Corporate Volunteering Days

Transcription

1 Corporate Volunteering Days Investigating how to make corporate volunteering days more beneficial for business and the community. As part of my work with Cites of Service and Bristol 2015 Ltd I began a study into green organisations that work with volunteers in Bristol. The aim of the study was to get a baseline of those organisations: how many there were, how much work were volunteers doing and to find out if there were any learnings we could share across the sector to improve the volunteer experience generally. A month or so into the study there were some clear patterns emerging; one of the most obvious was the struggle that not-for-profit community organisations have in working with corporate business. This article is an attempt to consider that problem and provide a potential solution to it for both the community and corporate businesses wishing to volunteer in the community. Excerpts are taken from interviews conducted as part of the study from December February As the UK government is now seriously considering a law for medium and large businesses to allow their staff to volunteer three days a year there is a growing need to consider a better system to make the most of this donated time¹. Problems with the Traditional Model Businesses often put aside some time to volunteer in the community, this might be part of their Corporate Social Responsibility programme, and may be taken on one of their yearly volunteer days. During the course of my study I came across several core problems that seem typical across community organisations in terms of their experience with corporates. These negative experiences have some common elements: Volunteers for One Tree Per Child The business expects their volunteering day to be free The business wants to complete a task so that they have something to talk about in publications, but there isn t always a clear single task needing to be done. The volunteers often have little or no experience in the tasks that need doing. The volunteers often are taking part in a compulsory day out of the office, with little information about why they are there or what they will accomplish. The volunteers are ill prepared for the day, arriving in suits and high heels to a farm, for example. The community organisation is often overwhelmed and feels that they haven t accomplished much by the end of the day, apart from losing one of their own working days. Sophie Bull from St Werburgh s City Farm explains why the charity has needed to charge business groups for volunteering days and how that money is used. We run team challenge days, for which we charge 25 per business volunteer and then that money goes towards the materials for whatever

2 they re doing that day, and if it s a large group it helps us cover the extra staff we provide to supervise the session. Businesses often think they re giving you a wonderful favour by offering to bring a large group of people for the day and when you say, that s great, that s going to cost you this much money they sometimes need a bit more communicating around why. Why that would need to cost them money, why maybe it s not beneficial to have a large group of adults, who often aren t experienced in hands on practical tasks, coming for a one off visit. We have had some fantastic groups, who have achieved lots in just a day, and reported that they also gained a lot form the day as a team. With some money to pay for materials, the staff to support the session and a motivated group, it can work brilliantly. Corrina Buchanan, National Trust Tyntesfield agrees that organising practical volunteering options for companies can be a strain on resources; We have had some corporate volunteers but it s not an easy relationship, we always talk about mutual benefit and there isn t always that with them. I know that s true for the businesses too, they say, we have loads of people giving time, surely you must want us but it takes a lot of time away from other projects. The assumption that not-for-profit organisations do not have the same sort of forward planning and strategic work plan as businesses can also be a problem as Corrina points out; It s usually been people in a group, across 2 days, and they want to do it next month! They re not thinking far enough ahead. Then you need to schedule extra staff to come in and work with them. Eve Morton, Fare Share South West agrees; We ve had to say to people we do charge for corporate group volunteering and sometimes businesses don t understand that actually it does take out time to have a group of people here for a day. Sometimes it is a bit of a struggle, explaining that we are a charity, it s taking members of staff, it will take most of my day to be coordinating what they re doing and we need the money. Volunteer Litter Pickers at Badock's Wood Julie Doherty, Avon Wildlife Trust is also concerned about the meaningfulness of this dip in and out volunteering option. When you have that one day volunteering option, people rock up because their team leader has told them to be in a certain place at a certain time. They often don t have any information about our organisation or the relevance of the task until they arrive.

