Hot
Topic Archive
June
2008
Is
corporate volunteering a benefit or self serving?
By
OzVPM Director Andy
Fryar
Probably
the greatest growth area in the world of volunteerism
over recent years has been the explosion of corporate
or employee volunteer programs the world. This growth
has been explosive and in many ways has taken volunteering
in directions many of us could barely forecast merely
a decade ago.
With
this surge in corporate volunteering has come money
- make no mistake about it! There are benefits to
any company’s triple bottom line in having a happy
workforce and it is proven that employee volunteer
programs provide a terrific conduit for both satisfied
employees and supported not for profit agencies in
the community. It stands to reason therefore that
those companies who invest in their volunteering programs
will gain greater benefits in the long run.
One
only needs to look at the myriad of brokerage services
which have sprung up around the corporate volunteering
agenda – agencies that match the skills of a corporate
volunteer with the needs of a non profit agency –
to understand this new industry and its potential
impact on our sector.
A
Volunteering Australia study conducted in 2006 that
surveyed many companies with corporate volunteering
programs in this country found that:
• The
majority (57%) had ‘formalised’ programs with policies,
procedures and management approval
• Were
investing between $20,000 and $30,000 per annum into
their programs while
• 43%
had a specific Corporate Social Responsibility department
dedicated to overseeing these programs
Additionally
one third of all companies who responded had a full
time person to oversee their employee volunteer involvement
while a further 28% employed someone at least on a
part time basis
Now here’s
the point of this hot topic.
With this unprecedented
growth over recent years, and with massive companies
each pouring tens of thousands of dollars into providing
these opportunities for their staff, why is it that
so little has seemingly changed in relation to the
resources being placed into good volunteer management
practices, and why do we not see those who manage
corporate volunteering opportunities within the sector?
With all due
respect, I can probably count on one hand the times
I’ve met someone from the world of corporate volunteering
at a network meeting or training event for volunteer
managers. I’d hazard to guess there are very few registered
as members of AAVA and there seems to be a very distinct
lack (at least from afar) of the benefits of corporate
volunteer involvement flowing into our established
Volunteer Centre network here in this country.
Further, of
the 450 + members we have in the OzVPM newsgroup,
I am unsure of any from the corporate world.
So my question
this month is simply – WHY?
• Do
those employed in the corporate volunteering world
not understand there is already an established network
of volunteering infrastructure in place?
• Do
they see it as not being relevant?
• Do
they not see themselves as being a part of the VM
sector but of the business world?
• Have
we (or they) created another ‘class’ of volunteer
management professional?
• And
finally …how can we better forge links with this group
and learn from one another
I am fascinated
to hear of your experiences and perspectives on this
most interesting topic
It's
not too late to...
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