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	<title>Charities at Work</title>
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	<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org</link>
	<description>Broadening the opportunity to give</description>
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		<title>What Does the Future Hold for Employee Giving and Volunteering?</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/04/what-does-the-future-hold-for-employee-giving-and-volunteering/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/04/what-does-the-future-hold-for-employee-giving-and-volunteering/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Apr 2013 16:22:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Thomas Bognanno</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[2013 Meeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annual Meeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blog Entries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Community Health Charities]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=5367</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My experiences as a fundraiser for several major health causes over my career support a truth that we all know: the way we give has greatly evolved over the past few decades. Today, the rise of employee programs has brought with it a powerful way for individuals to come together and give back in new and innovative ways that provide collective social impact on the nonprofit sector. This has also impacted workplaces themselves, in a way that promotes growth and development and provides unique benefits to all parties involved. Let’s examine two trends that may significantly shape corporate giving and volunteerism programs over the next five years and beyond. 1. That disengaged employee costs me how much? Overall, employees are now more expensive for companies than ever before. From an engagement perspective, Gallup’s Employee Engagement Index shows that disengaged workers cost U.S. businesses an estimated $350 billion a year because of issues like disconnectedness and lost productivity. They lack qualities that engaged employees tend to have, such as motivation, passion and innovation. Further, more recent research by Gallup finds a significant connection between disengaged employees and their health and well-being. Actively disengaged employees tend to have similar levels of poor health as the unemployed. According to the Gallup-Healthways Wellbeing Index, disengaged employees also have higher rates of chronic disease and obesity, which is tied to a higher percentage of unhealthy days at work that keep employees from their usual levels of productivity. So, not only do your disengaged employees impact your bottom line through lost productivity but it’s also likely they also cost you more to employ overall through high insurance cost-drivers. On the other side of the coin, engaged employees tend to enjoy better health, with a lower incidence of chronic disease than the actively disengaged and underemployed population. In my role at Community Health Charities, I’ve seen many companies in the health industry reaching across department lines to begin to marry the goals of supporting a healthy workforce with their community relations and philanthropic efforts. This approach provides a framework for better and more measurable outcomes and a more holistic approach to solving social issues both internally and externally. In creating the Engagement 365 program at Community Health Charities, for example, our goal was to help companies reach across departments lines and begin to better connect their various employee benefit programs. How else could they connect with important social issues – health or otherwise – besides connecting with a charitable cause through giving and volunteerism? 2. Millennials Require a Redefinition of Giving Companies are already adapting their recruitment and retention tactics to appeal to the specific needs and desires of the average Millennial.  Since Millennials are such a large cohort (somewhere between 80 to 90 million as compared to 76 million Baby Boomers) their advancement in the workforce will be relevant very quickly. According to Achieve’s Millennial Impact Report, for instance, volunteerism is extremely important to this group, with 63 percent currently volunteering and 41 percent planning to...]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>23</slash:comments>
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		<title>Give Me 5 Minutes &amp; I&#8217;ll Tell You How To Give Your Employees What They Want</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/give-me-5-minutes-ill-tell-you-how-to-give-your-employees-what-they-want/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/give-me-5-minutes-ill-tell-you-how-to-give-your-employees-what-they-want/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:09:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Steve Delfin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[2013 Meeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[America's Charities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annual Meeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blog Entries]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=5223</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[“Work is simply something to be endured.”  Right?  BIZZZT – wrong! The average American spends 9 hours, 12 minutes, and 36 seconds ‘Working &#38; Commuting’ on an average workday (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics).  So it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that people want their work – that thing to which they dedicate so many of their waking hours – to mean something.  They want to make an impact on the causes they care about and work for employers who are equally as committed. So how can your company give employees what they want?  Simple – foster an environment in which employees have the opportunity to be engaged and involved.  Think about ways to integrate employee engagement as a central component of CSR. Did you know that employees – specifically Millennials – are attracted to employer brands that they admire as consumers, and over half are attracted to employers because of the company’s CSR position (Source: PwC Survey: Millennials at work 2011)?  These new expectations, with which young workers are arriving in the workplace, are causing employers to rethink their giving programs and find new ways to meaningfully engage Millennials in giving their time, talent, and money.  In fact, 80% of the employers surveyed in our new study, Snapshot: Trends &#38; Strategies to Engage Employees in Greater Giving, are branding their workplace giving programs with their own names, themes, and logos.  