Business for Social Responsibility
Volunteerism and Release Time Issue Brief
Introduction
Corporate volunteerism is a visible element of many companies' efforts to demonstrate their commitment to the communities in which they operate. In recent years, volunteerism has become a key part of companies� broader social investment programs. There are many strategies that companies can adopt to develop their volunteer programs to maximize community benefits while aligning with business culture, values and goals. Companies can demonstrate their support for volunteerism in various ways, such as stating their commitment in corporate mission statements, setting up recognition programs, matching volunteer service with cash grants and providing paid time off for employee community service activities.
Voluntary community service programs can also help build employee skills, encourage teamwork, promote loyalty and job satisfaction, and help attract and retain qualified employees. They can also help companies build stronger relationships with communities, government leaders and other stakeholder groups, and obtain important business-relevant information about communities in which they operate.
Business Importance
In the past, corporate volunteer efforts were seen as purely philanthropic, an opportunity for companies and their employees to �give back� to their communities. Currently, volunteerism benefits companies in a variety of ways:
- Improve Employee Skills and Training: Some leadership companies have integrated volunteer programs into ongoing training and development efforts to build employee knowledge and skills. For example, BT Group plc found that volunteering and other forms of employee community involvement helped develop a variety of competencies, including teamwork, planning and implementation, communication, project management, listening skills and customer focus.
- Encourage Employee Teamwork: Many community projects require volunteers to work cooperatively in teams to accomplish tasks. Such teams often involve a diverse mix of company and community representatives, spanning a variety of ages, races, cultures, and working styles. Many companies have harnessed the teamwork skills learned in volunteer activities to help everyone from line employees to senior executives work more collaboratively in their jobs.
- Develop Leadership Skills: Because volunteer initiatives provide opportunities for employees to engage in activities that may differ from their daily tasks, employees can develop and demonstrate their ability to take charge in new and challenging situations. Companies find that their volunteer efforts in the community have enabled them to identify leadership skills among employees that had not surfaced during daily operations.
- Develop the Local Labor Pool: Some companies direct their volunteer activities toward helping community members develop skills and abilities that enhance their employability and opportunities for advancement.
- Recruit and Retain Employees: Volunteer programs can be an attractive company benefit to current and prospective employees. According to the Points of Light Foundation, in 2003, 58 percent of U.S. companies used their employee volunteer programs for recruitment and retention purposes.
- Improve Corporate Reputation: Volunteer projects and strategic partnerships can yield positive media attention for companies. For example, The Home Depot has received favorable publicity for its partnership with Habitat for Humanity and KaBOOM! in the United States and Canada. The company helps KaBOOM! build playgrounds with cash donations, donations in kind, and encouraging employees to volunteer.
- Leverage Philanthropic Resources: When included as part of a strategic mix of community-involvement activities, corporate volunteerism can enable companies to provide a greater benefit to the community at a lower cost than can be done through charitable contributions alone. For example, some companies make donations contributions to organizations for which their employees volunteer.
- Respond to Local Crises: Volunteer programs can be part of a rapid mobilization to quickly respond to a local disaster or crisis.
- Increased Impact in Areas of Strategic Importance: Some companies give employees time off for community service to work on projects or issue areas defined by the company. This strategy is an effective tool to increase employee participation in community involvement efforts the company has deemed to have strategic business importance.
Key Developments
- The Globalization of Volunteerism: While many companies worldwide look to U.S. companies as models for volunteerism initiatives, U.S.-based multinationals are varying their volunteering initiatives to suit local, international communities. Companies have found new ways to maintain a global brand with flexibility at the local level for variations in what it means to be a "volunteer" in that country.
- Growth of the Social Investment Model: Companies are increasingly looking at their community involvement activities from a strategic perspective -- harnessing a portfolio of financial and non-financial resources to meet targeted community involvement goals -- and volunteerism is seen as a key part of the mix. Companies are finding that their "investment" in volunteerism -- whether by giving employees paid or unpaid time off to volunteer or by contributing additional finances or resources -- often can yield a high rate of return in the form of both community and business benefits.
