The average employee turnover rate of all U.S. industries is听.听 In some cases, this turnover is healthy for your organization because you鈥檙e losing low performers (i.e. problem staff or those not willing to improve) and this can positively impact everything from employee engagement to productivity and profits. But what if the employees leaving your organization are top performers?

Replacing top performers can cause service disruptions for your customers and requires a substantial amount of financing, extensive training, employee workload balancing, and handling cultural shifts. None of that sounds good, but how exactly does it impact your company鈥檚 bottom line?听 reports that it costs employers 33% of a worker’s annual salary to hire a replacement if that worker leaves. In dollar figures, the replacement cost is $15,000 per person for an employee earning a median salary of $45,000 a year, according to the . So for purposes of this article, let鈥檚 focus on employees that make $45,000. For each of those employees leaving your organization, it鈥檚 costing you about $15,000.

Increased Employee Engagement Helps Employers Reduce Turnover and Achieve Higher Profitability

础听听revealed, 鈥淓mployees most committed to their organizations put in 57 percent more effort on the job鈥攁nd are 87 percent less likely to resign鈥攖han employees who consider themselves disengaged.鈥澨� According to听, 鈥渙rganizations that are the best in engaging their employees achieve earnings-per-share growth that is more than four times that of their competitors. Compared with business units in the bottom quartile, those in the top quartile of engagement realize substantially better customer engagement, higher productivity, better retention, fewer accidents, and 21% higher profitability. Engaged workers also report better health outcomes.鈥�

So where do employee volunteer and skills giving programs factor in? It鈥檚 an excellent, relatively low-cost way to engage and retain employees.

Keep Employees By Engaging Them Through Volunteerism

Employees quit their jobs for many reasons (salary and benefits topping the list), but the majority of reasons are actually something employers can control.听 sites the following as 10 critical reasons why employees quit their job (in no special order):

1. Bad or nonexistent relationship with boss
2. Bored and unchallenged by the work itself
3. Lack of relationships/friendship with co-workers
4. Opportunities to use skills and abilities
5. Contribution of work to the organization鈥檚 business goals
6. Autonomy and independence
7. Meaningfulness of work
8. Organization鈥檚 financial stability
9. Overall corporate culture
10. Management鈥檚 recognition of employee job performance

Instituting an employee volunteer and skills giving program can help your organization address all ten of these.

Camaraderie

(addressing #1 and 3 from list above)

Organizing group days of service provide co-workers (and their bosses) an opportunity to work together and get to know each other outside the walls of the workplace. There is no corporate hierarchy when it comes to hands-on in-person or virtual/remote volunteer activities like filling afterschool snack bags for low-income children, cleaning up trash at the local park, or contributing specialized skills like web design or accounting for a local nonprofit.听 Such activities permit employees from different departments and different levels of seniority the chance to share experiences together and interact on a deeper level, resulting in stronger relationships when they return to the office. In UnitedHealthcare and VolunteerMatch’s study, Doing Good is Good for You, 鈥�85% of volunteers note developing friendships through their volunteer activities.鈥�

Corporate Culture & Meaningful Work

(addressing #2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9 from list above)

It鈥檚 well known that employees want to work for companies that care. In fact, 精东影业’s Charities Snapshot Employee Research found that 71% of employees surveyed say it鈥檚 imperative or very important to work where culture is supportive of giving and volunteering.听 When strategically integrated with your company鈥檚 business goals and values, involving employees in a mix of volunteer work, skills giving, workplace giving programs, and matching gift opportunities gives employees a sense of purpose, and makes them feel more connected to the community and your company-wide social responsibility efforts. In fact, 听for workplace donors when it comes to employee engagement programs.听Not familiar with matching gifts? Learn how matching gift programs work here.

Additionally, volunteer programs 鈥� particularly those with pro bono and skills giving opportunities – provide a meaningful way for employees to put their abilities to use, and give them a chance to grow and develop professional skills. Integrated online giving and volunteer management tools like 精东影业’s Charities’ Engage CSR solution听make it easy for companies and their employees to connect their skills with nonprofit needs and volunteer opportunities.听According to a , 鈥�92% of surveyed corporate human resources executives agree that contributing business skills and expertise to a nonprofit can be an effective way to improve employees鈥� leadership and broader professional skill sets.鈥�

All of this effectively reinforces beliefs and behaviors most valued by your company, empowers employees to grow and do things for which they are most passionate, infuses pride and loyalty in employees, and contributes to a stronger, more skilled workforce.

Employee Recognition & Financial Stability

(addressing #8 and 10 from list above)

Based on results from the听听report, Gallup estimates that actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. between $483 billion to $605 billion each year in lost productivity. They are more likely to steal from their companies, negatively influence their coworkers, miss workdays, and drive customers away.

Engaged employees are happier, healthier, and perform at a higher level. UnitedHealthcare and VolunteerMatch’s 听reaffirms that “volunteering has a proven positive effect on physical and mental health” and听听shows that employee volunteering is linked to greater workplace productivity and satisfaction. Jessica Rodell, author of the research, says, 鈥淥verwhelmingly employees who volunteered gave more time and effort to their jobs, were more willing to help out their colleagues, talked more positively about their companies and were less likely to do detrimental things like cyberloaf or waste time on the job.鈥�

When employees perform well and contribute to business goals, this gives management more reason to recognize those employees鈥� efforts. In the听, 鈥淢ore than half (53%) of respondents said having their passions and talents recognized and addressed is their top reason for remaining at their current company.鈥� When companies recognize employees for good work, it reinforces that behavior and sets the foundation for a pattern of positive performance in the future. 础听case study听of an employee recognition program established by The Walt Disney World Resort showed 鈥渁 15% increase in staff satisfaction with their day-to-day recognition by their immediate supervisors. These results correlated highly with high guest-satisfaction scores, which showed a strong intent to return, and therefore directly flowed to increased profitability.鈥�

Monetizing Volunteerism

There are a variety of ways to structure an employee volunteer program and a wide range of volunteer activities to offer, including day of service events, ongoing volunteer opportunities throughout the year, skills giving and pro bono services. Choosing the right mix ultimately depends on what your employee interests and company goals are, as well as what听type of support nonprofits need.

When it comes to measuring employee volunteer and skills giving programs, companies typically track things like the number of hours volunteered, employee participation rates, types of services delivered and to whom, and employee values such as satisfaction and skill development.听But did you know volunteer time can be monetized?

Volunteerism is a difficult concept to monetize because the myriad ways volunteers contribute are not always measurable.听But in looking at what is quantifiable, estimates the national value of each volunteer hour is worth $27.20听per hour. Derived from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics鈥� database of job functions and mean wages, this calculation is a way to assign a monetary value to the time your employees donate. So if 50 of your employees each volunteer 8 hours to a nonprofit throughout the course of a year, instead of reporting that your company volunteered 400 hours, you can share that your company鈥檚 volunteerism provided approximately $10,880 worth of volunteer time to that nonprofit. That鈥檚 a significant business contribution to the community, and a value your board and other important stakeholders are more likely to comprehend and appreciate.

Investing in Employee Volunteer & Skills Giving Programs is Good Business Sense

How much a company invests in its employee volunteer program will depend on a variety of criteria. Typical company听investments can easily range anywhere between $18 to $800 per employee per year. If we go听back to our example of the company with 50 employees and an average of 5 employees leaving each year (a 10% turnover rate) – let’s assume the company in our example invests $179 per employee each year in employee engagement.听This means, it would cost this company a total of $900 to $8,950 a year to implement an employee volunteer program for all employees combined.听 That鈥檚 a pretty low cost to absorb when you consider that it would cost the company roughly $15,000 to replace just one of those employees ($75,000 to replace five).

Employee volunteer and skills giving programs have steadily been moving towards the center of many corporations’ social responsibility initiatives over the last decade. This surge in interest in volunteerism coincides with the dire need many nonprofits have for support. More than ever, charities are better positioned and interested in partnering with companies and engaging with corporate employees.听However, as a survey respondent stated in 精东影业鈥檚 Charities听, 鈥淐ompanies shouldn鈥檛 look at their work with nonprofits as transactional events but rather as building a relationship with a trusted 鈥榞o to鈥� partner that is working to achieve mutual goals.鈥澨� Through employee volunteer and skills giving programs, companies have the opportunity to help build nonprofit capacity and empower employees to give their time and talent. And all of this is good for the company鈥檚 employee retention and bottom line.

