How Benevity's "Spark" Transforms Workplace Giving

More from my conversation with Jana Taylor of Benevity.www,benevity.org This time we talked more specifically about their newest product Spark, an online platform for employee giving and volunteering.

Employee engagement is a big buzz world for companies in general. It takes time to build that kind of engagement, to give employees a voice  in a many areas of their worklife, but certainly not in workplace giving programs. Companies are asking employees to give and it is from their heart and yet they haven't been given the opportunity to express what it is they care about.

We have been around for three years now. Spark workplace giving has been around only for a short while. We are very interested in the whole concept of engaging employees in corporate philanthropy.

When we were talking to companies about how to engage their employees and consumers in giving Companies told us that they really like the idea of workplace giving and even told us what were the challenges.Some of the challenges that the companies have told us about is that they are struggling to deliver workplace programs that are truly engaging, that have broad adoption and generate interest with their employees.

Likewise on the employee side, there is quite a lot research that links giving with employee engagement. So they don't want to just give their money away to charity they want to engage their company employees in doing this. Employees have increasing expectations from their companies to help them give back and they also have increasing expectations that they live in a web based world . They want a seat at the table and they want to participate more proactively in giving back.

Unfortunately a lot of the programs that are in existence are really for status quo, check the box off kind of thing. But they are very top down, they don't even involve the passion of the employees. A lot of times they outsource programs to charity aggregators for the workplace giving programs, simply a digital touch form, That doesn't really align with the web based world their employees live in.

I think when companies look at their goals then,yes, they want to be good corporate citizens and they want to engage their employees, if they really want to boost their employee participation and engage their employees and move the needle on other employee related issues, When you look at the metrics on attracting, motivating and retaining of great talent, then they have to do workplace giving in a new way.

The tool that we built for employee giving and volunteering, it's called Spark. It allows the company a tool that is already built and it is a very engaging way to get employees involved with company volunteering and giving, and it can be done in a way that aligns with the companies charities that they support. Using Spark they can enable their employees to give to any registered charity and they can create any campaigns around individual charities or campaigns around funds. They can create the company fund, for whatever cause, a real time matching campaign where an employee can donate to any charity or to the company fund and the company can match that.

There is a reporting section within Spark that the administrators can see, where they can create reports on any different aspect of the programs and they can see the result of the campaigns so that they will be able to look at and track the metrics and success. And for employee giving a lot of companies have an internal or external employee engagement survey and where they can ask questions around how well they are we doing with employee engagement.

There are many ways the platform can be used and we continue to spark their imagination in terms of how it can be used. But there are specific opportunities and whenever a company uses the Benevity platform, so that is why we developed Spark on top of the Benevity platform, in a sense we built our own car on top of the engine.

Giving is personal, it is from the heart. People need a way to tap into supporting the causes that resonate with them personally. At the same time it gives companies the software that's their own brand. They can roll out their own program and at the same time have the ability to create the cause funds. They have the ability to create campaigns that align company giving with employee giving. It is an easy way to communicate with employees what causes the company supports.

It really inspires employees. One person told me recently that when she saw Spark it had shifted her thinking. She said the way that they had been doing it it was a chore and a process. Spark makes it more of an experience.

We are building a volunteering model that will give companies' opportunities to communicate internal or external volunteering opportunities and will be able to create campaigns around volunteering, where employees can then select the opportunities that resonate with them, create accounts and then track them. And for employee giving a lot of companies have an internal or external employee engagement survey and where they can ask questions around how well they are we doing with employee engagement.

Development team is working on right now the ability for companies to reward for volunteerism, with donor dollars in an employees account.

We are very passionate about helping companies with their corporate giving programs.

Happiness,Wellbeing,and Flourishing in the CSR Workplace

Studies have shown that personal happiness increases with personal philanthropy and volunteerism. If so, then that logic can be extended to corporate giving, meaning that employees could experience an increase in well-being from their company's giving and volunteer programs as part of their involvement in CSR.