- Long-term Involvement: More and more community organizations want long-term business partnerships that offer volunteer assistance, skills development, training facilities and professional services. A 2002 study by Business in the Community (BITC) found that more than half of 1,019 community organizations said long-term business support was crucial to their organizations. Eighty percent of the groups expected private-sector involvement to increase over the next decade.
- Collaboration with Governments and Civic Partners: Some companies are forming partnerships with local governments to address social and economic problems in their communities. For example, in 2001, State Farm and Wells Fargo provided volunteers to community financial centers in Los Angeles, in collaboration with nonprofit Operation Hope and the City of Los Angeles government. The program provided financial counseling and services by company employees to low-income consumers and businesses affected by an economic downturn. Such partnerships can also build valuable business relationships.
- Expanding Expectations of the Private Sector: As public-sector resources decline, there is a growing expectation among stakeholders that companies can and should do more to help. At the same time, there is a growing recognition among many companies that they can no longer satisfy community expectations strictly through financial contributions, or by focusing primarily on communities surrounding their corporate headquarters. As a result, many companies share their resources and assets �- including people, products, services, expertise, technology and influence �- wherever they have significant commercial interests.
- Institutionalization of Release Time for Community Service Policies: An increasing number of companies are providing paid time off (release time) to their employees for community service activities. Although release time policies vary significantly in design, their general purpose is to allow employees to volunteer in the community during regular working hours. Release time policies generally take one of three forms: (1) work release that grants a set amount of paid time an employee can take to volunteer during regular business hours; (2) matching time whereby a company grants an employee a set amount of time to volunteer and requires the employee to match it with an equal amount of time outside business hours; and (3) social service leave that grants paid leave to an employee/group of employees to work full-time on a specific project with a non-profit or community-based organization. According to several major studies of release time policies, approximately 40 percent of medium and large-sized companies in the U.S. offered paid release time policies as of 2003.
- Use of Technology to Facilitate Volunteering: Nonprofit groups are using the Internet to facilitate volunteering by matching volunteers with opportunities based on the volunteer's unique interests, skills and circumstances; for instance, from their home or office, someone can be a "virtual volunteer," giving technical or e-mail support to another person or a charity. On a larger scale, Network for Good, a website created by AOL TimeWarner, Cisco Systems and Yahoo, facilitates donations of time and money by using the Internet. The site also encourages people to get involved with issues that they care about.
- Growing Diversity of Volunteer Programs: To increase interest in and the impact of volunteerism programs, companies have created a variety of new ways for employees to perform community service. One third of large U.S. companies have formal time off policies -� either paid or unpaid -� according to a 2002 Prudential Insurance of America study. A 2003 study by Statistics Canada found that 48 percent of employee volunteers received support from their employers, such as paid time off or use of workplace facilities.
- Increased Focus on Skills-based Volunteering. Many companies are now finding ways to help their employees find opportunities to share their professional expertise with nonprofit organizations. Skills-based volunteering has its roots in the legal community, with a long history of pro-bono services. It has expanded to include the employees of technology, financial services, marketing and other professional services companies.
External Standards
There are a number of broad community standards (see Issue Brief on Overview of Business and Community Investment). One that focuses exclusively on corporate volunteerism is below. We welcome submissions of other relevant external standards; please contact editor@bsr.org.
The Points of Light Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit devoted to promoting volunteerism, has established the following three Principles of Excellence in Community Service to help corporations develop successful employee volunteer programs. Suggestions for companies wishing to implement Principles, which serve as the criteria for the foundation�s Awards for Excellence in Corporate Community Service, are included in the standards document.
- Acknowledge that the corporation's community service involvement and its employee volunteer efforts contribute to the achievement of its business goals.
- Incorporate in the corporate vision, as expressed through mission statements, credos or social policy statements, the recognition that societal and community issues have a direct relationship to the company and its future success.
- Integrate the company's social vision with its business vision, thus making community service and volunteering part of business operations.