Get Started Now! What can we help you with?

Learn more about how a well-designed corporate philanthropy program can meet your needs. Click here for more information about our employer solutions and to request a call with our team.

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The joy, unconditional love and health benefits of the human-animal bond are priceless, but the sad reality is that millions of pets in the U.S. are living in poverty with their families. Rising inflation and systemic poverty have left many families struggling to access essential care and supplies for their pets.

No one should be denied the opportunity to own a pet …

… because animals bring joy to our lives.

… because animals improve our mental health and help keep us active.

… because animals are so much #MoreThanAPet!

More than 20 million pets live with their owners in poverty across the U.S. To put it into perspective, this number is three times greater than the number of pets who enter shelters each year. Moreover, 70% of these pets have never seen a veterinarian. As a result, people are often forced to choose between meeting their own needs and those of their pets. All too often they lack any access to veterinary care, pet-inclusive housing and other vital resources such as pet food and supplies. We have heard firsthand from countless families that they would rather skip a meal themselves than not be able to care for their pets. No one should ever be in this position.

As an organization dedicated to the well-being of animals, we cannot ignore this national crisis. A key part of our work is to achieve equity in access to pet care for underserved communities. These efforts are long overdue and necessary to recognize the human in 鈥渉umane.鈥� Through our Pets for Life and Rural Area Veterinary Services programs, we are creating a world where everyone can experience the unconditional love and benefits of an animal companion, regardless of their race, ethnicity, geography or socioeconomic status.

Take Janis and her dog, Freeda, a poodle mix. Janis first received palliative and end of life veterinary care for her senior Chihuahua, Baby, through a local Pets for Life partner in Idaho, Better Together Animal Alliance. Losing Baby was difficult, but Janis found solace in having Freeda. However, the necessary grooming for Freeda to stay healthy was financially out of reach. Having access to veterinary care and grooming at no cost has meant everything to Janis. Janis shared, 鈥淚t takes a community sometimes. I am so grateful for Pets for Life. I don’t know what I’d do without them.鈥�

I’m proud of this work and the commitment of everyone involved in executing these programs. As we continue to address the realities of pets in poverty in the U.S., we invite you to join us as we launch our campaign with the help of five partners: , , , and . The campaign aims to raise awareness and provide solutions to increase access to care and keep families and their pets together, happy and healthy. is also supporting the campaign, along with her dogs, Tango, Jemma and Jax, and her cat, Journey.

We invite everyone to show support for this campaign . Campaign partner Smalls is donating a bowl of food for every photo shared, up to $1 million, to pets and their families in need.

People who live with their pets through difficult circumstances are a testament to the power, the value and the resilience of the human-animal bond. Together, we can build a society in which families who experience poverty with their pets are seen, valued and have equal access to resources.

The post appeared first on .

听

The post More Than a Pet campaign will help people struggling to access care for their pets appeared first on 精东影业's Charities.

To accommodate these interests, and to recruit and keep a talented workforce, many companies offer the chance for employees to take part in seasonal giving campaigns or in an annual day of service. But for companies that are truly committed to building a culture that is focused on giving back, a once-a-year event or campaign often isn鈥檛 enough.

Year-round employee giving programs offer companies an opportunity to increase employee engagement, position them as good corporate citizens, and make a larger philanthropic impact.

While 精东影业鈥檚 Charities 2015 Snapshot report shows that larger companies are more likely to offer year-round programs than their smaller peers, you don鈥檛 have to be a Fortune 500 firm to create an effective year-round giving program. Regardless of your company鈥檚 size though, there are several things you need to consider before deciding if a year-round giving program is right for you.

Potential Benefits:

1. Increase Participation and Giving: Extending your employee giving program from a finite period to year-round offers more opportunities for employees to contribute when it鈥檚 convenient for them. It also provides your organization an easy way to leverage the enthusiasm of new hires right away.听
2. Opportunities to Test New Strategies and Ideas: Holding a giving campaign once a year during a finite period of time puts a lot of pressure on coordinators to reach fundraising goals and achieve desired participation rates. Moving from a finite period to year-round giving provides a little more flexibility to test out new strategies, methods of giving, and campaign timing without compromising your year-end giving results.
3. Improve Company-wide Awareness: Even with the best communication plan in place, with a giving program offered once a year during a finite period of time, you run the risk of employees being away on PTO or too busy with their workloads to be aware that you even offer an employee giving program. By providing multiple opportunities for employees to give year-round, you are more likely to catch your employees鈥� attention, thereby helping you improve company-wide awareness of all the opportunities your organization provides for employees to give back to the community. According to a听, young professionals are emerging as enthusiastic workplace donors and increasing their donations year-over-year more than those in other age groups, but听17% cited a lack of awareness that such a program existed at their company, demonstrating a greater need for communication between employers and professionals about workplace giving options available to them.
4. Agility When Major Events Transpire: If a natural disaster occurs or tragic event impacts your community, having a year-round giving program means your team has the infrastructure, technology, and processes in place to act on a moment鈥檚 notice, giving employees a way to quickly respond and show their support in a safe, effective manner.

Potential Barriers and Things to Consider:

1. Employee Interest: You can offer a year-round giving program with multiple opportunities and methods to give, but if employees don鈥檛 have the opportunity to support causes that matter to them, they won鈥檛 participate in your program. Workers don鈥檛 want to have their giving choices dictated by their employers. According to Snapshot 2017, more than three quarters of respondents said that having the ability to choose causes they care about is imperative or very important to a positive donation experience. In fact, nearly 30 percent of respondents said they do not give through the workplace because the causes they care about are not available as choices.
2. Effective Communications: You can have a world-class employee giving program and the best online giving technology, but there is no substitute for the human touch and good communications. Passive campaigns are doomed to fail and technology should NOT take the place of personal solicitation. The most successful initiatives are advertised well before they start and consist of visible reminders throughout the campaign. When planning your communication strategy, keep in mind frequency and timing, as well as what channels you can leverage to reach more employees. While emails and other digital media are great tools, don鈥檛 underestimate the power of in-person events and more traditional communication methods such as table tent cards in the cafeteria or a flyer in the employee lounge. 听
3. Resources and Coordinator Burnout: It takes quite a bit of coordination to implement an employee giving initiative even just once a year, especially if executing your program is just one part of the coordinator鈥檚 job. Before you commit to year-round giving, make sure you have a committed team and enough resources at your disposal to coordinate a year-round giving program. Choosing the right partner to help facilitate your employee giving program is critical as it can help ease capacity issues. At 精东影业鈥檚 Charities, our team serves as an extension of your team and we have ample resources to make implementing a year-round giving program easier for you.

For more details and steps to successfully implement a year-round program, and for a year-round giving program planning template, click here to download 精东影业鈥檚 Charities鈥� 鈥�Ultimate Guide to Year-round Employee Giving.鈥�

The post Starting a Year-round Employee Giving Program: Benefits, Barriers, and Things to Consider appeared first on 精东影业's Charities.

Want to start an employee giving campaign?听Contact us now to learn more how we can help you put your听campaign plans in motion.

How happy are you with your company鈥檚 workplace giving results and employee participation rates? Could you be happier? Then it鈥檚 time to rethink your approach to employee giving and workplace fundraising.

The simplicity of payroll deduction makes employee giving practically effortless. But simplicity does not preclude connectivity. When you fail to connect employees to why their donations matter, you end up with transactional, rather than transformational, giving experiences. However, if you give employees access to support causes they are passionate about and connect them to the personal stories and social issues behind their favorite nonprofits鈥� work, you end up creating those 鈥榓ha鈥� moments that transform employees from one-off fundraiser participants into passionate, repeat workplace donors, cause champions, and brand ambassadors.

