2022 - The Year Virtual Volunteering Gains Greater Prominence
Corporate giving witnessed a leap in its evolution in 2020. The pandemic led to a period of corporate and personal introspection, resulting in greater empathy, more understanding, and a positive bias for action. Virtual volunteering was at the forefront of this paradigm shift. It adhered to lockdowns and social distancing norms, allowing employee engagement.
Virtual volunteering started small in 2020 and, by 2021, turned into a way for 52% of companies to support the causes in which they believe. In keeping with this upward trend, 2022 could be the year virtual volunteering gains further prominence.
Before delving into the ‘hows,’ we must first understand the critical factors behind virtual volunteering’s growth over 2020 and 2021:
- Virtual volunteering offered organizations and individuals the ability to support the causes they believe in without the additional logistics, planning, and scheduling involved in physical volunteering.
- Because virtual volunteering was a remote activity, it provided safety for volunteers at the height of the pandemic.
- Virtual volunteering gave organizations a way to measure and track engagement metrics and give more effectively and accurately.
- Virtual volunteering allowed organizations to support a range of causes and nonprofits worldwide.
- Organizations saved 33% more money using virtual volunteering than with similar physical volunteering activities.
These factors made it easy for organizations to transition from physical models of employee giving to virtual volunteering. In addition, 91.3% of organizations currently using virtual volunteering said they were most likely to continue these activities in the future.
This statistic alone makes a great case for virtual volunteering’s high adoption rate in 2022. But it’s not the only one. So let us examine a few more reasons 2022 will be the year virtual volunteering gathers more significant momentum.
1. COVID-19 is evolving, and so are working models
While levels of infection have dropped and recovery rates have improved, the fact is that there are still new strains and mutations of the virus emerging.
To cope with this ebb and surge, organizations have adopted hybrid and permanently remote models of working. Virtual volunteering offers a common platform to these organizations to continue employee giving initiatives despite any impending lockdowns.
2. Consumer consciousness is growing.
As confirmed by the Edelman Trust Barometer, social responsibility has become an index of a brand or organization's goodness that influences buyer behavior. Virtual volunteering offers organizations an avenue to augment or improve their social currency.
3. Employee purpose is evolving.
Projections show that millennials will form 75% of the global workforce by 2025, studies
show.
The same study also states that 71% of them think business can do much more to address society’s challenges in the areas of most concern: resource scarcity (56%), climate change (55%), and income equality (49%). These happen to be some of the critical initiatives covered by virtual volunteering.
4. Corporates are leveraging virtual volunteering for employee engagement and retention.
A global talent trends survey found that the highest-performing employees are 3x more likely to work for a company with a strong sense of purpose.
Younger workers are searching for impact-driven companies that champion the journey towards building a better world and take steps to effect positive change. Virtual volunteering has become a way for organizations to engage employees and attract new talent through the alignment of purpose.
5. The rise of micro-volunteering
Micro-volunteering activities are virtual actions that take only 10-30 minutes. They allow employees to partake in volunteering activities as organizations look to ramp up productivity to make up for the effects of the pandemic.
Micro-volunteering tasks can be performed at someone’s desk during lunch or a cab ride and do not have intensive material or training requirements. Apps such as the Karma app, developed by Goodera and Zoom, also facilitate these actions between virtual meetings.
In Conclusion
The pieces that will drive increased adoption of virtual volunteering are already in place. What will tie them together is that our world is in a state of flux. There are emerging crises, catastrophes, and causes to which we are all beginning to pay greater attention.
There is also an increased awareness among corporates that it is time to act. Again, virtual volunteering is helping to bridge the gap between those who need help and those willing to provide it.
If you're looking to get started with virtual volunteering, a great place to begin would be Goodera's Karma Hub - the world's largest repository of virtual volunteering opportunities. Goodera has partnerships with 50,000+ non-profit organizations and has conducted volunteering sessions for 300+ companies.
