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By Chris Jarvis

Up until just a few years ago, most men and women who worked in some facet of corporate social responsibility or employee engagement were accustomed to finding themselves in awkward conversations at dinner parties. Conversations that went something like this:

“So, what do you do?”

“Well, I’m in charge of employee volunteering and giving at my company.”

“Pardon?”

“Yeah, I set up programs to make it possible for employees to volunteer and make charitable donations through the company. There are a lot of benefits to it.”

“And they pay you for that?”
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Thankfully, it’s 2015 and the conversation is taking a positive turn.

These days, students are graduating with degrees in corporate social responsibility, writing their Master’s Theses on the business benefits of employee volunteering and looking for jobs at companies that are investing in local communities. The number of Fortune 500 companies that offer employee volunteering and giving programs is nearing 100% and the resources available to them are increasing at an exponential rate. Times have changed and the role of the CSR practitioner is more valuable than it’s ever been. So … what now? What can we expect for the future of employee engagement and volunteering?

This is an excerpt from the . ÌýCharities@WorkÌýis an alliance of four national nonprofit organizations – ¾«¶«Ó°Òµâ€™s Charities, Community Health Charities, EarthShare and Global Impact – that serves as the cooperative voice for more than 2,000 premier health, human service, environmental, and international development charities.

To find out more information about this year’sÌýCharities@WorkÌýBest Practices Summit or how to register including early bird registration discounts, visitÌý.Ìý For information on sponsorship, please contact Lynne Filderman atÌýlfilderman@charities.org.