Why would a company seek out those 鈥榓ha鈥� moments? Because it improves the culture, the company, and the community. 精东影业鈥檚 Charities has helped organizations set up and manage workplace giving programs for more than 40 years, and we鈥檝e seen it time and again: when an employer empowers its workforce to follow their passions 鈥� when employees feel they have the agency to improve the world around them 鈥� things get better. There is a direct correlation between workplace giving and increased recruitment and retention, higher employee satisfaction, a more intentional culture, better brand recognition and reputation, increased revenue, and more. 听

In addition, giving back has become the norm in modern workplaces. Part of that is because of changing demographics. According to payment app Zelle鈥檚 Consumer Payment Behaviors report, have sent some kind of financial aid to family or friends or donated to a nonprofit since the COVID-19 pandemic began. That鈥檚 the highest rate among any generation polled, with Generation Z right behind them with the second-highest giving rate of 66 percent. A survey conducted by Fidelity Charitable shows that millennials 鈥済ive more than twice as much of their money and time to charitable causes as either Baby Boomers or Gen X.鈥�

That generosity doesn鈥檛 stop at home. A recent Deloitte survey indicates this younger generation of professionals wants the option to give through charitable giving programs sponsored by their employer. The survey reveals, 鈥�, compared to only 37% of all professional donors. They also increased their workplace donation amounts in response to COVID-19 at a higher rate (35%), compared to all professionals (28%).鈥�

Of course, older generations are socially conscious as well 鈥� that prize doesn鈥檛 just belong to millennials and Gen Zers. 精东影业鈥檚 Charities has conducted Snapshot research for more than a decade and the data is clear: every generation has shown an interest in supporting causes they care about and improving the world around them. We looked at the data from our Snapshot Employee Donor Research survey every way we could and found that Baby Boomers and Gen X alike wanted the opportunity to give at work as a means of paying it forward and connecting with their colleagues.

The new norm isn鈥檛 just because of demographics, either. Much of the reason workplace giving has become an expectation is because the divide between our personal and professional lives has become blurry. With the advent of smartphones, the ubiquity of social media, and the popularity of apps that sync and streamline every corner of our lives, we no longer see our work as separate, and often unequal, to the rest of our lives. That feeling was only reinforced when much of the world shifted to working and giving remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

So 鈥� we know workplace giving is powerful and we know employees of all ages and creeds want and expect the opportunity. But which program elements will bring about the most dramatic change among employees?

Elements of Workplace Giving Programs That Bring About Transformation and Social Impact

You know that quote 鈥淕ive a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime?鈥� It鈥檚 the same with giving.听Ask employees to give and you鈥檒l see a handful of disparate, one-off transactions — but empower employees to learn about, connect with, and give to the causes that interest them, and you鈥檒l have yourself a team championing your company鈥檚 community involvement and collectively making an impact that matters. 听

If you implement even just a few ideas outlined below (listed in no specific order), your workplace giving program will transform; you鈥檒l see better results year after year. 听

Don鈥檛 forget: 精东影业鈥檚 Charities can make it easy for your company to integrate any or all of these ideas into your employee giving program! Whether you鈥檙e looking for an online giving solution, want to understand best practices, or are simply looking for thought leadership, we鈥檝e got you covered. We鈥檝e spent more than 40 years of experience in this field, so we know what鈥檚 new 鈥� and what鈥檚 tried and true 鈥� when it comes to transformational employee giving.

The best practices shared here are focused on payroll deduction donations. For information about integrating volunteerism, employee assistance relief funds (EAFs), and other giving components into your workplace giving and broader social responsibility and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) programs, check out our library of free resources.

(1) Access and Awareness Make All the Difference

Employees cannot give through your workplace giving program if you don鈥檛 offer one. According to Deloitte, 鈥渏ust . More than one-third (34%) of these professionals had not donated in this way the year prior 鈥� which may indicate a growing interest in, or increased access to, charitable giving options in the workplace.鈥� To be clear, a single fundraiser that brings your team together one time is not what we refer to as a workplace giving program. If you think you have a workplace giving program, but aren鈥檛 sure, here is a quick refresher on what a workplace giving program is.

If you have a workplace giving program, then you should examine how you are communicating about it. It鈥檚 possible a large portion of your employees simply do not know about this amazing employee benefit and efficient way to donate (more about communications in #3 below).

When asked why they didn鈥檛 donate through their employer鈥檚 workplace giving program, Deloitte鈥檚 survey reported that 鈥�, demonstrating a greater need for communication between employers and professionals about workplace giving options available to them.鈥�

(2) Make Giving Easy and Convenient

There is a reason why so many use payment sites like Venmo, PayPal, and Zelle to send or receive money, just as why so many fundraisers are held on social platforms like Facebook Fundraisers or Eventbrite. It鈥檚 not necessarily that those methods are cheaper for the donor or better for the nonprofit recipients; it鈥檚 that they are convenient. After donors do the initial work of entering their credit card or banking information, they can have that information saved on their computer or mobile device, making future giving as easy as a click of the button. Payroll deduction giving is just as easy (easier actually) for employees! All they have to do is log into your company鈥檚 workplace giving donation site, also known as a giving portal. 精东影业鈥檚 Charities supports multiple types of login options, including Single Sign-on (SSO), which makes logging in super easy and secure for employees. Once employees are logged in, all they have to do is find the charities they want to support and submit how much money they want to be deducted from their paycheck. That鈥檚 it.

Entering personal credit card or sensitive banking information is not necessary (nor are the associated fees). And by working with a partner like 精东影业鈥檚 Charities, not only do your employees get an immediate email acknowledging the donation for tax and budgeting purposes, but they also get a handy donation summary right before tax season starts, so it鈥檚 at the top of their inbox, making it easy for them to claim eligible charitable tax deductions (no need to filter through old emails or sort through paper receipts).

Of course, if your employees want to donate through credit card or other means, we do offer those capabilities as well. What鈥檚 important is that you make the donation options available to employees secure and convenient.

(3) Meet the Moment and Don鈥檛 Underestimate the Power of Charitable Giving Options

It鈥檚 important to ensure employees can find and donate to causes and organizations that are personal to them. It鈥檚 simple: when presented with a charitable choice, employee participation in your workplace giving program increases. Conversely, lack of choice is why people do NOT give. In fact, 30 percent of employee donors we surveyed for our 精东影业’s Charities Snapshot Employee Donor Research said they do not give through the workplace because the causes they care about are not available in their employer’s giving program. 精东影业鈥檚 Charities vets charities to ensure that they are legitimate, fiscally sound, and perform the services stated 鈥� as long as charities meet these standards, we recommend you provide as broad a list of charities as possible.

In addition to allowing employees to support charities close to their hearts, invite them to support specific causes that align with your organization鈥檚 social responsibility and philanthropic goals. That could mean you feature a handful of charities that address a specific cause, or perhaps many charities that focus on specific UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Whatever your company鈥檚 core focus areas are, be sure to find charities that align with it.

For companies interested in year-round employee engagement, this might come in the form of special cause-focused matching gift campaigns that include a special incentive such as the employer matching donations dollar for dollar (more on matching gifts in #6 below). We know from our Snapshot Employee Donor Research that 70 percent of employees believe it is imperative to work for an employer whose mission and values align 鈥� so it鈥檚 not about limiting choice 鈥� it鈥檚 about getting your workforce interested in your own philanthropic purpose. Employees are increasingly holding themselves and others accountable for society鈥檚 most pressing issues, and they are looking to their employers to facilitate social impact. We make it easy for you to hold cause-specific campaigns, match employee donations, track goals, and report your impact against your organization鈥檚 social responsibility and giving efforts.

Meet the moment by paying attention to current national and global events and find ways that your company can support employees鈥� interest in those issues. For example, offer a special giving opportunity when a natural disaster strikes, or survey your employees and find out which causes they care about most, then celebrate when the nation is paying attention to it, such as Earth Day or Child Abuse Prevention Month. You鈥檙e welcome to use our , a list of causes most commonly celebrated each month of the year. And remember, the issues that are important to employees today may be very different next year or five years from now, so it鈥檚 important to listen to your workforce and keep your cause initiatives relevant and focused on what your employees care about.

