joint marketing campaign, and the BBC gave staff time off: all examples of corporate activity during the International Year of Volunteering in 2001. According to the UN IYV evaluation report, published on November 26, business played a much more significant role in promoting volunteering than five years previously. The report says that corporate activities were key to the success of the year, along with the efforts made to measure the contributions of volunteers in every part of the world. Contact Richard Nyberg, IYV, on 00 49 228 815 2223 (http://www.iyv2001.org)

Staff in McDonald’s restaurants in 100 countries across the world participated in fundraising schemes on November 20, as part of the company’s World Children’s Day initiative. UK employees raised over £500,000 for the company foundation, Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities, which supports children’s causes. RMCC has committed £4.4m to build 14 new accommodation units across the UK over the next two years. Contact Annabel Anderson, RMCC, 020 7331 5361 (http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk)

Microsoft, Barclays, law firm Eversheds and the BBC sponsored MAD 4 I.T. week in October, an initiative by Business in the Community to engage business in addressing the ‘digital divide’. Employees from Cisco Systems, Fujitsu and Zurich Financial Services were among more than 1,000 volunteers from 35 major UK businesses who gave time valued at around £250,000. Over 100 projects received training or second-hand equipment.

Meanwhile the government is encouraging IT professionals to volunteer their skills in an effort to bridge the digital divide. The move centres around the IT 4 Communities initiative, launched on November 8. Initially a website will match volunteers with opportunities, to be followed by a regular newsletter, regional meetings and a national awards scheme. Contact Vicki Steer, BitC, on 020 7566 8767 (http://www.bitc.org.uk); Simon Davey, IT 4 Communities, on 0705 018 8707 (http://www.it4communities.org.uk)

Over 10,000 Barclays staff across the country, including the chairman, participated in voluntary projects as part of the UK’s annual Make a difference day, on October 23, sponsored by the bank and the Woolwich Building Society. Now in its seventh year, the country’s largest annual volunteering event involved more than 60,000 people across the UK, a sixfold increase on the 10,000 people who participated in 2001. Contact Moya Welsh, Barclays, on 020 7699 4174 (http://www.barclays.co.uk)

KPMG employees are helping to launch the Home Office-backed Employee Volunteering Programme, donating their time to protect the ecosystem at a National Trust site in East Sussex on October 11. The EVP is a partnership, led by the National Trust, to get more corporate and public sector organisations involved with conservation and community projects, by providing a single source of employee volunteering projects. Partners include the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, RSPB, YHA and the Wildlife Trusts. Contact Wendy Akers, National Trust, on 020 7447 6753 (http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk)

Existing business owners and former company directors are being called on to volunteer as online mentors for fledgling businesses, as part of a pilot scheme announced on November 14. Aimed at start-up and early growth firms, the ementoring scheme will roll out in the south east in January 2003, before going national if successful. Contact Alison Milsom-Smith, Small Business Service South East, on 01483 500 781 (http://www.sbs.gov.uk)

Standard Life is challenging every staff member to give or raise £25 each for the company’s three charities, the Breast Cancer Campaign, the Prostate Cancer Charity and the Royal National Institute of the Blind. Contact Raemond Charles, Standard Life, on 0131 245 6467 (http://www.standardlife.co.uk)

Fifteen Pfizer employees raised £20,000 in five days between September 30 and October 4 for Action for Sick Children (Scotland). The team-building challenge saw the staff deliver playboxes to 25 hospitals using public transport only, complete a survey at each hospital and conduct 18 media interviews to raise the charity’s profile. Contact Anne Denby, Pfizer, on 01304 616 161 (http://www.pfizer.com)

More than 1,800 solicitors volunteered their time to write wills in exchange for a minimum donation of £50 to charity during the month of November. Since its launch in 1988, Will Aid has raised over £3.5m. Contact Julie Wilson, Will Aid, on 01460 271 178 (http://www.willaid.org.uk)

COMMENT:

As the UK government issues yet another challenge to increase employee volunteering, new moves are made to spread its take-up around the world. But can companies afford to do more, without a more obvious payback?

A quick flick through the pages of Briefing over these last 10 years will reveal a steady stream of volunteering initiatives from governments of various hues. Remember Make a Difference, One20, Millennium Volunteers, TimeBank, the Giving Campaign and others. So it would be easy to be sceptical of this latest challenge. And indeed there are no new ‘big ideas’ – it’s essentially about promoting existing schemes and sharing best practice. Credit where it’s due, however: in parallel they’ve been looking at possible changes to the legal and regulatory framework for charity, which could re-energise the sector (as we report below), and introducing modest but helpful tax reliefs and incentives.

Governments are always keen on employee volunteering. Latest Home Office research shows that only 18% of employees work for employers with EV schemes – plenty of room for growth. When individuals are asked about barriers to them volunteering, one in three cites lack of time and one in five work commitments. If employers can be persuaded to allow more time off, there’s a ready-made army of new volunteers, and at no cost to the Treasury.

Governments aside, employee volunteering remains remarkably popular, with growing interest outside its traditional homes in the US and UK. In the developing world, for example, EV is a valuable resource where cash is short and skills are at a premium. Within companies, the focus away from community involvement towards wider CSR and relentless costcutting have not proved a damper. This is largely because the business case is strong – skills development, team building, motivation. Nonetheless, from the employers’ view point, EV can be unstrategic – that is, driven by employees’ own preferences. If the government is to succeed in upping the resources that companies commit, then EV is going to have to acquire a harder edge with more of a community pay-back. Some of the initiatives reported above, such as small business support and closing the digital divide, set out to achieve something concrete. They point the way forward. Volunteering with a purpose, as the Chancellor might say.

Do you agree? Disagree? Share your views with us by emailing editor@ccbriefing.co.uk