Define Your Volunteer Program Goals

[Alicia_Schmidt]

Define Your Volunteer Program Goals

Goals are what make participation feel real.

📍 Where you are

You’ve completed the groundwork — your leadership team is on board, your mission is defined, and your nonprofit partner is chosen. Now it’s time to build your volunteer program. This module helps you set the specific, measurable goals that will keep the program alive all year.

Before you plan a single volunteer day, you need goals. Not vague intentions — actual numbers and outcomes. Goals create the drumbeat that keeps the program working.

Why this step matters: Programs without clear goals drift. You end up doing one event, then nothing for six months, then scrambling at year-end. A simple goal like ‘70% participation’, ‘one event per quarter,’ or ‘16 hours per employee’ creates a rhythm that keeps the program alive.

Sample Goals by Company Stage

Stage	Recommended Goals
Early stage (under 15 people)	Founder on a nonprofit board OR 1–2 group volunteer days/year. No formal tracking required yet. Goal: establish the habit.
Growth stage (15–50 people)	16–20 hours VTO per employee/year. Target 60–70% participation. Track hours with a spreadsheet or form. 2–4 volunteer events/year.

Goal Types — Pick What Fits

Goal Type	Example	Best For
Hours per employee	16 hours of VTO per employee per year	All stages — most common starting goal
Participation rate	50% of employees volunteer at least once	Culture-building, showing broad buy-in
Total hours	500 hours contributed as a company this year	External reporting, press releases
Orgs supported	Support 3 nonprofits this year	Showcasing community breadth
Skills-based ratio	25% of volunteer hours are skills-based	High-value professional skill companies

“Not only are our employees able to meaningfully participate in initiatives that they’re passionate about outside of Atlassian, but we’ve seen incredible levels of engagement, productivity, and feelings of connection between team members within our company. This has been the proof we need to continue to embed our Time Pledge into our corporate and individual team goals.”

— Mallory Burke, Senior Program Manager, Social Impact at Atlassian

💡 PRO TIP

Connect goals to OKRs: Adding ‘volunteer participation’ as a line item in your quarterly all-hands report creates accountability and keeps it visible — even without a full OKR system.

🤖 AI DRAFT PROMPT

Set our volunteer program goals

Use this to generate a set of recommended volunteer goals tailored to your company’s size, stage, and culture — ready to bring to your exec sponsor for sign-off.

Copy this prompt into your preferred AI assistant (like Claude or Gemini), then fill in the [brackets]:

We are a startup that has just joined Pledge 1% and are setting our first volunteer program goals.

Our company: [name, industry, number of employees, stage — e.g. 20-person Series A SaaS company].
Our impact mission: [describe your cause area].
Our current volunteer culture: [e.g., no formal program yet / some informal volunteering / founder already volunteers on a nonprofit board].
Do we have an OKR system or quarterly all-hands reporting? [yes / no / informal].

Please recommend:
1. The right company stage tier for us (early or growth) and why.
2. Two specific, measurable volunteer goals for our first year with targets filled in.
3. How to frame these goals to our exec sponsor — what business outcome do they connect to?
4. One optional stretch goal if we exceed our targets.

Base recommendations on Pledge 1% best practices for companies at our stage.

3 Quick Actions

• Set 1–2 specific, measurable volunteer goals (hours or participation %).
• Decide: will you connect goals to OKRs or company reporting?
• Get exec sponsor sign-off on your goals before building the program.

Your goals are set. Now let’s give your team paid time to act on them.

Next: Give Your Team Paid Time to Volunteer →