(4) Technology Alone is Not Enough; Human Touch and How You Communicate Matters

Great technology can make your program run more smoothly, simply, and efficiently. As helpful as it is, however, we all know technology can be supremely frustrating as well. The fact is, there is no substitute for the human touch and good communication. Passive campaigns that use the best technology available are still doomed to fail because they provide a transactional experience at best.

Before launching your program, put together a thoughtful communications plan that goes beyond the initial campaign kick-off announcement. After letting employees know your donation site is live and inviting them to visit the portal to give to causes they love, keep sharing ongoing educational messages and stories to keep employees engaged and informed. 精东影业鈥檚 Charities provides clients with a communications toolkit full of templates and ready-to-use messages to make it seamless for your team to engage employees beyond your campaign launch.

Make sure employees know about the different ways they can donate so they can pick a payment method they are comfortable with, and make sure they understand basic concepts like what payroll deduction giving is and what makes payroll giving so efficient and valuable for them and the nonprofits they are supporting. Here are seven facts about workplace giving effectiveness to help you get started.

Moreover, share examples and stories of how their donations can make a difference. This means going beyond how much to donate and to which charity; you need to share why the donation matters. Take the following two charity impact statements for example 鈥� which one would you find most compelling?

Charity Impact Statement #1:

鈥淏y donating just $2 per paycheck ($52 total over the course of one year), your donation pays for the paint needed to paint the trim and walls in XYZ youth homeless shelter.鈥�

Charity Impact Statement #2:

鈥淏y donating just $2 per paycheck ($52 total over the course of one year), your donation pays for the paint needed to paint the trim and walls in XYZ shelter that helps homeless youth get their GED and learn basic skills, helps them find a job, and gets them off the streets. The greatest barrier to the kids鈥� success is their belief that they deserve it. The most important message we can give them is that they have value and are worth it. When we paint the trim in each bedroom, we鈥檙e reinforcing that message. Your donation helps not just paint the trim 鈥� but lets these kids know they have value and dignity.鈥�

Both examples above are good at communicating what your donation can help make possible, but example #2 paints a picture (pun intended) of how your donation will transform the lives of the youth who are being helped by the homeless shelter.

Example charity impact statements like this could easily be done via email, but make sure you leverage as many different distribution channels as you can. Think outside the email inbox! Not all employees have easy or regular access to email, and those who do have access to email are often so inundated with email messages that your message 鈥� as inspirational as it may be 鈥� could be overlooked.

Some additional places and touchpoints to consider leveraging include:

• Charity fair/guest speaker (invite representatives from charities to speak with your employees virtually or in-person 鈥� 精东影业鈥檚 Charities can help connect you with our own 100+ charity members if you鈥檙e looking for a place to start)
• your workplace giving site (pull employees into the donation site itself by using storytelling features and functionality that are built into the platform 鈥� 精东影业鈥檚 Charities can help you use our workplace giving solutions to do this)
• employee portal/company intranet
• company newsletter
• social media
• popup banners in the lobby where employees enter your building
• flyers/posters in shared workspaces
• tent cards on cafeteria tables
• digital messages displayed on your lobby or breakroom TV
• all-staff/team meetings (in-person or virtual)
• new employee onboarding/welcome packets
• employee benefits fair/open enrollment materials

(5) Safeguard Employee Confidentiality Without Impeding Nonprofit Relationships with Donors

Beyond hearing messages from you, encourage employees to connect with the charities they are supporting. One of the easiest ways to facilitate this type of connection is to encourage employees to opt-in to have their donation acknowledged by their designated nonprofit. By permitting charities to thank them, employees open the door for those charities to form deeper relationships by sharing specific stories about the people who were helped by that employee鈥檚 donation, inviting the employee to volunteer or attend events where the employee can see first-hand the impact their support makes, as well as to empower the employee to stay updated on how the nonprofit is operating and being a good steward of the donor鈥檚 financial support.

None of that will happen though if your employees don鈥檛 understand how donation acknowledgment works and why it鈥檚 so important for them to opt-in when they donate through your workplace giving program. Usually, the reason why a donor decides NOT to opt-in is for fear of how and with whom their contact and pledge information will be shared.

Every effort should be made to keep employees鈥� pledge information confidential and to have as few eyes as possible see their donation information. But you also don鈥檛 want that confidentiality to hinder your campaign鈥檚 fundraising performance or keep nonprofits from being able to communicate and thank donors. Employees should be reassured that the information they share on pledge forms and through the online giving website will be kept confidential. 精东影业鈥檚 Charities鈥� workplace giving solutions have different features and functionality designed to help employers address all of this.

For example, various coordinator and administrator user roles help our clients restrict who has access to donor pledge information. Someone from your company鈥檚 payroll/HR team will need to have permission to view limited data in order to process recurring payroll deduction donations, but the campaign coordinator doesn鈥檛 necessarily need to access that information. Something your campaign coordinator will want access to is an easy way to send reminders out to employees who started the donation process but need a little prompt to go in and complete their pledge. 精东影业鈥檚 Charities鈥� workplace giving solutions can do that. Likewise, our solutions make it clear and easy for employees to understand how their donation information will be shared with a nonprofit if they choose to share that information with their designated charities. Using FAQs posted on a page on the donation site, tooltips that appear when a donor hovers their mouse cursor over text during the donation process, and clear instructions and descriptions embedded in the donation process itself can all help make it clearer to employees what (if any) information is being shared and with whom.

精东影业鈥檚 Charities doesn鈥檛 stop on the employer and employee giving side of things either. As a nonprofit ourselves (精东影业鈥檚 Charities is a 501c3 nonprofit), we understand the challenges nonprofits experience when it comes to receiving money and donor information. After nonprofits receive donations from employees who participate in the workplace giving campaigns we manage, those nonprofits are given access to our charity reporting site where they can view contact information to thank donors who have opted-in to share their contact information with select charities. They can even see information like if an employee has made a donation in honor of a loved one or wishes to have their funds used for a specific program or purpose. Through our charity reporting site, donor confidentiality is our top priority while making sure nonprofits have the tools and information necessary to appropriately connect with employees who want to form a deeper relationship and remain updated on how their donations are helping provide solutions to real-world problems.

(6) Use Incentives to Your Advantage and to Turn Employees into Repeat Donors

Offering employees the opportunity to give through the workplace is already an incredible benefit in and of itself. 55 percent of employees would choose to work for a socially responsible company, even if it meant a lower salary. So your employees are already motivated to rally behind your company in supporting the community and being a force for good through activism.

But an effective way to further demonstrate your company’s commitment to supporting its employees and amplifying the impact of nonprofits in your community is by offering incentives such as:

• Matching gifts: A little incentive can yield huge dividends for the program and your people鈥檚 level of engagement. In fact, say they’re more likely to donate if a match is offered, and say they would give a larger gift if matching is applied to their donation. There are several ways to set up a matching gift program, so be sure to read our matching gifts guide to design your program to fit your employee culture and organization鈥檚 capacity and budget.
• Gamification:听To stay driven, employees need a sense of value and purpose. Associating behaviors with recognition turns them into habits. With gamification, you can instantly reward employees for taking certain actions and accomplishing specific goals that align with your company鈥檚 giving goals. Incentives can range from things like winning lunch with the CEO or earning a prized parking spot or be as simple as a badge (think modern-day certificate of recognition). For example, an employee who cares a lot about literacy could be given a 鈥渂ook worm鈥� badge after they donate to literacy-focused charities. Or, if an employee participates in your special #GivingTuesday fundraiser, you could give them a 鈥渓ocal hero鈥� badge. To connect engagement with participation and giving, you might offer badges for employees who reach a certain fundraising level or recognize employees who volunteer time to help coordinate your company鈥檚 workplace giving campaign.

There is a lot of room for creativity and fun when it comes to designing your incentive program. The key thing is to take a step back and understand:

• what is important to your employees,
• what unique ways can you thank and recognize them for participating in your program,
• how can you best inform them about your program鈥檚 incentives so they know how to leverage them, and
• how do you effectively connect all the incentives and donations back to actual collective impact and results to ensure employees know the meaning their support provides and continue participating in your program year after year as a reliable, repeat donor nonprofits can depend on.

