August / September 2009 edition of Corporate Citizenship Briefing, Issue 107.
In theory, employee volunteering is a win-win activity. Charities have access to free, and often highly skilled, human resource. Employees get to take part in a fun and rewarding experience quite different from the day job. Businesses benefit from improved staff morale and better reputation in the local community. In practice, all of these benefits can be achieved through an employee volunteering programme, but there are a number of potential challenges that need to be overcome. An increasingly common problem, as highlighted by the findings from the RedCCI survey, is the difficulty some charities face in trying to meet company demand for volunteering opportunities.
Companies are often keen to offer a wide range of opportunities to employees, engaging as many in volunteering as possible. This may appear a worthy aim, but it can at times be to the detriment of charity partners. Charities can find they end up expending limited internal resource in trying to come up with and manage volunteering opportunities that are not of huge benefit, all in an attempt to maintain relationships with company partners. This is a far from ideal and somewhat ironic situation, where a company that is trying to help a community organisation is instead actually being more of a hindrance.
To prevent this scenario, companies need to become more impact focused in their approach to volunteering. Better understanding of community needs will enable companies to work with charities to develop volunteering opportunities that have maximum community impact. In ensuring the charity really does benefit, a company is also more likely to see positive results. Employees involved in volunteering where they can see they are making a real difference usually are more motivated, leading to enhanced morale. The likelihood of improved corporate reputation is also greater if community impact is high. The key thing is for companies to seek quality of volunteering opportunity, rather than quantity. Only then will it be a win-win exercise for all parties involved.
Most big charities are now investing ethically
Over half of large UK charities have an ethical investment policy, according to a survey conducted by the Charity Finance Directors’ Group (CFDG) and the EIRIS Foundation. The survey of 164 CFDG members found that 60% of charities with investments over £1 million had an ethical investment policy while only 25% of smaller charities with investments of under £1 million invest ethically. The results, released on August 4, found that key reasons charities gave for investing ethically were avoiding conflicts with the charity’s aims and activities, reputational risk and concern about alienating supporters and donors. However, key barriers identified include concerns that ethical investment would lead to lower returns (identified by 40%), concerns over the legality of ethical investment in terms of their duty to maximise returns (28%), lack of staff resources (25%) and perceived complexity (24%). CFDG will be publishing guidance for charity finance professionals on the barriers to ethical investment around the end of the year. Contact: Charity Finance Directors’ Group www.cfdg.org.uk
Trusts and foundations will maintain grants, Charity Commission survey finds
Britain’s trusts and foundations are maintaining current levels of grant-giving even if it means spending their endowments, according to a report published by the Charity Commission on August 17. The commission surveyed 16 of the country’s largest trusts and foundations and three smaller ones for the ‘Firm Foundations: A snapshot of how trusts and foundations are responding to the economic downturn in 2009’. Three of the trusts said they had seen their income fall by more than 30%, 10 had seen a decline of less than 10%, and only four had seen an increase in income. Despite the widespread falls in income, only two trusts said they would decrease grant-giving in 2009, and three said they would increase it. Contact: Charity Commission www.charity-commission.gov.uk
Charities struggle to meet demand for staff volunteering, survey finds
According to the results of a recent survey by research and consultancy firm RedCCI, 75% of charities say more companies are looking for volunteering opportunities for their staff. However, the survey found that charities are struggling to offer such opportunities and only 18% of companies pay them to match volunteers with placements. According to the results, released on August 13, only 24% of companies reported an increased interest in volunteering from their staff. Charities are also seeing a marked increase in the number of local authorities and other public bodies seeking volunteering opportunities for their employees. Contact: RedCCI www.redcci.org
New not-for-profit online fundraising engine raises more for charities
Virgin Money Giving, a new not-for-profit online fundraising service has opened its doors for charities, ahead of its full launch to fundraisers. From August 25, charities have been able to publish their own pages on the site by visiting virginmoneygiving.com and registering. As a not for profit business, Virgin Money Business will only look to cover its costs, through a 2% transaction fee on donations and a one off £100 set up fee for charities. No charge will be made on administering Gift Aid and as a result Virgin Money Giving will cut the cost for charities raising money online by up to 60%. The site will also enable charities to understand the profile of the people supporting them and enhance their fundraising campaigns. Contact: Virgin Money Giving http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com
Future Jobs Fund winners announced
Hundreds of voluntary organisations will receive funding under the first round of the Government’s £1 billion Future Jobs Fund, set up to create 150,000 jobs, according to the Department of Work and Pensions. The fund was established to reduce unemployment by paying organisations to provide six-month work placements for unemployed people. The DWP announced on July 29 that 117 of 182 first round bidders had been successful. 62 of these bids were local authority led, the others were from a mixture of public bodies, third sector organisations, social enterprises and private companies. The successful bidders will now enter into contract negotiations with the department. Contact: Future Jobs Fund http://campaigns.dwp.gov.uk/campaigns/futurejobsfund
Social Enterprise London to deliver new jobs programme
Social Enterpise London (SEL) has won a contract to deliver over 200 jobs in social enterprise over the next 12 months. This is the first step towards creating ‘London’s Future 500’ – 500 jobs and training opportunities in socially responsible businesses for young people aged 18-24 who are not in education, employment or training. The contract is funded by the Department of Work and Pensions through the Future Jobs Fund. In delivering the programme SEL will be partnering with members of its 1300 strong network to enable young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to work for some of the most socially and environmentally progressive organisations in the country. Contact: Social Enterprise London www.sel.org.uk
Chad Rogerson is a consultant at Corporate Citizenship.
Email Chad to discuss assurance, community impacts, new business, stakeholder engagement and strategy development. Chad.rogerson@corporate-citizenship.com
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