- Communicate the corporate social vision and the importance of volunteerism consistently to all of the company's external and internal stakeholders.
- Commit to establish, support and promote an employee volunteer program that encourages the involvement of every employee and treats it like any other core business function.
- Allocate sufficient resources to develop, manage and sustain successful employee volunteer efforts.
- Manage the employee volunteer effectively, with a business plan.
- Establish policies, procedures and incentives that encourage optimum employee participation.
- Develop volunteer projects that utilize the distinctive competencies and skills of the company and its employees.
- Target community service efforts at serious social problems in the community.
- Survey employees to determine their interests in working on serious social problems.
- Focus employee volunteer programs so that they address serious social problems.
- Conduct regular and ongoing evaluations to determine how the company's employee volunteer programs and other community involvement programs affect serious social problems.
Implementation Steps
The following list of activities suggests a plan of action for managing a corporate employee volunteer program:
- Demonstrate a Corporate Commitment: The companies with the most successful volunteer programs incorporate their service commitment into their organization's culture, making it widely known that community service activities are good for both company and community. Achieving that mix requires making a formal company commitment at the highest level and promoting volunteerism among employees in a wide variety of ways.
- Think Strategically: Many companies seek to align volunteerism with their strategic business goals -- for example, by focusing volunteer efforts on a new geographic or demographic market. however, not all volunteer opportunities need to have clear-cut business goals.
- Provide Adequate Management: Make sure that someone is in charge of keeping the volunteer program functioning well. Consider having a paid volunteer coordinator responsible for recruiting employees, matching them with nonprofit organizations, and coordinating with human resources, marketing, administration, community relations and other appropriate departments within the company. The coordinator also should solicit regular feedback from both volunteers and the organizations with which they work to ensure that the company�s program is meeting everyone's expectations. Some companies do not have an internal coordinator, working instead with a nonprofit volunteer center in the community.
- Provide Informational Resources: Consider creating a directory of community volunteer opportunities on your company's intranet or website, or identify an external resource that provides this function. List a wide range of organizations seeking volunteers, including skills and other requirements as well as what each organization expects from volunteers. Seek suggestions from employees about organizations they know, and encourage involvement with organizations not listed in the directory. Consider holding an annual volunteer fair, at which employees can meet directly with community organizations to discuss volunteer opportunities.
- Consider Community Service Leave Options: Many companies establish policies granting time off for employees to work on community programs or with charitable organizations. Some companies offer time off with full pay, while others grant unpaid time off that does not count against vacation time or personal leave. Company programs typically range from an hour a month to a week or more per year.
- Provide Support and Recognition: Consider policies that encourage or support employees for their involvement in community activities. Some companies, for example, match employee cash contributions charities or make contributions to nonprofit groups in which employees are involved on the board of directors. Consider also giving credit for volunteer efforts in employee performance reviews. Many companies feature volunteers (or the organizations in which they serve) in company newsletters, annual reports and other publications. Other types of company support include awards, special events for volunteers, and gifts such as tickets for sporting or cultural events.
- "Loan" Managers or Executives: Consider allowing managers or executives to lend their professional expertise to community groups while on company time, to enhance the nonprofit groups� operations. Some companies "loan" managers for a few days or a week, or even for one or more months, usually to help with specific projects such as developing fundraising campaigns, training staff or volunteers, setting up computer systems or providing organizational consulting services.
- Encourage Business Leaders to Join Nonprofit Boards: Serving on the board of a nonprofit organization can be a good way for company executives to serve the community with their unique skills while gaining valuable boardroom experience.
Partner With Other Companies: It may be possible to leverage your efforts by joining forces with one or more other community-minded businesses to take on larger projects than a single could do alone. The alliance could be a one-time or annual event with suppliers, vendors, and/or customers - Provide Reporting and Accountability: Provide regular summaries of the company's volunteer efforts. Whenever possible, quantify data -- hours contributed, the monetary value of employees' time, the number of organizations served, the number of people assisted, etc. The Independent Sector, a nonprofit, provides a monetary value for the average value of a volunteer hour in the United States -- US$16.54 in 2003. Also highlight thank-you letters from organizations, testimonials, and success stories of individuals or communities helped. Make this information -- or summaries of it -- available to all employees, as well as to external stakeholders.