(7) Keep it Simple and Don鈥檛 Feel Like You Have to Reinvent the Wheel

There are endless ways you can structure your workplace giving program in terms of donation payment methods, charities available to support, the duration of your campaign, other types of giving like volunteering, employee incentives like matching gifts, and a host of other variables. Don鈥檛 overwhelm yourself by trying to do everything all at once. You can build your program over time, giving your team time and capacity to do it strategically and effectively. Choosing a full-service partner like 精东影业鈥檚 Charities to help you set up and manage your workplace giving campaign will save you a lot of time and frustration, and will give you access to online giving technology solutions, resources, best practices exclusive to clients, a proficient charity vetting and charitable funds distribution partner, and a team of experts to guide you from start to finish (and beyond).

The post Transformational Workplace Giving Programs Increase Employee Engagement and Participation appeared first on 精东影业's Charities.

However, you’re at a crossroads now. Whether you aren’t satisfied with your current provider’s level of service听or your organization鈥檚 program has matured and you need a partner who can fully address the range of employee engagement, workplace giving, and grants management products and programs your company has worked tirelessly to build, 精东影业鈥檚 Charities can help you transition from your existing program and make that process as seamless and successful as possible so you can keep the momentum going.

Ready to Move Forward?

Changing providers and platforms is a multi-step effort that involves soliciting bids, reviewing proposals, interviewing candidates, making your selection, negotiating a deal, and getting approval from your top executives.

精东影业’s Charities’ guide,听“Switching Workplace Giving Providers: Your Guide for Choosing a New Partner for Your Employee Giving Program,“听is designed to help you navigate this process so you听can make a smart, informed choice 鈥� and so you can be fully aware of how听to prepare to make the transition once you make that selection.

And of course, we hope you will consider 精东影业’s Charities as you begin this process. We have more than 40 years’ experience in this field and have helped many employers like yours make the transition between workplace giving partners. As a result, our clients have cut costs, scaled resources, and increased their results. We welcome the opportunity to chat with you about the challenges you’re facing and ways our team can help.听Call or email us anytime at 703.674.5358 or听businessdevelopment@charities.org, or click here to request a demo.

ACCESS GUIDE

听

The post Switching Workplace Giving Providers: Your Guide for Choosing a New Partner for Your Employee Giving and Corporate Social Responsibility Program appeared first on 精东影业's Charities.

Workplace giving programs, matching gift campaigns, corporate grants, volunteerism, employee assistance relief funds, and employee-directed giving are all great vehicles for supporting your employees and communities in times of crisis.

If you have been charged with getting a disaster relief campaign off the ground pronto and need a simple fundraising tool that can quickly be deployed within days, we can help you with that. According to the Conference Board Environmental, Social & Governance Center鈥檚 report, , the top priority of 73 percent of responding companies was immediate relief and short-term recovery. Only 22 percent of respondents from that same survey prioritized disaster preparedness and just 3 percent prioritized long-term recovery and reconstruction, yet that 鈥渇unding preparedness would actually reduce the need for relief and help build trust with communities, while funding long-term recovery and reconstruction would reduce the time it takes for communities to return to normal.鈥�

While immediate humanitarian aid is important and certainly has its place, disaster giving tends to be reactive with the bulk of money donated going to immediate relief efforts. Ensuring long-term support is crucial to effectively helping affected communities rebuild and fully recover. That鈥檚 where sustainable, unrestricted funds from workplace giving programs and support from strategic partners play a tremendous role.

Efficient and effective disaster response and employee emergency relief calls for proactive, strategic planning. In addition to finding a giving platform that can support your team鈥檚 immediate disaster aid campaigns, we encourage you to take a more thoughtful approach to how your program can support-long-term disaster giving needs. 精东影业鈥檚 Charities can help you put the infrastructure in place for a more integrated program that automates and manages your disaster giving alongside your other types of giving and granting initiatives on one platform, and in addition to the out-of-the box reporting and dashboard capabilities we offer, we can also work closely with your team to configure custom reports and dashboards as well to help you monitor your impact and progress. Plus, by putting the proper infrastructure in place now, your team can more easily launch and 鈥減ress go鈥� for any future immediate disaster response campaigns and your employees will know they can go to that same giving platform each time a new disaster occurs (which helps make employee communications easier and more streamlined).

Regardless of whether you need a new disaster-giving platform ASAP or have time to put a more strategic program in place, there are some basic questions your team will need to answer.

Below is a shortlist to provide your team with some basic direction. To dig deeper into specific topics, we invite you to download the guides and toolkits available in our free resource library, and of course our team is happy to chat with you to discuss your needs further.

Who:

• Who will have access to participate in your program?
  • Will all full-time and part-time employees be invited to participate or will some employees be excluded, such as contractors?
  • Will your program focus on employees only or will you also invite external people to participate (e.g. board directors, partner companies, customers, family members of employees)?
• Your answer to 鈥渨ho鈥� will participate will be closely connected to how you grant platform access (e.g. single sign-on (SSO) connection, login credentials based on unique identifiers, etc.).
• Who will manage your giving program? Do you have a dedicated team to handle things like employee donor questions, charity write-in requests, and program communications, or do you need outside support?
• If you plan to provide financial assistance to employees facing personal financial hardships through an EAF program, who will manage the application review process, maintain the funds, and handle reporting and compliance?
• If you鈥檙e focusing on a disaster relief campaign, who will be the recipient nonprofits and who will vet those organizations for you to ensure donations are going to a reputable charity?

What:

• What do you hope to achieve?
  • Make sure you take time to speak with key decision-makers to ensure you choose a strategic partner and platform that offer the right tools to accomplish your goals. The things a procurement officer will focus on may differ significantly from the criteria your program manager has in mind. Taking a moment to obtain team input and consensus can help your team avoid some common pitfalls.
• Are you looking to facilitate donations in support of nonprofits, employees facing hardships, or a combination?
• What donation and giving methods do you want to offer?
  • For immediate disaster response campaigns, credit/debit card giving tends to be most popular and efficient for getting donations to those impacted by a disaster. Charitable dollars, however, typically wane within the initial three to six months after a disaster, as media (and donor鈥檚) attention moves on to other stories. A recurring payroll deduction donation can provide a disaster-related charity with much-needed sustainable resources to support long-term recovery and rebuilding efforts long after the funding from immediate relief runs dry. Perhaps your team would like to get out and volunteer or hold a drive to support a local community disaster. Not all giving platforms are setup to facilitate all types of giving and donation methods, so you鈥檒l need to think about both your immediate and long-term program interests.
• Will your company match employee gifts? If so, what are the eligibility criteria and match ratios?
• What鈥檚 your budget for doing all of this?
  • If you鈥檙e just starting out and need to make the case to leadership for more investment, it might make sense to start with a pilot program and expand your program with more of a phased approach. If you already offer a bunch of different giving methods (e.g. grants, volunteering, workplace giving), but have been using multiple platforms to manage everything, you might be able to save money and run your program more efficiently by consolidating to an all-in-one giving platform like 精东影业鈥檚 Charities Engage CSR Solution.

Where:

• Are your employees and other eligible contributors located in one city, several states throughout the U.S., or multiple countries worldwide? This question is particularly important to think about if your program involves volunteerism or local community donation drives.
• Where will contributions be directed? To 501c3 charities, employees, or both? Where are recipient charities and employees located?
  • Disbursing charitable funds internationally is a completely different ballgame than what鈥檚 involved domestically within the United States. In addition to vetting nonprofits that are legitimate and will use donor funds responsibly (which is important for domestic or international giving), with international giving you need to consider the nuances of different currencies, tax laws, and even payroll systems (if you have multiple business units around the world).

When:

• How soon do you need to deploy your giving platform? Some donation methods and giving programs can be set up in days whereas others involve more legwork, so you鈥檒l need to build in enough time for planning and setup depending on what your initiative entails.
• Will you keep the platform open year-round? If so, will some donation methods be available during finite campaign periods while other methods remain available all the time? For example, some employers offer employees a limited timeframe in which they can enroll in payroll deduction giving, while they allow employees to make credit card donations anytime throughout the year.

