How To Create An Exceptional Corporate Volunteer Program: PORTLAND, OREGON

An exceptional employee volunteer program (meaning, one that works) requires more than a splashy, media-friendly ‘IMPACT’ event. One-day, annual events aren't exactly bad, they're just....useless. Ok, well if not totally useless, they certaintly don't yield any more than a fun day out of the office that happens to be socially conscious. If your company is looking for real impacts like the retention of talent, recruitment of new talent, or employee satisfaction then you’ll have to do better than a day-long field trip. This is true regardless of the project. For example, one day builds with Habitat for Humanity are great, but even they won't earn you useful business impacts.

There are at least 3 main reasons why episodic employee volunteering cannot offer meaningful impacts to your community or your business:

1. People have been Googleized - We want what we want, when we want it. (Once a year 'IMPACT' days are oriented towards the company's schedule - not mine.)

2. People now build personal brands - We are on a constant search for events and opportunities by which to define ourselves. The companies once-a-year idea of a great cause may have nothing to do with me personally.

3. People want experiences - We don’t want to just ‘serve’ other people; we want to experience the difference we’re part of. Taking me out of the office to 'fix a problem' or 'make a difference' in 3 hours on a Tuesday afternoon is an transactional event, not a transformative experience.

Find a more detailed explanation of these points here: “3 Reasons You’re Finding It Hard To Find & Keep Volunteers” 

Or, if you like presentations, take a look at my Prezi: “How to Find, Keep and Manage Volunteers”  

Best of all? Join me in Portland, Oregon on October 5th to talk it out.  Sign up here for http://partnershipsinpdx.eventbrite.com/

See you there!