Partners in Volunteerism - Employee Volunteer Programs

At the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley, we believe corporate initiatives that give back to the communities in which they operate and where their employees work and live, are reinforced by their alignment with an excellent volunteer and philanthropy program. One way to accomplish that is to begin an employee volunteer program within your business. Through an employee volunteer program (EVP), projects are aligned with a company’s strategic objectives yet tailored to fit specific markets and community needs. 

 

The Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley helps businesses develop and manage effective, sustainable employee volunteer programs (EVPs) through the Partners in Volunteerism program. This program helps meet the company priorities, address employees’ interests and target real community needs.

 

The VCCV works directly with companies and EVP managers to provide information, share effective practices, and provide opportunities for networking, leadership and recognition. Our services include:

• Communication assistance to help you get your point across in ways that will inspire and engage your employees, such as policy and toolkit development.
• Customized and standard trainings to help engage your employees.
• Strategy support and implementation assistance.
• Arrangement of group or individual volunteer activities with 85+ community organizations.

 

Regardless of the size or scope of your customized employee volunteer program, the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley will work with your business to create a meaningful project that creates lasting change in the communities you serve. There are many ways the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley can work with companies throughout the Cedar Valley to engage their employees and create impact in communities.

 

Revitalize Schools: Participate in school transformation projects that improve student performance, engage the surrounding community and create an educational culture change throughout the school.

 

Restore Environmental Resources: Lend your hands to specific and tangible environmental stewardship initiatives that will influence the behavior change required to preserve the Earth for future generations.

 

Reduce Poverty through Community Development: Become the first to pilot and demonstrate scalable, community and volunteer-based initiatives that will help build financial security through citizens helping one another in times of need.

 

Respond to Disaster and Prepare Communities for Emergency:  Enlist your employees in opportunities that provide life-saving resources and on-the-ground support to disaster zones around the world. Help communities prepare for times of disaster with impactful tools and resources.

 

The Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley helps businesses develop and manage effective, sustainable employee volunteer programs that meet company priorities, address employees’ interests and target real community needs through the Partners in Volunteerism Program.

 

 

Benefits for Companies

Just as nonprofits are trying to respond to growing demands, the corporate sector is being pressured to achieve measurable results through its community giving strategies. Skills-based volunteering (SBV) increases the value of companies’ support to community partners by increasing the magnitude of impact those partners. Through skills-based volunteering, companies can offer the specific knowledge and unique business experience of their professional workforce, which is often what nonprofits need most. Corporations can strategically focus their social investment by making available their most competitive asset – their talent. This factor is especially important as companies look for ways to demonstrate an ongoing commitment to the community and to diversify their service project portfolios. SBV is a win-win value proposition that creates a foundation on which companies and nonprofits can build ongoing, mutually beneficial relationships.

 

SBV programs also help companies to recruit and retain employees, as job seekers are increasingly interested in a company’s community engagement, particularly young people entering the workforce. Research shows that SBV improves recruitment and retention, especially among Millennials, and that it enhances employee morale, loyalty and productivity. Working for nonprofits with new teams, under added constraints and with limited resources, helps give employees a new perspective and stimulates their creativity.

 

Since it is often easier to measure the impact of an SBV project than of a hands-on service project, the return on the company’s investment is much more visible. In addition, SBV initiatives give companies the opportunity to align their volunteering programs with their own areas of interest – such as a financial services company offering its employees’ skills to financial literacy education.

 

Contact Lauren Finke to learn more about how the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley can help your organization develop an award winning volunteer program and be a Partner in Volunteerism. Throughout the Cedar Valley, the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley is working with corporate partners to improve lives and create positive change in our communities.