How:

• How will you measure success? Your team likely has some specific goals you want to accomplish through this program. Are there specific reports you will need or metrics you鈥檒l want to closely monitor to track your progress towards meeting those goals?
• How personalized do you need the platform to be? Are you looking for a platform with basic branding and out-of-the-box content, or are you looking for something more configurable and personalized?
• How much staff time do you have to devote to administer the program? Some aspects of your program might make sense for your team to handle if you have the internal capacity, but there鈥檚 also an opportunity cost that must be considered. Every hour you spend on internal staff time costs your company money (as the company in this case study found), so it might be less costly to go outside for help.

Having an agile technology platform and trusted partner to disburse charitable funds efficiently and securely is of the utmost importance when it comes to disaster response and emergency assistance. Thinking through the questions above and working with an experienced partner like 精东影业鈥檚 Charities will help your company and its employees respond with greater speed, as well as ensure your impact is strategic and effective. In addition to benefiting from our more than 40 years of experience distributing charitable funds and managing these types of programs, you鈥檒l get to work with a very passionate and knowledgeable team (40% of our staff have been working here for nearly a decade or longer) who can set you up for success from the very start and help grow your program for long-term collective impact across all of your CSR initiatives. 听

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This article outlines six ways to engage your employees, all while giving back to help your community. Please note that each of these methods can be scaled up or down, depending on the size of your workforce.

(1) Volunteering together

Whether a short project of a couple hours, a full day, or even a week-long series, volunteering together enables workers to enhance their teamwork and bring new enthusiasm back into the office.

Case in point: After Austin鈥檚 Salesforce team celebrated Global Volunteer Week by sorting produce at the Central Texas Food Bank, almost 5,000 meals went to feed those in need of donated food.

The Entrepreneurs Foundation of Central Texas, which helps entrepreneurs and their teams build corporate cultures and employee engagement for success, sponsors two days of service each year. During the spring they mobilized 24 of their companies with over 575 team members working for 12 nonprofits over two weeks in May to support the homeless in Austin.

There are countless other opportunities for team projects such as preparing and serving lunch or breakfast to the homeless, walking as a team in a charity event, beautifying a park, or stuffing and delivering backpacks to low income students.

(2) Paid time off (PTO) for Volunteering

Employees these days love to have time to go volunteer at a nonprofit of their choice. Even better if the time they spend is paid time off from their employer.

Employees have been volunteering for years, teaching classes for Junior Achievement, making meals at the Ronald McDonald House for resident families, or bell-ringing for the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign. There are 1.5 million nonprofits in the U.S. so there is no end of opportunities for volunteering.

Says one employee of Principal Financial Group (PFG) based in Des Moines, Iowa, 鈥淚 LOVE working here. One thing I really appreciate about PFG is that it provides us with volunteering time off so we can help in our communities.鈥�

(3) Volunteering at the Office

Arranging for activities that can be done at the office provides an easy way for workers to volunteer, especially those for whom it is difficult to leave during the workday. For example, National Insurance in Columbus, Ohio, named a Best Places to Give Back in Fortune magazine, established a Red Cross blood donor center in the building so that associates could take time off to go give blood. Build-A-Sign, a sign maker in Austin, Texas, developed the CANville competition. Local companies were invited to compete by creating an Austin landmark entirely of cans of food. Winners were chosen, giving the participating companies pride in their teamwork, and the cans used in the sculptures donated to the local food bank.

(4) Employee fundraising

Employees love teaming up for a good cause and organizing fundraisers at work let their creativity shine. From car washes to bake sales to go-fund-me campaigns, employees working together toward something meaningful enhances their teamwork and their job loyalty.

Trulucks, an iconic Texas restaurant, has supported their staff for years to band together for the 鈥楤ad Pants Open鈥� golf tournament, benefitting autism. Two of the executives who have family members on the autism spectrum determined that having fun together as a team, raising money and raising spirits was a great way to not only support this cause but also enhance their teamwork.

(5) Disaster relief

When disaster strikes, offering the opportunity to help the victims provides a great service for many employees. Novo Nordisk, a pharmaceuticals company from New Jersey, makes it their priority to respond to disasters such as the tornado clean up in Alabama, hurricane relief in New Orleans, blood donations after the Pulse Nightclub terrorist attack in Orlando, and more recently providing life-saving medicines to those impacted by the conflict in Ukraine.

(6) Nonprofit learning

Employees appreciate being given the opportunity to learn about community needs and the various nonprofit organizations which support these causes. 听This education can take many forms. South Texas Money Management, a Texas-based wealth management firm, each quarter invites a nonprofit to come to their office for lunch, tell their story, and receive a small donation while their staff learns more about the community need being addressed by their guest. Or it can be more elaborate such as the United Way for Greater Austin鈥檚 scavenger hunt to learn about the needs of the community. Mason Ayers, CEO of iconic Kerbey Lane Caf茅s, says 鈥溾�� it 鈥� brought the members of our executive team closer together as we discovered things about the city of Austin we never knew before. It was a great team-building experience 鈥︹��.听

Hopefully, one of more of these ideas will work to engage your own employees, fueling their interest in the community, feeling good about themselves and being proud of the business where they work.

Debbie Johnson is a Principal with Successful Giving which helps businesses figure out their highest and best philanthropy to enable them to give back with meaning and effectively engage their employees. She was formerly an executive with AT&T/Lucent Technologies.听听听听听

What to Read Next:

• The Business Case for Employee Volunteer & Skills Giving Programs
• 5 Keys to Attracting 鈥� and Keeping 鈥� Socially Minded Employees
• Fun Ideas for Engaging Employees and Raising Money for Charity
• Making Employee Volunteers Matter
• [Guide] 5 Key Steps to Starting an Employee Volunteer Program
• [Report]听What Employees Think about Workplace Giving, Volunteering, and CSR

The post Six Ways to Engage your Employees appeared first on 精东影业's Charities.

This evolution creates new pain points for many. For years, social impact work has been completed by small teams with a limited scope. As we know, though, CSR has always needed to be a full-time commitment. In the last year alone, the 鈥渟ocial鈥� component has become the most important ESG priority for U.S. investors with 82% of U.S. CEOs saying that of their ESG programs.

The increased interest in ESG has renewed cries for across all three categories, including the 鈥渟ocial鈥� space 鈥� the hardest area to define meaningful metrics, provide hard numbers, and create actionable steps that will allow companies to improve their ratings.

That鈥檚 where comes in. Developed by , which has nearly 30 years of experience in the social impact space, SocialMarks is the only action-based metric for benchmarking the 鈥淪鈥� in ESG investments. We look at how companies are making decisions and investments towards social impact and, then, map that to the client鈥檚 ever-evolving competitive set as defined by the client. This ensures that each client is compared to those who matter most to them 鈥� for example, competitors based on size, industry, location, and other factors.

Unlike many ratings systems, we are also upfront about our methodology. We look at three components 鈥� People, Brand, Community 鈥� with clear definitions.听This allows us to reveal opportunities to improve external ESG rankings.

• The People component looks at how a company addresses issues relevant to particular groups of people within the company and programs offered by the company to support these groups. This particularly relates to gender equality; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and employee development.
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• The Brand component focuses on the use of social impact through advertising and media campaigns as well as the success and effectiveness of sponsorship activation. Category analysis also includes products and services provided to customers that factor in social impact as well as the amount of social engagement a company makes through public exposure or collaborations with other organizations.
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• The Community component looks at the ways in which a company engages with and benefits wider society, particularly focused on employee volunteering initiatives, apprenticeships, and education programs offered by the company in addition to donations and corporate giving. Quality assessment of company reporting is also a focus.

We believe that by breaking down these components as much as possible, people can see where their competitors fair better than they do and where they can make immediate improvements. For example, a company can improve its Community score by offering employee giving programs, developing employee volunteering programs, or offering volunteer time off. We can also tell you if there鈥檚 a company policy 鈥� not publishing CSR Reports or related information 鈥� that is lowering your company鈥檚 ranking.

If you鈥檇 like to learn more about 鈥� especially how to measure the 鈥淪鈥� in ESG 鈥� we can help. We will be releasing SocialMarks鈥� first in-depth industry report on the top global banks next month.