The latest trend in studies and books on happiness has come from the new field of positive psychology founded by Martin Seligman, of The University of Pennsylvania. Martin Seligman first came out with his landmark book "Learned Optimism" followed by several others including "Authentic Happiness". As president of the American Psychological Association in 1998, he initiated a whole movement in looking at and studying human behavior by focusing on positives with the goal of increasing them, rather than focusing on correcting the negatives.

 Martin Seligman has more recently rejected the word “happiness” for the broader term, well-being or “flourish" with his new book: Flourish: A New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being and How to Achieve Them.

Various organizations most notably the Gallup organization, have been measuring wellbeing in different levels of societies for countries, state and cities. Positive Organizational Studies have cropped up in graduate schools to address the impact of a variety of organization behaviors on well-being in the workplace. No one, as yet, to my knowledge, has measured the effect of CSR and employee volunteerism on employee well-being, with the exception of one area. We have noted several reports and studies on the positive effects of CSR on employee in regards to hiring and retention.

Could that mean that employees that are involved with their company’s CSR in the form of workplace giving programs or volunteering also experience well-being and flourish within their jobs?

The answer to that is worth exploring further and is to be continued….

Business Doing Better at Doing Good- 2011 Trends in Business Philanthropy

The month of January is named after the god Janus, the god with two heads, one looking behind and one looking forward. Apparently the god Saturn, gave Janus the introspective ability to see into the past and the gift of seeing into the future. I can make no claims of having god-like abilities, but in reviewing the past year's stories and tweets, it seems that there is trend is to find newer and better ways for business to do good.

And these are the trends I see that will be significant in the year of 2011 for creating positive new directions in business philanthropy.

Using the Social Sciences to Understand the Dynamics of Giving Behavior

More and more studies in social psychology and behavioral economics have been addressing the question of what motivates people to give. Businesses hoping to use cause marketing and to engage their customers in giving, and non-profits seeking to find ways to get more value from their corporate sponsorships should tap into these research studies more. Take for example, the recent study about amusement park goers who paid more for their photos on a ride when they could choose their own price and the profits went to charity. Sceptics of the Panera Cares Business Model, (we profiled their first cafe opening, St Louis Bread Company Cares) which is an example of this kind of approach, should check out the video on CBS News.
For more research studies on consumer giving behavior check out: Ways Your Company Can Give More Bang For the Buck.

CSR's Umbrella


Last year I predicted that Cause Marketing and Corporate Giving would become more differentiated. Well I was wrong. The lines have gotten even blurrier between CSR, Employee Volunteerism, EVP, Cause Marketing and Corporate Giving. Is it more that they are distinctions or that they justifiably fall under the CSR umbrella? More and people cite all of these in the context of each other and often interchangeably. Beth Kanter suggests in her blog post.Corporate Altruism: The Blurring of the Lines Between CSR and Cause Marketing that perhaps the lines do not distinguish one fore another but that it is more of a continuum. CSR this past year has been struggling with finding a definition of itself, but more than being a continuum, I like the image of an overencompassing arc, like that of an umbrella..

Employee Drive Philanthropy


Yahoo employees do it, Blackbaud's employees do it and GiveSomethingBack's employees do it: various forms of employees recommending charities; designing the giving programs often in forms such as competitions,scholarships; sitting on the grants committee; and other forms of direct emplyee involvement.
Employers are seeing that when giving back to the community is a company grassroots effort, not only is there more by-in from the employees, more total giving in time and money, but also more loyalty given back to the company.

Skills Based Volunteering 

While providing extra hands for bagging food or assembling backpacks will never go away as an important function of Employee Volunteer Programs, more meaningful ways for employees to help communities are
emerging.  Bea Boccalandri of the BCCCC, has been advocating that businesses create more of these kinds of asset based opportunities for employees volunteering as a way for companies to provide their employees with more engaging and rewarding experiences that help build the capacity of the non-profit organization  in more sustainable ways. Skills based volunteering also serves as great employee training opportunities for the companies involved. Her suggestions may seem radical, and so she acknowledges that these changes need to be small at first and that both types of volunteering can co-exist. And she cites examples of companies like Aetna and Hasbro and Levis that have been doing so.