These branded campaigns align the company’s values, philanthropic and overall social responsibility goals to support employee giving and engagement. There are countless things you can do to create a meaningful and engaging work culture for your employees.  Start by considering these questions: What does your company stand for?  “Brands R US” – what’s your CSR Brand? Is there a specific nonprofit, whose mission aligns well with your CSR brand and goals, with which you could form a partnership? What causes are important to your employees? In what ways are your employees interested in giving back? &#160; Use the answers to these questions to foster your company’s work culture.  Not only will you give employees what they want by doing so; you will also keep your organization competitive and healthy. America’s Charities recently released a report called, Snapshot: Trends &#38; Strategies to Engage Employees in Greater Giving.  The report features insights from real companies just like yours.  I guarantee that after 5 minutes of reading this report, you’ll discover new ideas and interesting insights, which you can instantly introduce to your company’s giving programs and workplace culture. &#160; &#160;]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>51</slash:comments>
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		<title>Why Many WPG Programs Miss the Mark: The Top 5 Things That Get in The Way of Your Program’s Success</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/why-many-wpg-programs-miss-the-mark/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/why-many-wpg-programs-miss-the-mark/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Mar 2013 19:28:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bryan de Lottinville</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[2013 Meeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annual Meeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blog Entries]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=5211</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There is a very good reason why the corporate giving landscape is replete with companies re-examining their workplace giving program strategy, design, technology and providers: quite simply, they want to drive more successful outcomes. We and others have talked a lot about how a starting point for improvement of programs is the recognition of a broader notion of employee and stakeholder engagement: one that goes beyond mere fundraising or grant-making based goals.  Let’s take this point as a given (or for more on some of the empirical evidence, check out our most recent blog post). If your workplace giving program isn&#8217;t yielding the business and social outcomes that you aspire to (which should include raising your profile in the company and attracting more budget!), it is very likely that one or more of the following issues are getting in the way. These are intentionally macro issues (rather than program features or approaches); though we’ll get to the more granular stuff in a subsequent post (visit the Benevity blog anytime) &#8211; or come to the Charities@Work summit! &#160; These hurdles are really just opportunities looking for a bit of go-getter-ness and an appetite for change. 1.         The Nature of Your Platform Is your program fettered by the nature of the platform or provider that powers it? If you are dissatisfied with your workplace giving software, the user experience, the amount of effort required for fairly flat take-up rates, imagine what your employees think!? If you want broad participation in today’s uber-connected, web savvy world, you need to pay attention to the user experience, advancements in technology and the way those two can impact your strategy, design and outcomes. We live in a web-centric, highly visual, one or two click world. With a litany of personal experiences using technology in everyday life, the modern tech-savvy employee already has an idea of how he or she should be able to conduct their giving business at work. Software needs to be EASY, visually appealing and have a compelling user experience… if not, people won’t play.  It also needs to free program managers and administrators from glorified digital pledge forms and the long odds that “drinking from a fire hose” of thousands of volunteering opportunities, will produce events and opportunities that align… When programs and platforms are empowering, intuitive and thoughtful, you’ll be amazed at how much of the heavy lifting an engaged community will do for you! &#160; 2.         Empowered Choice (or rather lack thereof…) This is a concept that is so accepted it seems worn to discuss it, but there are still many programs that don’t deliver it, either because they are charity-run or because of item number 1 above (or both!).  Enabling broad user choice while still creating bias toward corporate sponsored causes is often difficult to execute due to the burden of administration that comes with it. Do you want to connect with your people on issues that matter to them?  Match their gifts broadly at one rate.  Want them to...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/why-many-wpg-programs-miss-the-mark/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>111</slash:comments>
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		<title>What does it take to get managers on board to support employee volunteering?</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/what-does-it-take-to-get-managers-on-board-to-support-employee-volunteering/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/what-does-it-take-to-get-managers-on-board-to-support-employee-volunteering/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Mar 2013 23:13:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Dudley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[2013 Meeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annual Meeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blog Entries]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=5197</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Peter Dudley, Wells Fargo The lament is common among managers who are asked to support employee volunteerism: “I would love to get my employees out to volunteer events, but how can I hit my goals if my workers aren’t working?” As program managers, we respond by talking about the societal benefits of employee volunteerism. We talk about the team building that volunteer events can provide. We talk about how people feel really good after helping others. These arguments often result in patient nodding from the managers but rarely get them to change their tune. “Volunteerism is great for the company culture, and I support it 100%,” they say, “but