The following list of activities suggest a plan of action specifically for institutionalizing the process through which work release time is given for community service:
Decide Whether to Create a Formal Policy: While some companies create formal release time policies, others -- particularly smaller businesses -- opt to offer release time on an informal basis without a definite policy. Formal policies generally fall into one of the following categories:
- Work Release: A company identifies a certain amount of paid time an employee can take during regular business hours. Time granted is usually set as hours per month or per year. In some cases, arrangements to volunteer are conducted using flexible work scheduling.
- Matching Time: A company allows a certain amount of paid time and requires the employee to match it with an equal amount of personal time, volunteered outside business hours
- Social Service Leave: A company gives paid leave to an employee or group of employees to work full-time on a specific project with a non-profit or community-based organization.
Companies that develop formal policies should prevent internal confusion by discussing all details in a concise document that is circulated to all employees and is easily accessible. In the document, describe all elements of the policy and the process by which employees who wish to participate can get formal approval (if the approval is necessary).
Outline Eligibility Requirements for Formal Policies: Decide how long an employee will have to have worked for the company before being eligible to take release time; whether both salaried and hourly employees will be eligible; and whether release time will be available only to full-time employees, or if it will include part-time employees on a pro-rated basis. Also, decide what types of volunteer activities can be counted toward release time -- some companies include all employee volunteer efforts, others include volunteering within a designated issue area or organization, and others count only company-sponsored events.
Communicate the Policy to Employees Though Senior Management: Employees may not feel a company truly encourages its employees to take release time unless the message is formally communicated and demonstrated by senior management. When a release time policy is first launched, senior management should make a formal announcement to all employees.
Enlist Middle Management Support: Middle managers, who are responsible for the day-to-day operations of their departments, can be resistant to release time policies. Keeping middle management informed of a proposed release time policy early on in the process and allowing for their input will help prevent opposition after a policy is implemented. Suggesting work team volunteer projects is one way to show middle management the immediate benefits to their department of a release time policy for community service.
Leadership Examples
These "leadership" practices have been chosen as illustrative examples in the area of corporate social responsibility addressed by this Issue Brief. They are intended to represent innovation, higher than average commitment, unusual industry practice or a comprehensive approach to this issue. Periodically, the examples listed may be changed. If you wish to share information about your company's leadership practices or policies, please contact editor@bsr.org with the relevant information.
Cisco Systems, Inc.
To cope with excess capacity in an economic downturn, Cisco created the Cisco Community Fellowship Program. This program sent select Cisco employees to work full-time for one or two years at nonprofit organizations at no cost to the nonprofits. The Cisco Fellows agreed to accept 30 percent of their salaries (plus benefits) instead of a severance package. They brought their skills -- mostly technical and Internet-related, to improve the ability of nonprofit organizations to help their communities. The Community Fellowship Program allowed Cisco to weather a difficult economic period without losing valuable employees the company hoped would be needed after a year. Due to its success, Cisco is developing the program into a leadership-development initiative.
The Home Depot, Inc.
The Home Depot regularly encourages volunteering among its employees. For example, through the charity KaBOOM!, Home Depot employees helps build and refurbish playgrounds in the U.S. Employees have also helped to build Habitat for Humanity houses and made home repairs in partnership with the nonprofit organization, Rebuilding Together. The Home Depot donates materials to employee volunteers, who manage the projects in collaboration with local nonprofits.
Samsung Group
Approximately 70,500 Samsung employees -- more than 61 percent of the company's global workforce -- provide a wide range of services in communities worldwide as part of the Samsung Community Service Team. The company has 300 team offices that facilitate volunteer programs selected to match employee job skills and social needs. Each year, the company has a community service festival for employees. Samsung also encourages volunteering with volunteer service insurance for employees and their families, matching grants for community service, awards for outstanding volunteers, an online volunteer center, and a quarterly newsletter about employees' community activities.
