More than ever before businesses are wanting to do their fair share to help improve the world and their local communities, but often struggle to find a way to do so, whilst striking a balance with business needs.
Laura Jones, Director of the gunnercooke foundation and House of Books & Friends CIC, shares how you can incentivise and support your employees to take up volunteering and truly make a difference.
Include volunteering days as an employee benefit
Many businesses, including gunnercooke, offer volunteering days as an employee benefit. This means that people have the time to go out into the community and support their chosen charity.
At gunnercooke, we found that those who take up the two days we offer, are more likely to provide further help in their spare time as they build relationships they want to continue and see the direct impact their efforts have had.
Offer a variety of volunteering opportunities
It’s important that employees feel connected to the charity they’re supporting, whether it be something they’re enthusiastic about or they can relate to.
To help with this ask your teams who and what causes they would like to support and engage them, why not put choices to a vote and support as a company or enable people to support the charities of their choosing. The more people engage, the more energised and motivated they will be to support their chosen cause.
Take advantage of your expertise
It’s not just about the time you give, the skills you have can be invaluable to small charities. Of course, giving time in a foodbank or donating clothes is incredibly valuable but so too is donating your knowledge and experience.
One example is a member of the marketing team spending a few hours designing a slide deck for a charity, which later on could mean more investment/grants for that charity.
Make it relevant
This could be through a variety of ways, such as making the opportunities time/season specific. For example, supporting a Shoe Box Appeal around the Christmas season, or during the colder months, working with a charity such as Hands On London to bring coats to homeless charities.
Not only does this help solve an issue people are currently facing, but it also allows your employees to feel like they’re truly making a difference and inspire them to continue their volunteering work.
Partnering with Purpose
Having a clear purpose is crucial for a business’s success, and aligning your volunteer efforts with that social purpose can help build momentum.
For example, at gunnercooke, our purpose is to leave the world in a better place than we found it and being the change we want to see in the world.
One way we achieve this is through our Community Interest Company, House of Books and Friends. The shop, café and event space is dedicated to tackling loneliness and social isolation, using the shop to foster community interaction and support charities focused on these issues.
By developing partnerships with organisations over time, both parties develop deeper, more meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships
If you’d like to find out more about the work we do through our foundation and how your business can engage with what we do, please contact [email protected].