听

What to Read Next:

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One of the most frequently asked questions we get from companies regarding nonprofit-corporate partnerships is this:

鈥淗ow can we best measure the ROI and impact a partnership has on our company, for our nonprofit partner, and for the community as a whole?鈥�

鈥淚mpact鈥� means different things to different people. Before you can measure impact and ROI, you need to:

1. Answer the question, 鈥淲hat do you want to accomplish through this partnership?鈥�
2. Consider whether or not the partner you have chosen is a good fit (for you and for them), and
3. Define what 鈥渋mpact鈥� means to you and your partner.

Values and Expertise

Before you select a partner, you need to look within your company.听

• What are your company鈥檚 values?
• What is important to your employees and other key stakeholders?
• What resources 鈥� financial, human capital, goods 鈥� can you contribute to the community?
• What is your expertise, your specialty?
• What would you like to be known for in the community?

The answers may seem obvious to you, but the common hurdle many organizations face is the next question:

“What specific need or problem in the community is your organization best suited to address?” 听

Some needs are more visible and apparent than others.听 If you look a little deeper into a cause, is there a lesser known, but equally important need that could benefit from your support?听For example, if you manufacture or sell apparel you could take the more obvious philanthropic action of donating apparel to a shelter and stop with that. Donating goods can certainly contribute to common ESG goals like reducing waste in landfills.听However, a deeper conversation with your nonprofit partner could bring to light another issue that your donation is helping address and open the door for even more collaborative opportunities like employee volunteerism. The combination of the apparel your company donated, combined with your employees volunteer time could play an incredible role in building kids鈥� confidence and self-esteem, while helping the nonprofit with its clothing budget challenge.听

Finding the Right Fit

Don鈥檛 worry if you can鈥檛 answer these questions and identify a cause on your own.听 A business decision of this magnitude may necessitate outside guidance from a strategic partner like 精东影业鈥檚 Charities. Our more than 40听years of experience providing employers and nonprofit organizations with charitable giving services and employee engagement solutions puts us in a unique position to help your organization identify which need(s) and nonprofit partner(s) would make the most sense for you. Whether you need help identifying a charity partner, or have hundreds of nonprofits that have reached out to you for support, we can help find the right approach for you ().

Defining Goals and Impact

Once you have identified a charity partner听– or group of partners – who听fit the needs your company would like to address, the next step is to have detailed discussions with the nonprofit partner to identify what 鈥渋mpact鈥� means to each of you, and what measurements will define a successful outcome. Since every partnership is unique there are no general 鈥渟ystematic measurements鈥� for success听that can be applied to every situation.听 At times, success can be measured immediately upon completion of a project, or it may take a few years to measure due to the nature of the project.听 The key is to be clear about what success means and have patience while waiting for the results.

Below are some things to consider during the initial conversations with your partner:

• Set clear, realistic, shared goals that will benefit both partners and specify who is responsible for delivering what.
• Determine how long the relationship will last and put an exit strategy in place.听 Due to the nature of your partnership, some projects may be completed within a couple months, while other projects may take a few years. Consider starting out on a smaller, simple scale to show proof of life over a period of time and to test out the partnership.听Put an exit strategy in place to ensure your organization leaves the nonprofit in a better place once your partnership has accomplished its goals.
• A partnership is two-sided. Are there existing methods your nonprofit partner practices that can be used to measure your impact? Measuring impact should not be about collecting more data, but rather what information is absolutely necessary to prove your success.听 As a company, you obviously don鈥檛 want to burden your nonprofit partner, but don鈥檛 be afraid to look to them to help provide some of the answers and indicators of success.
• Stay within your means. Even if there is an ideal way to measure a program鈥檚 success, your nonprofit partner may not have the human capital or skills necessary to collect the information.听 Your company could help out financially so the nonprofit can hire someone for the job; you may involve your employees who have the skills needed for measuring the program鈥檚 success; or you might need to identify an alternative, less ideal measure of success that works within the means of both organizations. Perhaps your company can utilize an existing technology solution to assist with measurement. 精东影业’s Charities Engage CSR Solution听provides a holistic, easy-to-use platform for collecting, measuring and reporting on results for things like online giving, volunteer management, grantmaking, matching gifts, donation drives, and other creative charitable giving and employee engagement initiatives. Talk to us about your objectives and we can give you a demo of how the platform can be used to address your unique needs.
• Impact can be measured by quantitative or qualitative data. Impact depends on what goals you set.听What question(s) will your program evaluation answer? For instance, 鈥淗ow many students improved their grade level of reading鈥� (quantitative) vs. 鈥淒id the students have a valuable, rewarding experience鈥� (qualitative). 听You can take a similar approach to evaluating the impact the partnership has on your company.听 By using surveys, you can evaluate if your involvement in this nonprofit partnership has changed the employee鈥檚 (or another stakeholder鈥檚) perception and loyalty to your company.听 Or when using employee evaluations, you can gauge improvement in skill levels of employees before and after volunteering with your nonprofit partner.听
• Use Benchmarks and case studies as a roadmap for your partnership.听 Don鈥檛 reinvent the wheel if you don鈥檛 have to. 精东影业’s Charities has a library of free resources and we also offer benchmarking and strategy development听tailored to your company’s specific interests and needs. Our听Expert Advisory Services听will give you a clear perspective of how you stack up to peers, and arm you with specific tactics and overarching strategy tailored to your company鈥檚 unique culture and interests.听 听 听听

Measuring the success of a nonprofit-corporate partnership doesn鈥檛 have to be hard.听 If you bring the right partners and experts together, and are honest and realistic about your objectives and expectations, your partnership can have a significant impact on the nonprofit and the community, while also benefiting your business.

听

The post Measuring the Impact and Success of a Nonprofit-Corporate Partnership appeared first on 精东影业's Charities.

By design or default, each of us has faced a new normal this year 鈥� yet, at 精东影业鈥檚 Charities, we haven鈥檛 let that get in the way of progress.

Last year we saw a 9 percent increase across charitable giving for the听workplace giving campaigns听we manage, helping to strengthen the nonprofits which were, and are, supporting the most vulnerable among us 鈥� including people and communities devastated by the pandemic. We also brought on more than 100 new听employee assistance fund听(EAF) clients, resulting in more than $17 million in employee relief grants since the pandemic first transpired. Those dollars go directly to employees coping with unexpected hardships, particularly related to COVID-19.

We have not slowed our pace in 2021 either. Demand for our employee relief services and interest in our听Engage CSR solution听(unveiled in June 2020) has soared, which is unsurprising given what happened since the pandemic hit: employers of all sizes and shapes stepped up,听putting purpose and people at the center of their business practices.

This emphasis on corporate social responsibility (CSR) isn鈥檛 decreasing as time goes by, either. 精东影业’s Charities鈥� work at the nexus of employers, charities, and employee donor giving and engagement gives us a unique vantage point. What we鈥檝e seen 鈥� what we continue to see today 鈥� are companies caring for their employees, engaging their communities, and creating meaningful change for society, even in the most challenging of times. We are incredibly proud to serve the nonprofit and CSR communities and remain committed to helping individuals and organizations support each other and the causes they care about through workplace giving, employee volunteering, Employee Relief Funds, matching gift programs and a host of special fundraising and giving initiatives which provide unique opportunities for companies and employees to collectively make lasting social change.

精东影业鈥檚 Charities Engage CSR Solution, powered by SmartSimple Cloud, the SaaS platform preferred by more than 350 leading organizations worldwide, offers the most comprehensive and flexible solution to streamline all your community programs and maximize your social investments. Designed to be flexible, grow with your organization, and adapt to your constantly shifting priorities, Engage can be tailored to suit your specific requirements. Everything can be managed under one roof, whether you need to administer a stand-alone granting program or a full suite of global corporate and employee giving initiatives, including corporate philanthropy, grantmaking, and听; donation matching听and听in-kind giving; employee workplace giving; employee engagement and volunteer management; Employee Assistance Funds; and perhaps most importantly – 听and听reporting impact, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) benchmarking.

If you鈥檙e ready to take the complexity out of managing your corporate grantmaking, employee giving, and volunteer programs, and ready to focus on scaling your impact, contact 精东影业鈥檚 Charities about Engage today.听

Ready to Get Started? Contact Us:

Complete the form below to see how our all-in-one CSR solution can improve your giving programs. We will follow-up with you to schedule a personalized demo of Engage.