3 A point reiterated by Lizzie Spencer, Windmill Hill City Farm, We ve had some corporate groups where they come as a day off, a day out of the office. They haven t been very motivated or cohesive and haven t really got that much done. Making sure that the work delivered during the volunteering day is in line with the organisations strategy or key work is a necessity. It s incredibly difficult to create projects to entertain a group of keen volunteers who want to give something back for the day as Emma Hodges, National Trust Tyntesfield explains; Businesses want something at the end that they can talk about, they want a finished product, which was always quite difficult because the things that really needed doing were quite operational, but they wanted to say we restored this roof or we produced this and there aren t actually that many opportunities to do that kind of work. It ends up being quite manufactured, they end up doing something quite tokenistic to give them what they are looking for, things which don t really need doing so that you ve got something from them and they ve got something they can talk about in their newsletter. Challenges for Business The challenges go both ways, many businesses have tried to work with community partners and found the different culture and way of thinking can cause frustration on both sides. We spoke to three of Bristol 2015 s sponsors to find out what community organisations could do to make this relationship more effective. Alice Jennison helped Skanska set up their volunteering programme, Skanska has a working relationship with Groundwork which helps them volunteer effectively in the community. I asked Alice about the challenges they have faced with community partners in the past, she said, volunteering always requires a partner; somewhere to go in a community, someone to help, a charity that needs our support. That partner needs to be really clear in what they require from us. That can be really difficult. The partner will provide the on-the-ground knowledge for where we can support the community. We then go from there to working out what support is required next. It really helps if the partner is as clear as possible so that expectations are aligned on both sides. The time put into preparation before a corporate volunteering day is really valuable, and ideally time should be put in both from the business side and from the charity side. Emma Dowden from Burges Salmon explains, project specific planning is so important. Last year we had a pop up show with Brandon Trust in Cabot Circus, and months in advance we had to be getting licences, renting etc. It has to be clear with the charity who is doing what. Burges Salmon puts a lot of effort into their volunteering days, we cover this more extensively in the case study that follows.

4 Positive Examples There have been some very positive experiences with corporates, those all seem to share similar features: They are planned 6 months or more in advance The volunteers are engaged and interested in the event and the motivation for it The volunteers are gaining skills and knowledge as they go The business and community organisation maintain communication along the way and each put time into ensuring the support and preparation is done to make the event successful. The event is spread over several days or a couple of weeks, rather than the whole team going out on one day. The business recognises that, as a charity, the community organisation doesn t have the capacity to provide staff support for free and so contributes time and money to the event; that might be paying for tools, plants or paying for the staff member s time. Corrina Buchanan National Trust Tyntesfield You might be able to build a relationship. If a company was willing to work with us more long term, the year before we could arrange at what points through the year support for the orchard project or meadows project or maintenance of the play equipment could be scheduled into the year. But if they re not letting you know until a month before, you ve already thought about your manpower and where you need it. Eve Morton Fare Share South West We ve been charity of the year, for a publishing company for 2014, that was great, they did lots of fundraising for us. Also we were the environmental charity for a legal company for the last quarter of We may go and give a little talk about what we do, we got asked to judge a Christmas jumper competition, which was good fun. It helps us raise our profile and I think it helps their Corporate Social Responsibility and it s nice for people to know what we do and what were about. People coming from a big posh office to a warehouse and volunteering alongside our volunteers, they may not have met anyone from that demographic before, it s really nice to see. People get a lot out of it, from both sides. Julie Doherty Avon Wildlife Trust A lot of our corporate groups go to Feed Bristol and that s really nice because then they will be mixing with our community groups. So if we have a local company in they might be mixing with a drugs rehab group or a group of adults with learning difficulties. They harvest their own food and we offer a service where they can pay for lunch there, so they harvest the food and then we cook that for them. It s not like we take them away and it s just them but they re involved with the bigger picture. I think they really enjoy that and a lot of groups come back year on year at Feed Bristol.