my employees are too busy.” It seems a hard attitude to tackle head-on. It’s easy to write off this manager as someone who “doesn’t get it” and is only focused on the bottom line. Especially in big, data-driven companies, we often talk about “middle management” as an obstacle, an opaque section of the company between the CEO and the front line, serving some important yet ambiguous purpose. The reality is that middle managers are people too, just like us. (It’s true; you can look it up.) This manager that “doesn’t get it” is likely to become one of our best supporters if we learn to use the right data and talk about it in the right way. Some prerequisites First, though, before we can convince middle managers of anything, we have to have three obvious conditions in place. The C-Suite needs to support volunteerism. If the people in charge aren’t on board, you’re not likely to get much traction with middle management. Corporate culture is influenced by many things, but ultimately it is driven by the CEO. Your employees need to demand it. Employees rarely say, “We demand a volunteer program!” If yours do, then congratulations—you’ve got some built-in leverage. In most cases, however, demand shows up disguised as disengagement. Employee surveys often highlight issues like feeling that the job isn’t fulfilling, or that employees see insufficient opportunities to learn and grow—issues that volunteerism can help solve. You need to have a supply of opportunities that match your workplace. This is rarely a problem given the challenges of today’s economy, but some companies may have to get creative in presenting opportunities to their employees. Not every work group is able or willing to do a park cleanup, prepare someone’s taxes, build a house, or help kids in a classroom. I’ve Got Those… Now What? If you’re good on the prerequisites, then it’s time to change the discussion with those managers who “don’t get it.” They are focused on their business goals, as they should be. Without business success, there will be no employees to go volunteering. We don’t want to change their business goals. I am not a fan of making “volunteer hours” or “volunteer participation” part of a manager’s performance objectives. I am much more interested in getting away from the hours metric altogether. Tell managers they need to...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/what-does-it-take-to-get-managers-on-board-to-support-employee-volunteering/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>104</slash:comments>
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		<title>Measuring the Impact of Employee Volunteering: What Metrics are Most Important and Why</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/measuring-the-impact-of-employee-volunteering-what-metrics-are-most-important-and-why/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/measuring-the-impact-of-employee-volunteering-what-metrics-are-most-important-and-why/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:27:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Farron Levy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[2013 Meeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annual Meeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blog Entries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[volunteerism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=5094</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Farron Levy, President, True Impact Employee volunteering can be a powerful force for improving the lives of those in need, promoting community wellbeing, and supporting important social initiatives. At the same time, such programs can support core business interests, like employee engagement and development, sales, recruiting, and stakeholder relations. But too often companies invest in employee volunteer programs under the promise of these social and business benefits, with little follow up as to whether their particular volunteer activities are generating these results. As with any investment, measurement is what enables managers to prove – and improve – the value of their volunteer programs. First, objective measures enable you to report to leadership and other stakeholders on the social and business return on investment (ROI) of your volunteers’ time, often crucial to attracting and retaining support for your program. Second, such measures enable you to identify what components of your program are working well, so you might replicate them, and what components are falling short of expectations, so you can intervene and improve them. But how do you measure the impacts of your volunteer program in a way that is both practical and compelling? Here are a few practical tips: Measuring Social Value The most common way to convey a volunteer program’s social value is to monetize it: that is, calculate how much money nonprofits saved by not having to pay someone to perform the services your volunteers provided for free.  To monetize the value of services provided by your volunteers, calculate the total number of reported service hours, multiplied by the value (rate) of the services they provided. One of the best sources of data for this calculation is the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, which maintains a comprehensive database of job functions and mean wages from across the country. The Independent Sector’s annual average value of a volunteer hour calculation is derived from this database, however, your own calculations will be more accurate – and you will be better positioned to steer your own programs towards higher-value activities – if you track value at an activity level rather than on a composite basis (e.g., where Food Service is $11.28 per hour and software systems development is $54.07, compared to using the Independent Sector composite value of $21.79 for all activities). Another way to measure social value is to gather feedback on how the volunteer service helped improve the capacity of the nonprofit served. Options include: Increasing efficiency: helping a nonprofit to use fewer resources – such as man hours or materials – in performing its operations or delivering its services Increasing effectiveness: helping a nonprofit increase the success rate of the services it provides (e.g., for a nonprofit fighting homelessness, the percentage of homeless people served that ended up sustainably housed) Increasing reach: helping a nonprofit to serve more beneficiaries Traditional volunteerism (applying non-specialized skills, such as tutoring or food preparation) is often most appropriately measured via monetization or reach numbers, while skilled volunteerism (applying professional or professional-level...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/measuring-the-impact-of-employee-volunteering-what-metrics-are-most-important-and-why/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>112</slash:comments>