Oracle Corp.
Oracle is a software company that holds annual "Global Volunteer Days" in which employees participate in community projects in countries around the world. Oracle volunteers use their computer skills to work on projects to make technology accessible to people with disabilities, install donated computer equipment in schools, and act as e-mail mentors to female science and engineering students. Oracle encourages volunteerism with volunteer fairs, volunteer resources on its intranet, a fundraising matching program, and Season of Sharing -- a series of volunteer events held annually in November and December in several countries where Oracle operates.
Fannie Mae
Fannie Mae provides financial products and services that make it possible for low-, moderate- and middle-income families to buy homes, implemented its paid community service release time policy in 1992, two years after launching its overall volunteer program. The company offers all permanent, full-time employees who have been at the company at least six months and who are in "good standing" 10 hours of paid time off to volunteer per month. Part-time employees who work less than 37.5 hours per week are allowed a pro-rated number of hours of release time. The hours expire at the end of each month and cannot be carried over or accumulated. Employees can volunteer with the non-profit organization of their choice. By tracking employees� use of the policy through a time sheet code, Fannie Mae has learned that 3 percent of employees use paid release time each month, and 10 percent of employees use it at some point during the year. Employees are encouraged to use paid release time both on an individual basis and as part of departmental teams.
General Mills
General Mills has a formal policy on release time that is administered through Volunteer Connection, the company's volunteer program. There are no set number of hours granted, but employees and managers decide on a case-by-case basis the amount of time to be away from the business for a specific volunteer opportunity. All staff nationwide are eligible immediately upon date of hire. There is no formal application process for approval of release time.
Sample Policies
For Corporate Volunteer Programs in General
Fannie Mae
Fannie Mae also encourages employee involvement in community service. Employees are granted 10 hours of paid leave per month for volunteer work and are recognized for their accomplishments as volunteers.
The We Are Volunteer Employees (WAVE) program has six components: a one-on-one volunteer matching service; team-building activities to create opportunities for Fannie Mae or Foundation business units (departments) to participate in volunteer service projects; corporate awards granted to employees who have demonstrated a strong commitment to volunteer service; Dollars for Doers, which matches the hours employees volunteer with grants from the Fannie Mae Foundation to the agencies where they volunteer; 10 employee steering committees for group projects; and Matching Gift Program, which increases employees' financial support to nonprofit organizations by matching their donations to eligible nonprofits.
General Electric and Elfun
General Electric chartered an independent membership organization, Elfun, to operate volunteering by GE employees and retirees. With almost 50,000 members in 139 chapters in 32 countries, Elfun (a contraction of Electrical Funds) focuses on community service projects and educational programs organized by local chapters. Elfun is open to GE employees and retirees who pay dues of $35 to $60 a year, but extends many volunteering opportunities to all employees. The organization offers members side benefits including a credit card whose royalties help fund volunteering projects, mutual funds and retiree health care.
For Release Time for Community Service
Bank of America
"Time Off for Work Volunteer Service" guidelines read:
In most situations, Bank of America associates take part in community service and other volunteer activities outside of normal working hours. However, in rare circumstances where it is necessary that volunteerism take place during the associate's regular working hours, managers may allow a limited amount of time off work for volunteer activities where these activities are both company-sponsored by Bank of America management and approved by the Volunteer Network. This allows salaried associates time off work with pay during regular work hours to participate in the company's volunteer activities that can only be accomplished by associates during working hours. Company-sponsored and approved volunteer activities are those community service activities approved by senior management and approved by senior management and supported and promoted by the Volunteer Network...
Federal Express
Federal Express has a formalized paid release time policy as one element of the Corporate Neighbor Team (CNT), the company's employee volunteer program. Paid release time is granted only for those employees participating in the CNT's Adopt-A-School and Junior Achievement programs. Employees volunteering with other projects use non-paid time. Part- and full-time employees at the Headquarters office only are eligible for paid release time immediately upon date of hire. Full-time employees are granted two hours per week and up to eight hours per month. Part-time employees are granted one hour per week and up to four hours per month. The employee's manager must approve all time away.