5 Sam Thomson hosted a successful volunteering day for 40 corporate volunteers in 2015, on behalf of a small local organisation she volunteers for, called Friends of Horfield Common, Sam told me about that experience. We had a beautiful sunny day, which helped. We spent a long time planning it to make sure we had things for them to do. They were originally going to plant a new hedgerow, but the date they could come was too early for tree planting, so we had to find activities for 40 people to do in a day, which would interest the group. In the end they built new planters for the café area, cleaned and repainted all the benches, they painted some of the fences and gateposts, tidied it up, they helped build a new pond decking area and they planted 2000 daffodil bulbs around the children s play areas on the common. It was wonderful, a swarm of people doing things. I had to take a day off work to look after them, in hindsight and knowing that, I definitely would do it again. We knew who was coming, we knew what they would be working on and we d been in touch for several months to plan things. The amount of work that the group did in one day gave our team of regular volunteers a real boost. They brought a massive box of gloves and trowels to do the planting and then donated those to us at the end. They were really enthusiastic and very nice. It was a brilliant experience for me. They want to come again and said could we start planning for that. Alternative Ways to Help While many businesses focus on volunteer days some have chosen to use their volunteer days differently. Through the interviews and surveys we have heard from charitable organisations who have professional volunteers helping with everything from being trustees and directors, to helping with finance, legal problems, committing time to revamp a website or help classify plants in a BioBlitz. 51 organisations who took part in the survey commented on whether or not they have benefited from Pro Bono support, of those only 13 had no experience of working with Pro Bono Volunteers. 5 organisations mentioned their trustees and directors, 3 mentioned corporate or business volunteering days, 6 have received Pro Bono legal support. Other help has included financial advice, business planning, design and marketing support, website support, video editing and social media support. Several nature based organisations also mentioned volunteers who contribute high level knowledge and skills in conservation, species identification and in education. Please see our Skilled Volunteering Mind Map to get an idea of the wide variety of ways people are contributing skills to the city. Although getting a whole team out to volunteer for a day seems like a nice easy fix for many businesses, the community finds this challenging and many people are frustrated that businesses would rather send their staff to spend a day doing unskilled labour when sending one or two people to volunteer their skills for a day and help with specific problems the charity is facing would be much more appreciated.

6 Case Study Burges Salmon and Avon Wildlife Trust In the summer of 2015, independent UK law firm Burges Salmon partnered with Avon Wildlife Trust (AWT) on My Wild Street, a project to make a street in Easton wildlife friendly. This project was very successful for the street but both Burges Salmon and AWT felt that the partnership had been particularly successful for a Corporate Social Responsibility project. In this case study we will look at how that success was built, which will hopefully help other business and community organisations find success for CSR projects in the future. I interviewed Emma Dowden, Chief Operating Officer at Burges Salmon, who s Operations Department took part in the project and Julie Doherty, Community Engagement and Volunteering Manager at Avon Wildlife Trust, who coordinated the event. My Wild Street was part of the larger My Wild City Avon Wildlife Trust project, which received a Green Capital strategic grant. As part of the project over My Wild Street Team 2,000 wild start-up boxes were given to citizens to help them make their gardens more wildlife friendly. My Wild Street took that one step further; AWT wanted to show how a typical Victorian Bristol street could be transformed into a Wildlife haven. The Need for Preparation AWT had quite a big vision for My Wild Street, they were invited to Burges Salmon at the start of the year to present their project. Emma Dowden Burges Salmon Everyone is involved in the selection of the project. In 2014 we had a trade show where four charities pitched their ideas. People could talk to each of the charities during a lunch time marketplace and make their decision about the project they wanted to work on. Everyone voted and they chose Brandon Trust. The charity is brought in early and members of its team are involved from the beginning. The project focuses on ensuring everyone is empowered to get involved so in 2015 we created an online tool where they could choose their day and the activity they were involved in. Having this early buy-in from the volunteers was crucial to the project and meant that everyone understood the long term Burges Salmon Team in Easton