Directed Giving Through Voting and Liking

Using social media to involve the public in making the decision for a company's giving is going to get bigger and bigger. It's an approach that appeals to many as it can engage thousands in feeling that they can contribute in some small way by voting for their favorite charity or "liking" a facebook page, that results in an award or donation given by a business to the winner. Witness the Pepsi Refresh Project, (which I mentioned in last year's trends picks, The Classy Awards, (where two of our featured businesses, Sweets Trucks and GiveSomethingBack were finalists, and the American Express Small Business Day, where just a vote on a  website or a Facebook "like", brought about large corporate funding towards specific projects and causes.

More Public Scrutiny

As businesses will continue to involve the public in their giving programs, so will the public be more involved in the judgment of corporate giving. Witness the outcry over the Punk Buckets for a Cure, BOBS Shoes and Target's funding of political campaign. While some of the public will want to be more included in corporate giving, others like Michael Hiltzik of the LA Times (who gave us a cool shout out) may want to be left alone to their own philanthropy.
Whatever a company does, you can be sure the public will be watching to make sure that a company's giving is neither insincere, nor causing harm in any way other way, nor just plain dumb.

New Forms of Philanthropic Business Models 

While many were dubious of Panera's business model, more and businesses are coming up with innovative philanthropic business models. Even staid Nordstrom is planning to open a philanthropic department store in Manhattan with all profits going to charity. We have seen the B corp becoming recognized as a legal entity in several more states. Several forms of "buy one give one" business models, and more businesses like Panera with "set your own pricing schemes" have sprung up.
It is possible, of course, that some of these innovative philanthropic businesses will fail, but perhaps at no higher rate no than other start ups. And if so, so be it,  innovation requires taking taking on the risks of failure, but also the rewards of success and of leading the way in developing a whole new sector.


In spite of what I consider my one missed prediction for 2010, I think that last year's predictions, which you can read here, have proven to hold up and will grow to have even more importance in 2011. Business giving in partnership with consumers, non-profits and communities, will be evolving and will create better solutions to local and global problems.


I look forward to bringing more of these stories here in 2011.










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Absurd WaysTo Make Your Employee Volunteer Program Have More Impact

It seems that Bea Boccalandro, President of VeraWorks and a faculty at the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, BCCCC, thinks that employee volunteer programs are absurd and the key to their adding more value is to make them even more absurd. At least that is how I heard it at last week's webinar:  Employee Spirit + Corporate Strategy. Can both exist within your employee volunteer program?”

"Yes we are taking it to absurdity. I recommend more absurdity...Movement from true volunteering may seen uncomfortable, a sense that something is absurd is required to being novel"

Now before anyone jumps out of their Employee Volunteer office chair, is it important to explain that she is advocating that  businesses can create much higher impact in the community by leveraging the core strengths and assets of the business, rather than by duplicating the traditional fundraising and extra hand volunteering that any other business or non-corporate volunteers engage in.

Her suggestions may seem radical, and so she acknowledges that these changes need to be small at first and  that both types of volunteering can co-exist. 

She gave some great examples of companies doing just that, companies such as:

Hasbro which has has focused all their employee volunteer programs around children's causes.

Health insurance company Aetna  brings along employee volunteers that hold blood drives when the company visits college campuses for recruitment.

Levi's,which ties their corporate volunteer day on May 1st with their 501 jeans line. 

Timberland,( my favorite story), has what Bea described as an intangible asset, an employee mentoring program within the company where senior managers would mentor junior managers and so on. By using this intangible asset they apply the same skills and performance evaluation to mentor underprivileged youth in local community leadership development program.

As an added bonus we got to hear a presentation first hand from Louise James of Accenture about their Accenture Development Partnerships, their exemplary worldwide community engagement  and development programs.

Bea does not leave us dangling in the air about how to go about making these "absurd" changes. She outlines specific steps any company can take make these changes in her report:
The End of Volunteering: A Necessary Step to Substantive Employee Engagement in the Community

The beauty of this message is that small businesses can take advantage of these forms of volunteering and maybe even better than their larger counterparts. Small businesses may think they cannot have a large impact on the community because they cannot provide enough extra hands for fundraisers and activities like serving meals. But they too have assets, the kinds that Bea has suggested for large corporations such as: specialized expertise; intangible assets like employee skills and corporate programs for employee development; and hard assets like trucks, buildings and even blue jeans! They too can match their core business with charities that are focused on a similar population.


