How Your Company Can Prepare for a Volunteering Event
Make sure your employees feel valued and prepared before your next volunteering event
At Mission Edge, our expertise in Community Engagement programming places us at the forefront of understanding the intricacies of volunteering (and there are many of them): from selecting the right opportunities to maximizing our impact once we're involved.
If you’re an employer preparing volunteer experiences for your team, you likely don’t have the same level of familiarity and confidence in navigating this type of programming.
So we've compiled a series of practical tips designed to ensure your employees are well-equipped and feel wholly supported as you send them off into the world to lend a hand.
Clear description of the activity from the beginning
Avoiding confusion is the best way to ensure a successful event from the get-go, so the first thing we tell our employers is to make sure they’re sending crystal-clear information about the volunteer activity.
While it might feel tempting to describe something in broad strokes to make the opportunity more welcoming to a wider range of people, that tactic can sometimes be confusing and set up the incorrect expectations for the volunteers. When offering volunteer opportunities, be sure to include this information in your communication:
Location
Level of activity
Indoor vs outdoor
Any clothing that is required or recommended
What the parking situation will be like
Any other information specific to the organization or venue
In addition to the nuts and bolts details, it’s also important to make sure your volunteers know exactly what they’re signing up for and information about the cause. This will create buy-in and give them an opportunity to ask questions, become more involved, and make the biggest difference for the organization you’re serving.
Connect with a point of contact or designate a liaison from your team
When possible, connect your employee to a point of contact at the organization. This is a positive thing to do because it allows volunteers to start to get introduced to the organization on a personal level and ask questions directly. Just be sure to check in with the nonprofit organization to make sure they are OK with having their contact information shared with your employees. If you have a particularly large group of volunteers, consider designating a point person or liaison to communicate the group’s questions to the organization point of contact.
Consider an orientation
Before your employees set out to volunteer, organize a brief orientation or training session. This will help it prepare volunteers by giving them an overview of the nonprofit organization's mission, the objectives of the volunteering activity, and what is expected of them during their time there. An orientation session will not only equip your employees with the necessary knowledge and skills but also help in aligning their expectations, ensuring a more fulfilling and impactful volunteering experience.
Send a calendar invite
Sending a calendar invite might seem like a small step, but it's crucial in the planning process. Doing this as early in advance as possible will not only benefit the turnout, but it’s the most respectful way to ask employees to make time for the volunteer event because it will give them time to plan.
Collect feedback from your employees
After the volunteering experience, create opportunities for your employees to reflect on and share their experiences. This could be in the form of a debrief meeting, a feedback survey, or a casual sharing session. Encouraging reflection not only allows volunteers to process their experiences and the impact they've made but also fosters a sense of accomplishment and personal growth. Additionally, gathering feedback can provide valuable insights for improving future volunteering initiatives.
Volunteer!
It may feel ironic, but sometimes volunteer coordinators need to sharpen their skills by being participants. So get out there and volunteer!
Pay attention to what goes well, what is unclear, and what makes you feel supported. You might learn something that you can incorporate into your own best practices!
Let Mission Edge handle your next community engagement program
Dreaming of ways your company can make more of a difference this year, but lacking the bandwidth? Writing a check is easy; it’s coordinating the volunteering, researching the organizations, and planning the event that feels out of reach for most companies. That’s where Mission Edge’s CSR services can help. We can handle your next big volunteer event or community engagement initiative – all you need to do is show up.
Here are some ways we can help support your next initiative:
Intern Volunteer Projects
Employee Volunteering
Corporate Giving