7 goals and benefit to the community, consequently the time they were out volunteering was meaningful and fun.' Julie Doherty Avon Wildlife Trust Burges Salmon had a core team that we worked with from the beginning. We delivered an early presentation to the core team and then we presented to the whole team closer to the time to say: this is where we re at, we need you to do this, and fire everybody up. When they came out everybody knew what we were trying to achieve, they knew what it was about and they were there and ready to make it happen. The Benefit of Collaboration I asked Emma to outline from the business side how these days were organised and planned. Emma Dowden Burges Salmon We focus on one big project for the Operations Department. There are 100 of us in the department so it would be difficult for everyone to take the same day. We have found that by using those days all in a particular space of time focused on one community project they can make a huge difference. The projects we choose are ambitious and aspirational. We use one big project and make sure everyone gets excited about it, that a feel good factor drives their passion and enthusiasm to get involved. It s important that the community partner we choose to work with on these projects has the resources to work with Burges Salmon. We tend to choose a charity that has vision and is local. We focus on doing a project for one or two weeks with all team members getting involved. We aim for projects with meaningful work that keeps our people busy during that time. They have lots to do and feel like they have achieved something at the end of their day. As we run a community project each year there is something to apply the learning to next year. For example last year we felt that one week wasn t long enough, it was too rushed and difficult to organise the logistics of having everyone out in a week, so this year we extended it to two weeks. Planning for the community project starts four to five months before the event with discussions about charities. Once the decision is made, work begins between our Project Manager and the charity. We invest a lot in these projects because they are high profile and important for our people and the company. It makes sense to make them as successful as possible and we ensure their success by providing not only funds but time so everyone gets the benefit. A Burges Salmon Project Manager is assigned and they work closely with the charity, which helps keep communications clear and ensure any issues are noticed and dealt with quickly. There are weekly meetings two months in advance of the project. You need to ensure that the appropriate time is invested to make the project as successful as possible. How did this partnership work from the charity s perspective?

8 Julie Doherty Avon Wildlife Trust It was a real collaboration. Burges Salmon was involved at every step; its team got involved in sourcing materials, amongst a host of other aspects. Those who came out the first week were going back to the office excited about what they had done and were telling everyone else. So it was getting them fired up about it at the office, everyone was excited about it and sharing their experiences. It worked well on so many levels; I just wish more companies would do it. It was great for us as well, because we had a vision that there was no way that we could have implemented on our own. It raised our profile so it was great for us to tell the story of what we re trying to do. It helped us achieve something we couldn t have done otherwise or would have taken months, so we couldn t have had the impact. It connected Burges Salmon with the community and the project created a buzz around the whole neighbourhood. Business Benefits What were the business benefits of this way of working for Burges Salmon and how do its people know that community work is a focus for the firm? Emma Dowden Burges Salmon Burges Salmon is committed to its community engagement programme, which provides our people with two paid volunteering days per year; one personal volunteering day and one firm volunteering day. This second day we use as part of our Learning and Development programme, rather than pay an outside company to come in and run activities for us, we invest in a community event. This means our people still get that team building and learning and development experience but they are also getting the feel good factor. We find this is a better use of funds and time, and is more meaningful for the community/charity as they can tackle bigger projects with our help. We actively encourage and promote these volunteering days. We ensure the company has a permissive culture around volunteering so our people know we want them to make use of these days. Burges Salmon team working on My Wild Street Our people learned new skills, gained confidence and met individuals they might not come across on a normal day. We provide our people with the opportunity to try out a new role in a safer environment. If someone wants to move into Project Management they can take on that role, they have an

9 opportunity to try and use new skills. We also have an organising team, so again more opportunity for people to use new skills. There were other business benefits noticed by Avon Wildlife Trust too. Julie Doherty Avon Wildlife Trust It was great for Burges Salmon, because a lot of the participants were really out of their comfort zone, they had to rely on each other and work well as a team. It did push them and they were working with people they didn t normally work with. People who might normally be team leaders were working in a team led by the maintenance staff because they had the skills in this job. Each day we had maybe 10 people helping us, each team of people came from that wider operations team. So you might have had someone from reception with a maintenance guy with an IT guy, so they were really mixed up. They used the experience to do their learning and development internally and they used it to springboard things they wanted to focus on for their internal professional development, which was brilliant. In an interview with Skanska we discussed how they also find volunteering is beneficial to their business and to their employees. Alice Jennison Skanska There s a really strong business benefit for volunteering. I can't reiterate enough the importance of volunteering as an opportunity for us to work with our local communities and engage with our stakeholders. Alice also feels that volunteering is beneficial to the staff. That feel good factor: I m motivated, I ve had a day out of the office, I can go back refreshed tomorrow, I ve done something good today, that s invaluable to build within a workforce. The team at Skanska have also identified some long-term benefits to the volunteer work that they do, especially their work experience days with young people. After a day at Skanska the young people are asked about their experience: They got to the end of the day and about 75% more said they would consider a career in construction than at the start of the day. To an industry that s facing a skills shortage that s a really encouraging thing. But also for them, one in five of them had never been in an office before, it s a really good way to provide informal work experience.