Awards/Recognition Programs
- Award for Excellence in Corporate Community Service: Conferred annually by the Points of Light Foundation to recognize companies of all sizes and sectors that meet the Foundation's Principles of Excellence.
- President's Service Award: Co-sponsored by the Points of Light Foundation and the Corporation for National Service, which administers the president's national service program. Conferred annually on outstanding volunteer efforts of individuals, families, groups, organizations, businesses and labor unions involved in community service addressing human service, educational, environmental and public safety needs.
- Summit Awards: Awarded annually by the U.S.-based United Way to companies demonstrating leadership in one of four categories: Volunteer Programs, Major Gifts, Employee Campaign and Corporate Contributions. Companies must be affiliated with the United Way's National Corporate Leadership program to apply.
Resources
The following list is not comprehensive. It is an illustrative group of the many nonprofit, public sector and/or academic resources working with the private sector in the area of corporate social responsibility addressed by this Issue Brief. The resources identified below have been included because they provide information or support that is relevant to companies, and they are national or international in scope. Periodically, the examples listed may be changed. At this time, the list does not include for-profit resources. If you would like to provide information about additional helping resources that meet our criteria, please contact editor@bsr.org.
America's Promise - The Alliance for Youth
www.americaspromise.org
America's Promise, the Alliance for Youth, is a national nonprofit organization focusing on community efforts to improve the lives of children. America's Promise was developed after the President's Summit for America's Future conference, which highlighted community service activities. America's Promise helps companies craft community service commitments that reflect organizational values, align with organizational philanthropic activities, and effectively help at risk children.
Boardnet USA
www.boardnetusa.org
Founded by the nonprofit Volunteer Consulting Group, BoardnetUSA is a website to facilitate the search for qualified business people to serve on boards of nonprofit organizations.
Business in the Community
www.bitc.org.uk
Business in the Community is a U.K-based nonprofit organization with approximately 700 business members. Its mission is to "inspire, challenge, engage and support business in continually improving its positive impact on society." BITC established Cares, the main business led employee volunteering program in the United Kingdom.
Business Strengthening America (BSA)
www.bsanetwork.org
Founded in 2002, Business Strengthening America is a business membership organization spearheading a "peer-to-peer campaign" to mobilize the business community to support volunteerism and civil engagement in the United States. BSA is working to develop a business case for corporate volunteerism, to establish a set of best practices, and to help nonprofits improve their capacity for effectively using volunteers. BSA members -- which include (AOL) Time Warner, AT&T, Citigroup, Marriott International, Inc., The Home Depot, The Walt Disney Company and about 500 other businesses and business organizations �- pledge to encourage employees and the public to volunteer and to report publicly on their volunteering programs.
Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College
www.bc.edu/centers/ccc/
The Center for Corporate Citizenship is an international corporate membership organization that partners with businesses worldwide to strengthen their community relationships and volunteer programs through a combination of research, policy and education. CCC works to educate its members about community responsibilities, and offers a certificate program in Corporate Community Relations and Global Citizenship, which includes volunteerism.
CityCares
www.citycares.org
CityCares is a primarily U.S.-based network of local centers that strive to "make volunteering possible for everyone." CityCares engages more than 250,000 volunteers through 30 affiliates in U.S. cities, one affiliate in the Philippines, and 13 partner organizations in Britain. CityCares's Corporate Partners Program offers participating companies: support staff; hands-on projects that address different community needs; volunteer opportunities for large or small groups with flexible scheduling and commitment levels and team-building and leadership opportunities; and access to its network of affiliate organizations.
