5 ways to make a difference with corporate giving initiatives

February 16, 2024 2:20 PM

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Corporate giving and volunteering initiatives show employees that what they care about also matters to their employer. As doing good becomes ingrained in company culture, the positive effects reverberate throughout the organization.

A study by Fidelity Charitable found 81% of employees want to work for a company that demonstrates socially responsible business practices, and NonProfit Pro data found that 63% believe workplace giving programs better connect them to their coworkers. Leaders are seeing the positive effects among their workforce as well, with a Boston College study showing that 66% of executives find employee morale is the greatest benefit of corporate social responsibility (CSR) endeavors.

Corporate donation management platform Benevity has watched CSR efforts consistently grow over the past few years, with 2023 being the most successful yet: Last year's Giving Tuesday — an annual global day focused on generosity — showed a 22% increase in overall efforts from 2022, with $150 million in donations to over 53,000 of their listed nonprofits, and more than 253,000 volunteer hours logged through their platform.

"We are living in this new crisis-driven, highly polarized world where trust is very tenuous," says Sona Khosla, Benevity's chief impact officer. "We need mechanisms to remind us that we have more in common than we are different, and giving back is absolutely one of those things."

Participating in CSR initiatives boosts employee engagement and cohesiveness, and can help counteract points of stress that they can't control — events or circumstances which cause a sense of helplessness that people then carry into the workplace, Khosla says.

"Because of the external events — environmental disasters, major wars, economic volatility that has robbed our own communities — we are looking for ways to make a difference," she says. "Companies have an incredible role to play in building connections and unifying their people."

If you're looking to launch or evolve your CSR efforts this year, here are five things to keep in mind.

Identify the right initiatives

Employers have multiple options when it comes to types of giving, including PTO for volunteering, organized company or team-based volunteering opportunities, and donation matches, among others. Working with businesses of all sizes, including larger companies such as Nike, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Google and Apple, Benevity's platform provides various avenues for employers and employees to figure out which type of participation fits them best.

"Some [company] cultures prefer volunteering, some prefer giving, but it is universally cherished to be given the opportunity to make an impact," says Khosla. "It's about passion and purpose and individual choice."

Provide ongoing giving opportunities

By partnering with a third party donation platform, companies can connect employees with a way to give back at their discretion, alongside any additional employer-organized events. This is a good way to grant people autonomy over what and how they contribute, says Khosla.

"[Just having events] two times a year feels very transactional and it becomes more like an obligation," she says. "But when companies bake it into their culture with a year-round platform that employees can access on demand — so when a war breaks out, or when something affects them or their colleagues directly and they can do something about it — that's profound."

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Tap into it from the top

By participating in causes of their own and sharing these experiences, leaders can set the tone for others within the organization to get involved in giving back, Khosla says.

"When leaders genuinely talk about what their purpose is and show people they are living this purpose through their work, they see the highest levels of participation and engagement because it's modeled from the top," she says.

Additionally, offering company donation matching goes a long way in encouraging employee participation, and demonstrates an employers' commitment to supporting employee values. Sixty-five percent of Fortune 500 companies have matching gift programs, according to Double the Donation. However, CSR platform Groundswell found that as much as $7 billion in matching funds goes unused each year, so leaders should make sure to communicate about their contribution efforts regularly.

Make it easy

Employees are used to digital tools in the workplace, and their experience with CSR should be no different, Khosla says.

"Making sure organizations are legitimate is a lot of effort, so partnering with a third party allows you to do that with trust,' says Khosla. "Now [your employees] get to choose that small, local nonprofit in your region and donate to them in real time with no overhead from you. It's [also] serious risk mitigation and manual effort removed from the company."

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Measure

For CSR initiatives to achieve long-term success, they must have a positive impact on the business. A Benevity study on retention found a 52% lower turnover rate among newer employees who participate in their programs, and a 24% reduction in employees at all stages leaving the company. A third party platform that tracks participation and gathers feedback can keep the heavy lifting away from HR.

"With the tightening of budgets, purpose teams have to prove their worth not just from a feel-good social perspective, but from a real contribution to the bottom line," Khosla says. "We see a lot of companies provide department-level data to leaders comparing team engagement. Being able to give leaders the tools they need to engage their teams is one of the things that really only a technology platform can do."