10 Consolidation for Improvement It also seems to be important that the project doesn t just end unrecognised but that both the business and the charity get a chance to follow up afterwards and learn from it. Burges Salmon build this into their year. Emma Dowden Burges Salmon Our people complete an end-of-day questionnaire based on the project and workshops that they have taken part in, and then we hold our Annual Conference the Saturday after the community engagement event. At the conference we engage in some reflective learning. A team from the charity is also present to tell us about what they have learnt and contributed. We reflect on the project, and generally it has always been very successful. Our people think about what they have achieved, what they learnt and then take it back to the office. As we run a community project each year, there is learning to apply to the next year. Leading From the Start One of the reasons this project was such a success was because of the buy in at a director level. Julie Doherty explains, Alan Barr, senior partner of Burges Salmon was on the Board of Bristol 2015 Ltd with our CEO. For a big project like this you need a lot of people and you need someone with authority to give the go ahead and see the value, and that s often quite difficult. How do we communicate the value in a way that the business community will really understand and get? This was echoed by Bristol Water in their interview. Sophie Edwards Bristol Water We are lucky to have volunteering championed by Directors at Bristol Water. They rallied support for a volunteering day, now all staff are encouraged to take one day a year. Our flagship volunteering event last year was the Glastonbury Challenge. This epic 30 mile hike from our Head Office in Bedminster Down to Glastonbury took in some of the most beautiful views of the Mendips. Volunteers raised an amazing 13,000 for WaterAid! The Bristol Water Team on their Glastonbury Challenge in the Mendips. Ongoing Challenges for Charitable Organisations One of the challenges for organisations in the community continues to be helping businesses understand the business benefit of what they are doing, and getting them to recognise that there needs to be both time and money donated to make the event successful.

11 Julie Doherty Avon Wildlife Trust We ve got to impress that we re providing a really valuable service for them, if they got a team builder or consultant in, it could cost them several thousand pounds a day and they wouldn t think twice about spending that kind of money. But it s changing the way people think; to think actually we could do that by giving something back to the local community as well. It s purposeful and meaningful and adds value to your staff, and your business, and the local community. Conclusion Many businesses see a volunteering day as an easy way to contribute to the community, these volunteer days often seem to the community to be the responsibility of an already busy manager and are organised with short notice and in a rush. Charities would like to see businesses committing a little more time and money to these days. Businesses on the other hand struggle with the difference in culture and priorities when working with community organisations, they expect the community organisation to be the expert and to tell them what needs to be done. It would be beneficial for community organisations to understand that they do have a right to ask businesses to contribute money to volunteering days, as well as time and bodies. It would be beneficial for businesses to understand that community organisations are often severely lacking in funds and plan their years well in advance, forward planning and project management support would be appreciated by charitable organisations to help plan for corporate volunteering days. Hopefully the case study has shown an alternative way of carrying out these days that provides more mutual benefit on both sides and for the community at large. ¹ Information about the Conservative Manifesto promises to offer three days paid leave for volunteering. From our understanding the cabinet still plans to go forward with these promises. (February 2016) For more about Burges Salmon s experience on the My Wild Street project check out this video: For more about the project from the people involved check Bristol 2015 s It Doesn t Stop Here video: For more on this topic check out our Corporate Programmes article which explores three alternative ways to build volunteering into a business.