I support Bea's suggestion of being more "ABSURD" as  it means any number of things: thinking outside of the box, being more disruptive, more innovative and creative. That is the way of the future for all forms of business philanthropy including volunteerism and possibly the best way to create positive social change.























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Is Your Employee Volunteer Program Ready For the Next Disaster?

Today at 10:21 A.M., businesses, schools, and households will experience a simulated earthquake drill, the Great California Shakeout. The goal of this statewide event is to  increase awareness and preparedness for the next real big quake in California. While this drill is meant to be a wake up call to the realities of where we are living, it can also be a reminder that a disaster like this in places that are impoverished will require immediate humanitarian relief  as well as long term help in rebuilding.

Last January, VolunterMatch, a great organization that helps businesses and non-profits develop their volunteer programs, forwarded their Jan.newsletter, with their featured article: "After Haiti What Your Company Can Do" . This article had specific tips and suggestions aimed at helping victims of the Haiti disaster through  their employee volunteer programs, which can be used as a template for any future disasters where a company's philanthropy program would like to help.

Their recommendations include ideas for how to raise funds, how to determine the best agencies to donate to, and how to use the many VoluteerMatch tools such as their Emergency Preparedness Map, their special Event Manager Program  for organizing company volunteers for food and clothing drives, and their Disaster Messaging Tool.

While your company is thinking of building a toolkit for local emergencies preparedness, why not think about the need to be prepared to help others less fortunate when disaster hits them?

Why Outcome Measures For Coordinators Of Volunteers?

As a Volunteer Coordinator you regularly monitor the placement and service hours of your volunteers, the receipt of donations and success of fundraising efforts, and the activities that your volunteer programs engage in. Volunteer Coordinators have been documenting the inputs, activities and outputs of their programs for many years now.

Inputs are those things that are put into your program. They are things like staff, staff time, money, equipment, supplies, volunteers and volunteer time.The contribution of resources by your partners may also be considered an input. Inputs also include constraints on the program, such as laws, regulations and requirements for funding.

Activities are those things that the Volunteer Program does to fulfill its mission. Examples of Volunteer Program activities might be:

• Referral of volunteers to non-profit agencies
• Training of area Volunteer Managers in professional Volunteer Management techniques
• Sponsoring projects that impact the critical social needs of the community.

Outputs are the products of the program's activities. What actually got accomplished?

• How many hours did the volunteers serve?
• What was the contribution of the partners?
• How many people were reached, tutored, mentored, # of kits made, etc.

In the past, Volunteer Programs, like many other human service organizations, did not track what happened to the volunteers that were referred after the placement. We might know how many hours a volunteer has spent at his volunteer activity, but we do not know how this volunteer activity has changed or helped the agency in which he was placed. How has this volunteer service benefited the volunteer? This is where the measurement of outcomes comes in.

Outcomes are the changes or benefits that have happened to the agencies in which you have placed your volunteers, benefits to the community, and to the volunteers themselves. How have the populations, which you have served, changed their behaviors, skills, knowledge, attitudes, values or conditions? It is the impact you have had on your community.For example: A neighborhood clean-up campaign

Outputs - These are your Accomplishments

• #of organizational meetings
• # of participants
• # of volunteer hours served
• # of blocks cleaned

Outcomes- This is the Impact that you have achieved through your project.
As a result of the neighborhood cleanup campaign 90% of community residents surveyed reported reduced exposure to safety hazards in the neighborhood and an increase in community pride.

When writing outcome measures be sure to:

• Use measurements when determining your outcomes
• Use measurements and standards that are straightforward and easy to understand
• Be specific- avoid general statements

Outcome measures clearly state how your program has made an impact and benefited your community. But what are some other ways that we can use this clear and focused information?