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		<title>What&#8217;s the Value of a Federation?</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/value-of-a-federation/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/value-of-a-federation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:52:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kal Stein</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[2013 Meeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annual Meeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blog Entries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EarthShare]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=5080</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In more than 30 years of experience in workplace philanthropy, some of the most common questions I’ve encountered regard the role of federations. While increasing numbers of corporate leaders recognize the value of employee engagement through participatory philanthropic activities that support CSR initiatives and business strategy, it’s still perhaps not fully understood how the nonprofit federations fit into that. And yet, when considering developing and administering a program that offers diverse (or focused) cause choices, meaningful volunteerism and educational opportunities, and efficient processing and distribution systems, a federation can be a company’s best friend. As the traditional model of workplace giving has evolved this relationship is even more critical; federations have evolved as well in response to changing technology and partner and donor needs – while still bringing to the table decades of experience in the industry and direct connections with diverse charity members. Why Charitable Federations? Federations have traditionally been a feature of most workplace philanthropic campaigns for three main reasons: Charities voluntarily choose federations as their representatives in the workplace. My federation was created by its founding member charities specifically for this purpose, and they continue to play a critical role in our governance. Federations take on the job of evaluating hundreds of member charities annually.  This means workplace partners and employee donors can be confident that the organizations they choose to support meet the highest standards of performance and financial integrity. When you consider that there are currently more than a million 501(c)(3) organizations operating in the U.S. alone, this function is invaluable. Charitable federations provide many benefits to companies, donors and charities. For corporate partners the federated model creates efficiencies in every arena &#8212; from providing a single point of contact that represents many charities, to offering resources that help reduce the cost of the program to the company. EarthShare’s online pledging technology, for instance – Give @ the Office – allows our partners to extend an inexpensive, effective way to make donations to our member charities, and beyond. &#160; These benefits don’t stop at the administrative level; charitable federations are now offering complete turn-key programs and a range of activities to promote employee engagement. At EarthShare we convene employee groups in several major cities for Green Team Forums. These free, private peer meetings unite professionals from a wide range of local industries in each city for candid discussion about corporate sustainability and environmental issues that affect today’s workplace.  As employees have emerged as one of the primary drivers of corporate sustainability initiatives, these forums also create a space for like-minded professionals to explore challenges and exchange best practices around engaging their workforces in those initiatives. The EarthShare @ Work toolkit also offers educational and hands-on experiential opportunities. We can facilitate workbook supplemented discussion courses that combine education and social dynamics that engage employees in aligning their actions with sustainability initiatives; inspire them to innovate new ways of doing business; and create more focused corporate strategy.  Through our volunteerism program we work closely with employer partners...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/value-of-a-federation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>216</slash:comments>
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		<title>Incentives &amp; Your EVP: Are You Putting Lipstick On a Pig?</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/incentives-and-your-evp/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/incentives-and-your-evp/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 10 Mar 2013 16:46:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Grady Lee</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[2013 Meeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annual Meeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blog Entries]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=5085</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Grady Lee, CEO, CorpsGiving Assessing the efficacy of recognition or incentive programs in employee giving and volunteering is an entertaining topic of discussion for me. I can hear people say, “We have this really great giving and volunteering program. Now, if we could only get someone to do it!” When people talk more about the incentive to get people to do something than about the action itself, it doesn’t smell right. Good products sell themselves and so do good experiences.  If you have to sell volunteerism to your employees really hard, I urge you evaluate where you are putting resources and attention. Because you could be focused on the lipstick rather than looking at the pig. Let’s look at the pig. What are we asking people to do, exactly? What do they get out of it? Is it fun? Rewarding? Easy? Will they learn something? Do something impactful? Volunteering and giving are experiences. After managing volunteer events for nearly 150,000 people on five continents, three truths about the experience of giving emerge: &#160; Volunteering and Giving are Social Activities The experience and effects of these activities are exponentially felt when done with others.  You can donate money or volunteer by yourself, but getting a department or like-minded group together makes it a party. We are social beings, and we like social activities.   Giving Begins at Conception When someone finally gets to the point of giving time or money to a charity, it is usually at the end of a long and tiresome road.  