5 strategies that non-profits can use to improve engagement with corporate volunteers

As changemakers in the non-profit sector, we know the challenges we are tackling are large in scope. Our work constantly requires us to adapt to changes in technology, regulations and the needs of the communities we serve.

Since non-profits often work with limited resources, swiftly adapting to these changes can be difficult. This is where corporate volunteering, especially skill-based volunteering, can be a gamechanger in helping non-profits achieve their goals.

India has a thriving culture of corporate volunteering. A recent report highlighted multiple examples of corporate volunteering programmes where employees lent their skills to help non-profits working in areas such as malnutrition, environmental issues and education.

Throughout my career, I have set up multiple corporate volunteering partnerships for my organisation and those of other social entrepreneurs.

Here are some strategies for how to make the most out of corporate volunteering engagements:

Dream big but start small

Often, both corporate volunteers and non-profits are ambitious about the scope of problems they can tackle through a skills-based volunteering project. Most large corporates have mid-to-senior talent willing to volunteer for functions such as sales, marketing, communications, human resources, and finance.

Therefore they are open to taking on any project.

Similarly, non-profits usually struggle in multiple areas, especially process and strategy-related gaps that get relegated to the back burner, given the pressure to address urgent operational challenges. Nevertheless, starting small and being very clear about the outcomes is critical. I suggest starting with the ideal outcome and then breaking it into at least two projects.

For example, when technology companies are looking for non-profit partners for a 4-to-6-week part-time volunteering project, they are often asked to design an app or software for the non-profit.

Given the timeline, this isn’t realistically achievable. Therefore, a better approach could be using the project to determine if a custom-built solution is required or if an existing solution could meet the non-profit's needs.

If a custom-built solution is required, another volunteering project could create a document that specifies the technical requirements for the solution, which will help the non-profit engage suitable volunteers or vendors to develop it. Then another project can help build the solution, another can help maintain it, and so on.

Don’t cut out the middleman

In the social sector, the phrase “middleman” often has a negative connotation, and often our role is to cut them out so low-income communities can earn more. However, in the volunteering space, organisations that play the role of connecting corporates and non-profits can help enable successful collaborations.

It benefits the non-profit as they don't need to spend time identifying and reaching out to corporate partners. It benefits the corporate as they don't need to spend time identifying the non-profit partner and conducting due diligence on them. Both parties get support for specifying the project's scope, setting up the process for undertaking the project and staying on track. Organisations like Goodera and Pyxera Global can play this role.

Ask your team what they need help with

Whenever we get a volunteering partner, I find it helps to ask team members, "What is a problem you've been struggling with due to lack and time and skills?" For example, we've been working on setting up a data hub for nutrition. As a part of that, our team has been creating data visualisations to share insights from our data.

To do this, we are using Power BI and the team has made impressive strides in learning how to use this tool and create visualisations. However, there are some advanced features that they needed help with and online resources were drawing a blank.

This is why we are now setting up a volunteering partnership that brings in Power BI experts from corporates to aid our team in troubleshooting these problems and creating additional data visualisations.

Similarly, we recently partnered with NASSCOM Foundation to engage a volunteer to develop our data privacy policy, an area where our team needed more expertise.

Document the ‘how”

The impact of a volunteering project shouldn’t be limited to just a few months after the project has been completed. One way to extend its impact is to make it a requirement to document the steps for completing the volunteering project.

For example, if a non-profit engages volunteers to create social media posts, it can ask them to document how they completed this project, e.g. the method for identifying the topics/themes for the social media posts, the template(s) created for these posts, the resources accessed to get content for these posts, the process for understanding which hashtags would be most relevant for the posts etc.

This way, the non-profit’s team will learn how to create these posts more efficiently. Further, suppose the volunteering project is repeated with another set of volunteers. In that case, they can refer to the documentation to help them complete the task faster and update it with their inputs.

Non-profits need to give back too

When we talk about volunteering projects, we often talk about the importance of "giving back" by corporate employees and how that help non-profits.

At the same time, non-profits need to ensure that the corporate volunteers benefit from the volunteering project too. It also helps to be mindful of the volunteers’ motivations and interests. During the scoping call with volunteers, they can be asked what they hope to get from the volunteering project.

It could be that they want to learn more about the non-profit’s area of work or apply their skill set to a more creative project than what they do at their day job. The non-profit's team can frequently check in with the volunteer to discuss if the volunteer’s needs are being met and make small changes to the project to account for that.

The non-profit could also provide a certificate or a shoutout on social media for the volunteers. Spending ten minutes per week on this helps create a meaningful experience for the volunteer, and they are likely to encourage their colleagues to volunteer in the future.

By following the strategies mentioned here, non-profits can maximise the impact of their corporate volunteering engagements.

In its ideal form, corporate volunteering creates a team of teams for the non-profit, helping them access pro-bono expertise to strengthen the organisation. The time spent on setting up mutually beneficial volunteering projects is similar to the time spent onboarding a new team member, an investment that can pay dividends for the non-profit.

Archana Sinha is the Co-Founder and CEO of the Nourishing Schools Foundation.