Corporate Volunteering: how companies mobilise employees for good

What is corporate volunteering?

Corporate volunteering is a company mobilising its employees to give time and skills to community causes. The employer provides the framework, time, organised opportunities and often incentives, while the employees contribute the effort. It is the volunteering strand of a company's corporate social responsibility.

What distinguishes it from a company simply allowing staff to volunteer is structure. Corporate volunteering is organised and supported by the employer, which is what turns individual goodwill into a program that can be directed, measured and reported.

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How is it different from corporate giving?

The distinction is time versus money. Corporate volunteering is employees giving their time and skills; corporate giving is the company contributing money or goods. One donates effort, the other donates resources.

The two are complementary and often connected. Mechanisms such as volunteer grants deliberately link them, turning employee volunteer hours into a company donation, but they remain distinct commitments and are reported differently. Keeping the line clear matters for an honest account of what a company contributes.

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What forms does corporate volunteering take?

Corporate volunteering comes in several formats that differ along two axes, the nature of the contribution and how it is organised. By nature, there is skills-based volunteering and board service; by format, there is team volunteering and virtual volunteering.

These are supported by enablers rather than being formats themselves: volunteer time off gives employees paid time to participate, and volunteer grants reward their hours with a donation. A mature program combines formats and enablers to suit different employees and causes.

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Managing corporate volunteering in a platform

A corporate volunteering platform gives a company one place to offer opportunities, record participation and hours, and administer enablers like time off and grants, so volunteering becomes a measurable program that feeds impact reporting rather than a scatter of untracked good deeds.