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While it may seem overwhelming at first, working remotely actually expands the way that teams can volunteer their time.
Here are a few tips for building a virtual volunteering program for your company. For a deeper dive, check out our Virtual Volunteering Playbook. To learn more about volunteering in general, check out this Time Donation 101 post. [Note: Some assets (such as playbooks) and functionalities are only available to Pledge 1% members. To join, take the pledge today!]
Some of these examples are larger companies, but the concepts are relevant for any company size, even solo entrepreneurs.
1) Explore Multiple Types of Virtual Volunteering
As you can see from this Virtual Volunteering Playbook snippet, there are multiple types of virtual volunteering. Your team can pursue group activities, solo opportunities, or even get the family involved! They can do something completely unrelated to their job (ex. making cards), use their professional skills, or even learn more about issues in a nonprofit-led session that combines education with action.
[Note: Some assets (such as playbooks) and functionalities are only available to Pledge 1% members. To join, take the pledge today!]
As you consider your options, here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Do I want to emphasize team bonding, individual flexibility, or a combination of both?
- Are there particular causes our company wants to support or professional skill sets that we want to share?
The answers will help shape your overall virtual volunteering strategy. There’s no one single answer! Many companies experiment with offering a variety of options (ex. group and solo activities).
2) Find Relevant Volunteering Opportunities
Once you’ve decided on an overall approach, you can research virtual volunteering activities. Consider reaching out to your local nonprofits or organizations that you may have worked with previously. Many nonprofits now offer virtual opportunities.
To get you started, we’ve compiled a few opportunities in our Virtual Volunteering Playbook (below). Please download the playbook itself for clickable links.
3) Encourage Team Participation
Next, you’ll want to invite your team to get involved! Encouraging virtual volunteering is a little trickier than putting up signs on the water cooler. Here are some ways to inspire your team to participate.
Add Urgency
Establish volunteering part of your company culture by making it part of the rhythm of your business. Give employees a reason as to why they should take action now versus next month.
For example, one of our members, Rock Content, has a Global Week of Service, where they emphasize team volunteering opportunities. Another one of our members, a ten-person law firm, encourages more employees to volunteer on their own. However, each internal newsletter includes relevant volunteer opportunities for the month (ex. environmental volunteering options for Earth Day). The goal is to make virtual volunteering part of the “rhythm” of your business versus something that people intend to do (but forget about).
Involve Leadership
If virtual volunteering is important to your executives, it becomes important for everyone else! We recommend that executives get actively involved whenever possible. Here are some tips on how to make it easy for executives to participate.
Find Your Rallying Agents
Virtual volunteering will naturally excite some employees more than others. Identify these potential champions and empower them to spread the word! Social impact programs provide leadership opportunities for team members who may not otherwise have them in the day-to-day responsibilities.
You can also highlight active participants in your publications (ex. email newsletter, blog or recruiting page), or give them facetime with executive leadership.
Gamification
Who doesn’t love a good competition? Rock Content used gamification to get employees to sign up and show up.
Make it fun!
For group activities, add something extra to engage your team. You could send out a relevant article or video ahead of time, or come prepared with a list of icebreaker questions. Some companies even like to make a collaborative Spotify playlist to set the mood!
Measure Your Impact
Nothing is more motivating than seeing how much a difference your participation makes. Work with your nonprofit partner to showcase the outcome of your efforts (ex. number of people helped). You can also use internal metrics to highlight participation (ex. number of employees, dollar value of each employee’s time). Some companies even combine these metrics into a ratio: amount of social impact per time donated.
Want more info?
[Note: Some assets (such as playbooks) and functionalities are only available to Pledge 1% members. To join, take the pledge today!]
You can also watch our case study on Salesforce's Virtual Volunteering Strategy.