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The post Put Purpose and People at the Center of Your Business Practices With Employee Giving, Volunteering, and Employee Assistance Funds appeared first on 精东影业's Charities.

Here are a few creative ideas to get your team started:

1. Matching Gifts:

Does your company have some extra money or leftover budget you need to spend before year-end? Invest that money in your employees and your community! Employees view their employers as facilitators and multipliers for their own philanthropic efforts, so consider offering to match their donation through your holiday giving campaign. Not only will your employees be thrilled by the opportunity to potentially double their impact on their favorite charity, but you鈥檒l also be contributing to your and well-being. Need more inspiration? Take a look at this guest blog post from Double the Donation about听10 Companies Engaging Employees Through Exemplary Matching Gift and Grant Programs.

2. Unite Multiple Offices Across the Country in Giving:

Have offices in New York and San Francisco and Austin鈥nd the list goes on? Lots of employers like to include a holiday giving drive as part of their year-end employee engagement festivities, but with multiple offices all across the country it can be challenging to actually execute those plans. By partnering with 精东影业鈥檚 Charities, we can combine our Quick Start giving solution with our 40 years of employee giving expertise and list of nonprofit partners to rally your employees around national and local causes, and to unite your offices around a singular goal of giving back to the community.

3. Point Your Holiday Giving Inward with Your Employee Assistance听Fund (EAF):

The vast majority of CSR programs are outward-facing efforts with strategies, initiatives, and donations that impact lives, improve communities, and make the planet better. But CSR can be more than just an external strategy; businesses can leverage that same ethos to positively impact their own employees. The best CSR is more than what you do for others 鈥� it鈥檚 about what you do for your own employees.听

If you don’t have an EAF yet, contact our team about how to start one.听

Already have an EAF? The holiday season is a great time to reinvigorate contributions to the fund. If you allow employees to donate via payroll deduction to your fund, send out some holiday-themed reminders about enrolling or renewing their recurring payroll deduction pledge. If you offer a donation method like credit card, making a one-time gift at the end of the year is a great way for employees to support one another while getting in final tax-deductible donations by year-end, in time to claim eligible deductions come tax season.听听

The holiday season is also a good time to remind employees that your company offers a way to help them in times of hardship. So make sure employees know your program exists, what types of hardships are elligible, and how they can apply for assistance.

If you are an 精东影业’s Charities client, ask your coordinator for a copy of our EAF Communications Toolkit for听templates and example messages to promote your program.听

4. Use Holiday Giving to Test-Drive Your More Ambitious 2022听Employee Giving Plans:

Perhaps you have bigger plans in mind for your team鈥檚 social responsibility and employee engagement efforts, but you just weren鈥檛 able to get around to it this year. With 精东影业鈥檚 Charities鈥� Quick Start solution, you can test the waters and get a sense of what causes your employees care about most. At the end of your holiday campaign, 精东影业鈥檚 Charities will provide your team with a report, which will allow you to see how many employees participated and analyze what specific charities and causes employees care about. Using that data, you鈥檒l have some basic employee engagement and fundraising benchmarks to work with and can then start putting your larger vision into a more formal plan of action for 2022. 听Our team can even help you form that strategic plan and offer you multiple technology solutions to facilitate your team鈥檚 employee giving and engagement success.

5. Promote CFC Giving to Employees at Your Federal Agency:听

If you’re a government agency – half the work is done for you already! There’s no need for you to find a technology solution or provider to facilitate employee giving since all of that is already set up for you through the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC). All you need to do is remind your agency’s employees that they can give through payroll deduction or even volunteer through the CFC. And the 2020 CFC runs all the way through January 15, 2022. Click here to learn more about the power of collective impact through the CFC’s workplace giving campaign.

6. Step Back and Plan for 2022: Perhaps you already held an employee giving campaign earlier this Fall or aren鈥檛 ready to give the green light on a holiday giving campaign. 精东影业鈥檚 Charities has a library of free resources to help your team plan and think long-term about how best to implement employee giving, volunteering, and other social responsibility initiatives. So consider taking a step back this December to think through your vision and let 精东影业鈥檚 Charities鈥� team help you put that vision into action in 2022 with one our Engage CSR solution.

You don鈥檛 have to be a Fortune 500 company to give back this holiday season, and employee giving doesn鈥檛 need to be complicated. Holiday giving is a terrific way to engage your employees and encourage participation through CSR initiatives. Not to mention, CSR programs have the potential to increase revenue by up to 20%, so what are you waiting for?

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The post Business Guide for Engaging Employees in Holiday Giving appeared first on 精东影业's Charities.

There is no doubt that CSR is no longer an extra, nice-to-have strategy for companies; businesses know that CSR is a must-have practice if they are to succeed in today鈥檚 global, competitive marketplace. More than ever before, customers, investors, partners, and employees are looking beyond financial returns and compensation packages for proof that a company is responsible, benefiting society, improving the communities in which they work, and ultimately bringing their resources to bear on the great challenges facing our world.

The vast majority of CSR programs are outward-facing efforts with strategies, initiatives, and donations that impact lives, improve communities, and make the planet better. But CSR can be more than just an external strategy; businesses can leverage that same ethos to positively impact their own employees. The best CSR is more than what you do for others 鈥� it鈥檚 about what you do for your own employees.听

Most CSR programs engage their employees, through workplace giving, volunteering, donation matching, and other tactics. And make no mistake 鈥� workers do anticipate these opportunities at the workplace. 86 percent of businesses told us for that their workers expect them to provide opportunities to engage in the community, and 87 percent believe their employees expect them to support causes and issues that matter to those employees.

Many of these efforts can also be directed to address the needs of a company鈥檚 own employees. An (EAF), also known as an Employee Relief Fund or Employee Crisis Fund, helps employees cope with unexpected hardships that place undue financial stress on them and their families. EAFs are an easy way to turn your CSR efforts inward. Companies and their employees can support their fellow co-workers by helping them manage and get through very difficult circumstances.

An EAF provides value and benefit to multiple stakeholders: your employees, your company, and your community:

1. Your employees: The most obvious beneficiaries of an EAF are your own employees. According to a on the economic well-being of US households, 39% of 精东影业ns can’t听cover a $400 unexpected听emergency expense or would need to borrow or sell听something to do so. This financial stress impacts your employees and their families 鈥� and an EAF helps them recover more quickly as well as help alleviate their stress. An EAF can also be a vehicle for employees to help their co-workers by making it a part of the company鈥檚 employee giving program.
2. Your business: By helping employees manage and cope with financial hardships, a company is helping those employees return to a sense of normalcy and back to work more productively. It also demonstrates to your employees 鈥� and your potential employees 鈥� that the company really does care about them, which benefits your recruitment and retention efforts. An EAF program shows employees that you go above and beyond typical work perks with initiatives that support employees in the totality of their lives.
3. Your community: Many people reach out to nonprofit and government agencies for assistance during these times of need. When a company is supporting its employees, it reduces the burden on those organizations, freeing them up to provide assistance to others in need in the community.

精东影业鈥檚 Charities can establish and administer a new , or help you take your existing program to a new level. With an already-established infrastructure, we can quickly launch and mobilize an EAF, allowing a company to get started and scale faster. And outsourcing your company鈥檚 EAF to 精东影业鈥檚 Charities, a nonprofit, offers special legal and tax advantages, in addition to reducing the administrative burden on businesses. We handle everything from program design and development, grants approval, application documentation requirements, funds distribution, and regular reporting, we well as provide employee support. We also advise companies that want to integrate an EAF into workplace giving, employee engagement, or wellness programs.

If you鈥檙e ready to turn your CSR program inward and harness the social good ethos within your company to help your own workforce experiencing an unexpected hardship, visit to learn more.

Jim Starr, president and CEO of 精东影业鈥檚 Charities, is an accomplished leader in strategic planning, business development, and partnerships,听with more than 25 years of experience bringing corporations and nonprofits together to increase revenue and social good.

The post Point Your CSR Inward with an EAF Program to Benefit Your Employees, Business, and Community appeared first on 精东影业's Charities.