Guest post by Lesley J. Vos

Even the most devoted volunteers experience a lack of inspiration and motivation from time to time.

As a volunteer leader, it’s you who can change this. You can encourage your volunteers, engage and motivate them to grow, and become a source of inspiration!

What if I told you that I know the reason a full 33% of your employees don’t participate in your giving and volunteering program?

You’d act quickly to remedy that barrier right?

Well, thanks to America’s Charities Snapshot 2017 Report, we do know the reason. And for many companies, it’s not that hard to remedy.

According to the report, 1/3 of employees won’t give through their workplace because they’re not able to choose the causes that matter to them.

The report elaborates further:

Volunteerism has long been an integral part of Box’s epic corporate culture. The technology company, based out of Redwood City, CA, wanted the process of finding and signing up for volunteer opportunities to be as easy as possible for their employees.

With VolunteerMatch’s Network Subscription, they were able to consolidate their giving platforms and incorporate thousands of searchable, real-time volunteer opportunities.

Abraham Lincoln famously said: “You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.” As many corporate social responsibility (CSR) professionals will recognize, this rings true when defining your CSR strategy.

Team-building is a great reason to volunteer. Employees who volunteer together have the opportunity to form closer bonds. At larger companies, a corporate volunteer event might be an employees’ first interaction with a co-worker from a different team or department.

But that’s only part of the equation.

You’ve gotten to know Roger well over the past 6 months. Without fail, he’s shown up every week to volunteer his time at your nonprofit organization. And never once has he shown up without a cup of coffee in his hand. You know that his favorite coffee spot is just down the street from your office.

Each year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics issues a report on volunteer rates in the United States.

This report tells us a lot. We can learn the total percentage of the population that has volunteered over the past year (from September – September). We can see which age groups and races volunteer the most, and whether men or women are more likely to volunteer. We can see if employment status, education level, marital status and more have an effect on volunteering.

Guest post by Ermina Veljacic

Employee disengagement can prevent your business from reaching success. According to a Gallup survey in 2011, approximately 71 percent of American employees are disengaged at work, and 19 percent are actively disengaged. This lack of employee engagement is alarming, and it negatively impacts your business.

The Gallup report also showed that organizations with high employee engagement have 3.9 times the growth rate for earnings per share than other companies with lower engagement in the same industry. Many in the business world consider employee disengagement one of the top three business threats. The good news? Employee volunteer programs can easily increase employee engagement.

Written by guest blogger Chris Bautista

Taking the time to recognize volunteers is important if you want to retain volunteers and recruit new ones. In honor of National Volunteer Week, here are some tips that you can use during and after the time your volunteers serve: