ThedaCare's Helping Hearts Program

In Waupaca, Wisconsin, ThedaCare, a community-owned health system, sponsors a "Helping Hearts" employee volunteer program. Initiated in 2003, Helping Hearts allows employees to log volunteer hours at their non-profit of choice (and occassionally helps match volunteers with volunteer opportunities). When the employee meets certain requirements, ThedaCare provides a donation to the NPO. ThedaCare also has a matching grants program for selected organizations.

Based on the comments in the postcrescent.com article, ThedaCare's employees appreciate the ability to be recognized for their work in the community as well as raise funds for their favorite organizations. This is a relatively low-cost, low-investement model for organizations, as the employees are primarily responsible for finding their volunteer opportunities and logging the hours. Because employees can choose their organization, they may be more invested in volunteering. At the same time, the organization gains appreciation from the employees and the community. A drawback is that this model does not provide the team-building opportunities group employee volunteer programs offer.

Postcrescent.com Article

Encouraging Employee Volunteerism

A nonprofit organization in NYC, Agencies in Action, the brain child of Bill Oberlander, working with the New York Coalition Against Hunger, has initiated an advertising campaign to encourage for-profit ad agencies to organize employee volunteer trips to soup kitchens and food pantries. According to AdWeek, agencies who agree to participate commit to sending teams of 6 staff for at least three hours a month. With only 20 agencies participating, the program has the potential of staffing at least one of NYC's soup kitchens every weekday for a month.

To me, this is a very interesting development in employee volunteerism--rather than a nonprofit reaching out to a company, or visa versa, this campaign is targeting a community of firms to join forces for a common cause. As employee volunteerism replaces corporate philanthropy, we may see more campaigns like this.

AdWeek Story
Creativity Online Announcement

Effect of Economic Downturn on Corporate Philanthropy

Last month (February 2009), the Conference Board surveyed over 150 companies about how the economic crisis is affecting their corporate social responsibility. Not surprisingly, 45% of companies surveyed had a reduced CSR budget in 2009, and another 16% of firms were considering cuts. However, many companies surveyed are increasing the resources available for their employee volunteer programs.

Conference Board Press Release