Companies Support Community Involvement

Organization helps businesses match employees with volunteer opportunities.

Corporate community involvement is on the rise as more companies recognize the many benefits of being socially responsible. When employees volunteer for a good cause, both the company and the employee benefit.

On the company side, volunteer work can increase team morale, strengthen team building, improve recruitment and retention of employees, and enhance corporate image. Employees benefit by developing skills that may translate to the workplace, not to mention the satisfaction of making their community a better place.

Many corporations now have an administrator on staff to coordinate their community involvement efforts. Mary Roney, global employee involvement manager at Nike, is responsible for heading up the company's efforts to encourage employees to volunteer. It can be a complex task. "We have 6,000 people here at our headquarters in Oregon, and about 6,000 more spread across the country," she says.

Nike is one of a growing number of companies that rely on a unique program offered by VolunteerMatch to support community involvement efforts. VolunteerMatch is an Internet-based non-profit dedicated to connecting volunteers to community outreach organizations nationwide. Its mission is to help everyone find a great place to volunteer.

Dell Computer Corporation has also partnered with VolunteerMatch. "Because the service is Web-based, it fits the culture of our company perfectly," says Michele Glaze, manager of the public affairs division. Two-and-a-half years ago, Dell signed on with VolunteerMatch and since then it has been the single way for providing employees opportunities to get involved online.

"We have partnerships with more than 100 non-profits, and it was difficult to keep track of all the volunteer opportunities internally," explains Glaze. In addition, employees had to call her and other communications representatives to find out about those opportunities. "Now employees can access that information whenever and wherever they want," she says. An added benefit is that employees who do not work at Dell's headquarters in Austin, Texas can access volunteer information for their communities.

Any non-profit or tax-exempt organization can list an unlimited number of volunteer opportunities on VolunteerMatch, and visitors to the site can simply enter their ZIP code to find opportunities to sign up to volunteer. Corporate members can set up a link to the site on their company intranet. "Employees love that it is so easy to use," says Roney. Launched in April 1998, VolunteerMatch has brokered over 750,000 volunteer referrals. Over 20,000 community service organizations are registered on Web site, collectively posting 37,183 volunteer opportunities in locations across the country.

VolunteerMatch Corporate is a customized version of VolunteerMatch created specifically with needs of corporations in mind. The goal is to provide an innovative and easy way for employees to get involved in their communities while giving administrators tools to manage and increase employee volunteerism nationwide and track results. "VolunteerMatch is a great tool across the board -- for non-profits, corporations, volunteers and team building," says Glaze.

It is easy for companies to customize VolunteerMatch Corporate to meet their needs by outfitting the site with the company logo, information on upcoming special events or opportunities, features on outstanding employee volunteers and other important items.

Companies can use the "featured opportunities" section to highlight community service organizations and volunteer opportunities that align with their mission and philanthropic objectives. By using this feature, the site can direct employees toward specific events, organizations or non-profit partners located throughout the nation. Dell uses this feature to call attention to opportunities with its non-profits partners. "We love it when employees get involved with a non-profit that Dell provides grant dollars to," says Glaze.

The "private opportunities" section allows companies to showcase events open only to corporate employees, like blood drives. "I like the fact that Nike can put in our own events, in addition to general volunteer opportunities," says Roney.

Corporate administrators can access real time reports on all volunteer activity. "Tracking hours is important for us, since Nike provides matching donations for volunteer time worked," explains Roney. In the two years that Nike has been part of VolunteerMatch, there have been over 1,100 referrals from Nike.

VolunteerMatch Corporate provides 10 hours of customer technical support and customizable marketing materials to participating companies. "They continue to improve the product," says Roney. "It is a great tool for corporations as they continue to place greater emphasis on corporate citizenship."

Glaze agrees, adding that VolunteerMatch reduces the bottom line for both corporations and non-profits. "Because information is on the Web, it cuts down the need for printed material to get information out," she says. In addition, the tools available through VolunteerMatch drastically reduce administrative time. "We encourage all of our non-profit partners to become part of VolunteerMatch," says Glaze. "VolunteerMatch continues to be ahead of the curve."

For more information on VolunteerMatch Corporate, call (415) 241-6883, or e-mail vmcinfo@volunteermatch.org. You can also visit the Web site at volunteermatch.org.