Volunteering

When employee benefits and perks are discussed today, much of the conversation is focused on ones that are unique. It might be catered lunch, an on-site gym, student loan repayment, a game room, or a dog-friendly office. Whatever it is, unusual perks and benefits are getting their fair share of attention with companies like Glassdoor covering the Top 20 Employee Benefits and Perks. And given that 57 percent of job seekers consider perks and benefits to be a top factor when deciding to accept a new job, it isn’t too surprising that companies are focusing more and more on them.

Wroclaw, Poland’s urban greening campaign is aimed at the greening and oxygenation of the city of Wroclaw by planting new vegetation. Volunteers who participated in this event were supporting Xylem’s clean water mission by planting more trees, contributing to a healthier and cleaner environment.

TeamCITGO volunteers and their families, local elected officials, agencies that TeamCITGO serves, and local business leaders recently gathered at the West Cal Events Center to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the employee-led volunteer group. TeamCITGO is the volunteer organization of the CITGO Lake Charles Refinery and was the first established employee-led industrial volunteer group in the area, donating thousands of community service hours to local charitable organizations throughout the last three decades.

At least once a month, Ellie von Wellsheim presides over sewing bees where she guides the hands of volunteers as they sew pieces of brightly colored fabric into reusable menstrual pads. The pads are destined for girls in Uganda, Malawi, and a host of other developing countries that lack the money and access to purchase feminine hygiene products.

An increasing number of businesses are discovering that volunteerism is an important part of their corporate social responsibility program. It’s not only good for the local community and improves the corporate brand, but it’s a powerful tool for increasing engagement in the workplace.

Common Impact, a nonprofit that pioneered corporate skills-based volunteering, partnered with S&P Global on its first ever skills-based Day of Service program designed to build the infrastructure and know-how of local STEM-focused nonprofits. Employees from S&P Global supported data visualization initiatives for three nonprofits in Charlottesville, Denver and Houston.

On June 16, 8:30am, over 200 Amway and community volunteers descended upon the Steepletown neighborhood on Grand Rapids’ northwest side. Their goal? To bring something that had been missing from the area for quite some time – a playground.

Seven years ago, Elena Davis was sitting at an intersection when a homeless woman approached her car. She immediately began to rummage around for spare change. But, when she rolled down the window to hand over the coins, Elena was surprised to be met with a different request.

Members of Keep America Beautiful’s headquarters’ staff joined volunteers from Liberty International Underwriters (LIU) and the National Park Service to beautify the north end of Ellis Island in New York Harbor.

Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s iconic community improvement nonprofit organization, today announced the distribution of 21 grants totaling $120,000 from The UPS Foundation for the 2017 Keep America Beautiful/UPS Community Tree and Recovery Tree Planting Grants program. The grant recipients’ projects will result in more than 1,200 trees being planted in support of locally-relevant initiatives.