• Recruit and train talented staff
• Enlist and motivate volunteers
• Engage collaborators
• Retain or increase funding
• Demonstrate innovative efforts
• Gain favorable public recognition

Outcome measures can also help your Volunteer Program to improve its programs and services by:

• Identifying staff and volunteer training need
• Develop and justify budgets
• Prepare long-range plans
• Focus Board member's attention on programmatic issues

The demonstration of program impacts has become increasing crucial in the quest to prove Volunteer Program effectiveness. Federal programs as well as many private funders require human service agencies to measure and report on their outcomes.

Good Luck! You will find with a little practice and patience, the Outcome measures described here will be a useful addition to your Volunteer Program.

Source: http://www.articlecircle.com

About the Author
Devorah Vineburg is the lead staff professional at the Volunteer Center of Brown County, Green Bay, WI, in the areas of training, consultation and technical assistance to nonprofit agencies. Her website Crafty Community Connections located at www.craftycommunityconnection.com is an excellent resource of ideas for craft and volunteer service projects that can be donated to local people, agencies and charities as a community service.It is a great resources for crafters, kids, teachers, scouts, youth groups, Sunday Schools, parents and friends. The website is updated each month.

Subscribe to our free newsletter. On our Shop for Charity page, buy a featured item, and an identical item or its wholesale value will be donated to your favorite registered charity. www.craftycommunityconnection.com

Corporate Volunteers Get Into Gear For Back To School

While millions of children are heading back to school within the next few weeks, many schools across the country are desperate for additional support in classrooms and for their students and teachers. Businesses have been supporting local schools by volunteering and making contributions all throughout the past years, and it is time to re-assess how they can continue to contribute for the 2010/2011 school year.

These following companies have been creating unique and exemplary programs that help support the schools with tutoring and mentoring, hands on projects like fixing up buildings and classrooms, and donating their time to collect and compile classroom materials and supplies.

Target -Volunteers School Library Makeovers, is a program that provides year-round volunteer opportunities for Target employees to get involved with their local schools and literacy programs. Target team members will improve over 1,500 school libraries this year. Check out their before and after photos of library transformations that Target volunteers have brought about.

IBM -More than 6,000 employees and retirees have spent hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours introducing young children to technology and promoting technology careers in the classroom. Each year, during EWeek (Engineers Week) volunteers help promote an interest in mathematics, science, and technology among students, teachers, and parents in activities brought to schools or at IBM sites.

Cisco - named RAFT's Resource Area for Teaching, top corporate volunteer in 2009, where employees work together to assemble teachers kits and educational materials.

Best Buy- has supported innovative employee volunteer programs that use technology to make learning fun for kids, where employees volunteers bring them the love and understanding of technology. Partnering with  Junior Achievement, 330,377 volunteers teach 379,968 classes to 9,795,485 students a year

ConocoPhillips- volunteers enjoy participating in the Junior Achievement program, which educates students in grades K-12 about entrepreneurship, work readiness, and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs.

BlackBaud -In a previous post we featured Blacbaud as a leader in corporate philanthropy where volunteering is an important component of their community engagement. As an example, in a regional project in Cambridge, MA,  Blackbaud volunteers participate in the Everybody Wins Power Lunch, where they visit local underprivileged schools during the lunch hour. While serving nutritious meals volunteers sit down to read a book and assist students with their reading skills.

Comcast-Every year on Comcast Cares Day, tens of thousands of Comcast employees, their families, and friends come together to make a positive impact on their communities across the country. On April 24, 2010, spanning 39 states and Washington, D.C., Comcast Cares Day projects included fixing up schools. Watch this clip to see Comcast volunteers at the James Rhoad elementary school in West Philadelphia and hear about what it means to the volunteers, the teachers, and the mayor, to help the school on Comcast Cares Day.Check out the Comcast Cares Day site for more clips of schools that have benefited from Comcast volunteers helping out.






Education is a cornerstone of communities. That's why businesses are helping schools and students with volunteering efforts,innovative giving programs and partnerships with educational organizations. Any amount of support can change the lives of the children and have tremendous impact on all communities.