The Conference Board
www.conference-board.org
The Conference Board is a business membership and research organization connecting senior executives from around the world to work on a variety of issues, including corporate community involvement and volunteerism. The board presents the annual Ron Brown Award for Corporate Leadership to companies that have demonstrated a commitment to innovative community initiatives. For more information see: www.ron-brown-award.org/
ENGAGE
www.iblf.org/engage
ENGAGE is an international business-led campaign that aims to increase the quality and extent of employee engagement in the development of healthy and sustainable communities. Led by The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) and Business in the Community (BITC), ENGAGE helps to build business competitiveness and to meet community need by raising awareness of the benefits of employee engagement; inspiring business and working with companies in selected countries to increase the quality and extent of activity and helping business and civil society work together to maximize the effectiveness of employee engagement.
Independent Sector
www.independentsector.org/
Independent Sector is a coalition of U.S. charitable, educational, religious, health and social welfare organizations. The group calculates an average monetary value that can be assigned to a volunteer hour in the United States for reporting purposes.
International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE)
www.iave.org/
The International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) is an international membership organization that exists to promote, support and recognize volunteering around the world. While IAVE primarily serves the nonprofit community, it also provides companies with information on volunteer groups on a worldwide basis.
National Association of Councils for Voluntary Service (NACVS)
www.nacvs.org.uk/nacvs/
The Association is a growing network of over 260 Councils for Voluntary Service, which are local development agencies in the U.K., formed and run by local voluntary and community groups throughout urban and rural areas of England. NACVS supports local voluntary action by providing advice, information, consultancy, and promoting local voluntary action at a national level.
Points of Light Foundation
www.pointsoflight.org/
Viewed as the premier source of information and assistance in the field of volunteerism, the Points of Light Foundation is a nonpartisan, national nonprofit devoted to promote volunteer community service. The Foundation works with a network of Volunteer Centers, corporations, nonprofit organizations and government agencies to develop and maximize volunteering efforts. The Foundation offers research services, a Corporate Alert newsletter and Volunteer Leadership magazine, training workshops, consulting services and the annual National Community Service Conference. The Points of Light Foundation has a network of more than 500 Volunteer Centers, which promote volunteerism within communities. Volunteer Centers serve as community leaders and provide training as well as recruiting and referring volunteers to programs. The foundation also has several awards (see above).
United Nations Volunteers Programme (UNV)
www.unvolunteers.org/
The United Nations Volunteers Programme matches individual volunteers to projects in other countries, usually for one to two years. UNV organized 2001 as the "InternationalYear of Volunteers," and maintains a volunteering information website, World Volunteer Web (see below).
United Way of America and United Way International
national.unitedway.org/ and www.uwint.org
United Way of America has a National Corporate Leadership Program for large companies taking a leadership role in employee giving and volunteering. Companies in the program are eligible for recognition with United Way�s annual Summit Awards. United Way International offers global employee volunteering and fundraising programs.
Volunteer Centers
The Points of Light Foundation maintains a network of more than 500 Volunteer Centers in the United States that promotes volunteerism in local communities. Services for corporate members of Volunteer Centers include: a toll-free Volunteer Referral Number which helps companies and others identify volunteer opportunities in their communities; technical assistance; volunteerism research; information and referrals; monthly updates and resource packets of special opportunities and information. Volunteer Centers also provide focused technical assistance in the areas of youth volunteering, mentor programs, literacy programs and senior volunteering.
VolunteerMatch
www.volunteermatch.org
VolunteerMatch, a nonprofit website, connects volunteers with organizations that need them using an Internet database. VolunteerMatch also provides services for corporate volunteer programs.
World Volunteer Web
www.worldvolunteerweb.org/
Maintained by the United Nations Volunteers Programme, World Volunteer Web is an on-line compendium of volunteering information. Its resources include national laws encouraging volunteering, volunteerism news, a volunteerism bibliography, research into the nature and impact of volunteering, an event calendar and links to external resources about volunteering.
This document contains information from a variety of public sources such as newspapers, books, on-line services, and reports from various NGOs and academic studies, as well as information shared directly by companies. Where appropriate, we have made reference to the source of information and sought approvals for its use. If you are aware of any information in this document that is inaccurate or not properly attributed, or if you have additional information that could be helpful to us as we update this report, please contact us. Thank you.
Last updated: December 2003
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