There are dozens of places to search for giving opportunities, but there aren’t many places to find good opportunities. Donors Choose is the best example of how to make giving money a good experience.  If you haven’t done it – go do it and take notes.  Wish I could say the same thing about a volunteer search engine. The place between desire and action is where we lose people.   It’s the Transformation, Stupid No one ever said, “We almost finished, and it was awesome! Can’t wait to do it again.” People who are giving of themselves, want to feel like they are making a difference. They want to see it. If they can see their power and their effect, they will want to repeat it. If they can’t see their impact, there are many other things people could do with their time and money. Success is participation. Not gerrymandered participation &#8211; real participation. If your program is social, easy and impactful, success takes care of itself. Smart incentives can be powerful, but only if the thing you are incentivizing is worth it. Be honest, are you putting lipstick on a pig? Many more effective ways of volunteerism and giving will be discussed in depth at the only conference dedicated solely to employee engagement – the Charities@Work best Practices Summit taking place on April 3 and 4 in Manhattan. Learn more about the conference and register.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/incentives-and-your-evp/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>128</slash:comments>
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		<title>Do recognition programs really incentivize employees to give or volunteer? How can we know?</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/do-recognition-programs-really-incentivize/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/do-recognition-programs-really-incentivize/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Mar 2013 14:28:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Dudley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Annual Meeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blog Entries]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=5058</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[People donate their time or money for many reasons. Some do it for the good feeling they get from helping others; some are repaying a kindness they received in the past. But in my twelve years in corporate philanthropy and employee engagement, I have never heard a single person say they volunteered or donated because of the reward they’d get through an employer’s recognition program. That doesn’t mean that people don’t crave recognition, however. It just means that formal recognition programs are not their primary driver for getting involved. Saying “thank you” matters. Experts in the field of engagement know that thanking people for a job well done is critical to keeping them motivated and productive. Engagement surveys such as Gallup’s Q12 ask employees, among other things, if they’ve been recognized for their work recently. Employees that are recognized regularly tend to be more engaged in their work, and a more engaged workforce correlates with higher productivity and, ultimately, higher profitability. Remember that volunteer who got involved back in the first paragraph? He didn’t start volunteering because he wanted to be recognized, but he’ll certainly stop volunteering if he thinks no one cares. Fortunately, recognition can take many forms. Those of us who run workplace giving and volunteerism programs turn to the obvious: rewards for time spent. “Dollars for Doers” grants are the easiest. For every X hours spent volunteering, the employee earns a grant of $Y for that nonprofit. The employee gets recognized, the nonprofit gets a grant, and the program manager gets to claim success. But ask the employee volunteer, and he’ll probably say, “The grant makes me feel good about my company, but I’d still volunteer if I didn’t get it.” As program managers, we can spend money on other recognition programs, too: Matching gifts , receptions for top donors, retreats for top volunteers, trinkets and lapel pins and plaques. All of these are different ways of saying “thank you” to people for giving their own time and money to a worthy cause. And none of which will convince a non-involved employee to become a community champion. Are recognition programs a waste of money, then? No doubt many of you are hiding this article from your Finance managers right now. But don’t worry—the money you’re spending on recognition is probably returning far more than you think it is, if you’re using it right. The problem is that all too often, we ask our recognition programs to double as incentive programs. On the surface, that seems fine—it works in sales, where performance is incentivized by big rewards, and it works with children, where dessert is promised if vegetables get eaten. But we’re in a catch-22 here. The words “donate” and “volunteer” mean that the employee gets to choose whether they participate or not. It’s their time and their money, and they’re giving it of their own free will. As program managers, we educate them on the community’s needs and we ask them to give, but we must stop...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/03/do-recognition-programs-really-incentivize/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>69</slash:comments>
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		<title>3 Key Trends That Will Drive Philanthropic Change in 2013</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/02/3-key-trends-that-will-drive-philanthropic-change-in-2013/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/02/3-key-trends-that-will-drive-philanthropic-change-in-2013/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Feb 2013 15:54:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Steve Delfin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[America's Charities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annual Meeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blog Entries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[employee engagement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[giving]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[philanthropy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[volunteerism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=5035</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What will be the new trends in employee engagement and workplace giving in 2013? What expectations and impact will young adults have with regards to philanthropy at work? There are many challenges and questions like these facing the non-profit sector and businesses alike. That’s why America’s Charities has surveyed the work of others in our space and considered the impact and solutions that young adults will demand from workplace philanthropy programs. We’ve even just finished conducting research of our own to help you plan for what’s ahead in 2013. As the New Year approaches us, now is the time to focus on how to take these challenges and emerging trends and look at the opportunities they present for you. Here’s a quick list of what America’s Charities see’s happening in 2013: 1.     