Three large US corporate donors have established a charitable fund called the IMPACT Fund, to help charities manage volunteers more effectively. The UPS Foundation has donated $1m over a three-year period, whilst the Capital One Financial Corporation and Home Depot have given $150,000 between them. UPS and the collaborators are asking other corporations and foundations to support the cause with the aim of raising $6m. The fund will be used to give grants to national and local non-profit organisations to support efforts to improve the use of volunteers. Contact Kristen Petrella, The UPS Foundation 00 1 404 828 4182 http://www.ups.com/community
in brief
The US-based Prudential Foundation marked the company’s tenth annual Global Volunteer Day by donating $20 for each hour of service to the Prudential CARES Disaster Relief Fund, to help communities affected by Hurricane Katrina. Contact Alicia Rodgers Alston, Prudential Financial 00 1 973 802 4446 http://www.prudential.com
The feel-good factor
Over half (53%) of employees who volunteer in their local communities feel more productive in the workplace, according to a survey carried out by Barclays and the Community Service Volunteers Make a Difference Day campaign, the findings of which were announced at the end of July. The survey took into account the opinions of around 141 employees from 11 different companies including Abbey, Dixons and Allied Domeq. The results also showed that 88% of employees feel that volunteering has helped improve staff morale and 83% would rather work for a company that has an employee volunteering project than one that doesn’t.
Employees from around 150 companies including Cadbury, Reuters and Unum Provident took part in this year’s annual CSV Make a Difference Day. KPMG co-ordinated 25 community volunteering projects across eleven cities, in six different countries to mark the event. Contact Esther Freeman, CSV Make a Difference Day 020 7812 0035 http://www.csv.org.uk/difference
Editorial Comment
As we prepare to go to print at the end of October, an expected 100,000 employees and their families were due to be volunteering their time to local communities, thanks to the annual CSV Make a Difference Day. The Barclays-sponsored research that accompanied the run-up to the day is significant less for its actual findings – based on relatively small numbers from the already convinced – and more for the clarity of its business case: improved morale among hard-to-reach groups, leading to less costly absenteeism and higher long term retention.
Enough evidence is available for community affairs managers to put together a pretty convincing cost-benefit analysis. With participation rates ever growing (Barclays’ one in three is high but not now untypical), the costs are real. Before the FD decides to put a number on it, why not outflank him (it usually is) and quantify the benefits?
COMMENTS