More accountability, but not in the traditional sense: When deciding who to give to this year, it won’t just be financials and the traditional (and often meaningless) measure of fundraising and administrative expenses that donors rely on. Donor expectations are moving toward a clear understanding of the results that a charity achieves in relation to its stated mission. Case in point &#8211; GuideStar, the Better Business Bureau Philanthropic Advisory Service and the Independent Sector have created a new initiative called “Charting Impact”. Charting Impact asks five very simple questions – the answers to which are designed to help charities focus on and communicate their results. Charities will be well-served to become familiar with and participate in this initiative which in my view has the potential to become the standard by which charities will be measured. 2.    Low “overhead” IS NOT the measure of a charity’s success:  For many years United Way did a lot of damage in perpetuating the myth that a charity that spent more than 10% on “overhead” was not worthy of support. Unfortunately that 10% figure continues to stick with some as a measure of value, because traditional media and self-proclaimed “watch-dog” groups will continue to fuel the myth that overhead and salaries are the measure of a charity’s value. Good news is, donors are smarter and more enlightened than ever. They understand that the measure of a charity’s success isn’t low “overhead”. It is clear that charitable organizations that have a strong infrastructure and sustainable resources are the ones proving successful and effective at creating true impact. And with social media, the non-profit sector can directly communicate with donors the real costs of delivering services and programs to people, and explain why it’s important to invest in infrastructure. 3.    Young adults will drive a new era of volunteering, giving, &#38; leadership: The philanthropic values and expectations being ingrained in today’s and tomorrow’s young adults have the potential to generate truly transformative change in our businesses, our communities and all across the world. The nonprofit sector and community-minded businesses have an opportunity to infuse ourselves with a new generation of talent, the likes of which we’ve never had access to before. I serve on the...]]></description>
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		<title>The Evolution of Philanthropy [and CSR]: Making it Matter</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/02/the-evolution-of-philanthropy-and-csr/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2013/02/the-evolution-of-philanthropy-and-csr/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Feb 2013 20:21:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scott Jackson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Annual Meeting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blog Entries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Global Impact]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=5052</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As originally posted on CSRwire.com In the more than 20 years I have spent working in the nonprofit sector, I have seen corporate giving transform from individual philanthropic acts to one aspect of a larger corporate social responsibility (CSR) program. Indeed, there have been many shifts and changes that have shaped contemporary CSR. Today, CSR is a respected tool that allows businesses to make a deeper impact on society, while creating value for the company by creating potential revenue sources and/or reducing risks or operational costs. CEOs understand the value of incorporating CSR into business strategy. According to a 2010 survey by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), 77 percent of CEOs said the most important action they can initiate today to address societal problems that will impact their company in 2020 is to “embed social engagement into business strategy and organizational structure.” 1. Creating Shared Value: CSR Gets Branded One significant change I have seen as a part of this shift from philanthropy to integrated CSR is the branding of CSR programs to increase awareness among employees and the community. Internally, companies have taken ownership of their formerly fragmented employee engagement programs (volunteerism, workplace giving, matching grants, etc.) and combined them to create an integrated program. This helps them better communicate their goals to employees and to leverage employee giving to align with business interests. Externally, companies align themselves with fewer, more strategic social issues and dedicate more resources to identified targets. According to the CECP, although the median number of corporate grants declined by 26 percent between 2009 and 2011, the median grant size increased by 31 percent during the same time period. By targeting strategic issues, a company can better market their CSR efforts and integrate their business and social value. 2. International Giving on the Rise A second change is an increase in international giving. Businesses are targeting their CSR efforts in communities in which they operate or have a customer base. Countries with emerging markets such as Brazil, India, China and many African nations, are seeing positive changes in their giving landscapes thanks in large part to major corporations looking at CSR activities in these regions as long term business investments, rather than simple philanthropy. Last year, for example, companies that generated more than half their total revenue from outside the U.S. gave more than 20 percent of their total contributions to international programs. As globalization makes the world smaller, supply chains, a diverse employee base and international customers make it important for even U.S.-based companies with no direct international presence to think globally about their philanthropic efforts. Branding and a rise in international giving are just two of the many ways corporate philanthropy has changed over the past few decades. While these trends are of particular interest to me because I work with both corporations and international charities, there are many more fascinating ways in which CSR has evolved. The bottom line is that it is no longer enough for companies to simply offer...]]></description>
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