With the recent redesign of our corporate website, we’ve incorporated our blog into the website to provide our readers with more seamless experience and give us the chance to share more industry insight with you all. So, if you haven’t already, please update your bookmarks to http://csrconnect.me/easyblog.html and point your RSS feeds here. Be sure to comment on the blog and let us know what you think!
We’d like to highlight Edelman’s recent article on how to think about the generational spectrum during this week’s National Volunteer Week. They provide a few examples how companies can engage all types of employees in their volunteer program. Below is a preview of the article and can read the rest here.
A happy National Volunteer Week to you and yours! April 21-27 is our designated springtime week here in the U.S., during which time we inspire each other to re-engage and give of ourselves to our communities.
Here at Edelman, we give a lot of thought year-round to inspiring people to engage. We often work with corporate clients to create “spectrums” of volunteer opportunities for their employees that range from low engagement (e.g. book drives, one-time hands-on volunteer events) to high engagement (e.g. executive nonprofit board service, six month pro bono contracts). But there’s another kind of spectrum that’s important to consider when looking to inspire engagement.
Often professionals of different generations and different stages of their careers are looking for different things from their company’s employee volunteer program. Below are a few examples of how companies can think along the generational spectrum…
Shout out to launchDFW for featuring us under their startup profiles. launchDFW is the online home for the Dallas – Fort Worth Startup Community. They provide a site that takes the first step towards bringing the community together and discovering all the cool stuff that’s going on in the Metroplex. The site aims to be THE place for you to find info on the local startup scene, companies, founders, events and more.
To learn more about launchDFW or to view our profile, visit here. In the meantime, we give you a sneak peek of our profile below:
Give us the 30-second elevator pitch on your company
YourCause provides companies with CSRconnect employee engagement platform. A community that allows corporations to engage their employees in giving and volunteering programs.
Tell us about the founders, who they are, backgrounds, and why they are passionate about your company
YourCause was founded by Cornell graduate Matt Combs in 2008. He is a technology entrepreneur that has founded multiple companies and he has a passion for doing good.The perpetual challenge of “doing good”…
Dell’s volunteer community and employee engagement was recognized last week by PRNews, a resource that provides news for pr, marketing, csr and communication executives, weekly newsletter. The article “With CSR in the Mainstream, Companies Look to Leverage Employee Volunteers” mention Dell’s successful volunteering program (formerly Make a Difference).
Below is a sneak peek of Deb Bauer’s quotes and insights on Dell’s volunteerism highlighted in the article.
“Just what drives that participation at Dell? It starts with a social-based online community that lets employees create profiles, find and track volunteer opportunities and make contributions. The data gleaned from this site allows for robust measurement as well, Bauer says. Volunteerism is promoted throughout Dell via the corporate intranet and at team building events that are aligned with CSR activities. In addition, managers build teams of “champions,” which get employees involved. Then there’s appreciation of volunteer work. If an employee volunteers for 10 or more hours in a quarter, they receive a $150 cause card to redeem in the Dell Make a Difference online community. With such success, it’s hard to believe there are challenges. Bauer cites two:
• Getting stories told in a way people hear it. There is a lot of news going around Dell, and it’s tough to break through the clutter, Bauer says. So in 2012 the company varied its CSR communications outreach platforms.
• Hitting employees too hard with volunteer messages. Managers can sometimes push too hard, which employees term “voluntold,” Bauer says. “We try to find the right balance.”
It is always great to see and hear the achievement Dell has made throughout the years. Keep up the great work team!
Happy Wednesday,
YourCause
Friday, a tragedy took place in Newtown, CT which impacted all of us. With multiple parents at YourCause, the horrifying incident really hit home for all. Safe to say, Sandy Hook Elementary will be in our thoughts for a long time to come.
Although this is not classified as a formal disaster, without question, this is a complete tragedy for the United States and our society as a whole. Therefore, we’d like to let you know that there are groups out there helping with the recovery. Specifically, the Newtown Youth & Family Services, Inc. (http://www.yourcause.com/Charities/61082115) and the United Way of Western Connecticut (http://www.yourcause.com/Charities/60646577) both of which are at YourCause.com and within each of our client communities.
Let’s step forward and help those affected by the tragedy.
-YourCause Team
Social Impact. Dallas. Engagement. Civic-Mindedness. These are all words that evoke the energy and excitement around this year’s bigBang! event, a forum hosted by Dallas Social Venture Partners. They will be convening the thinkers and doers of Dallas for a day-long opportunity to catalyze positive impact.
This year, bigBang! will be a place to jump in and get hands on. With experiences at every turn to learn about forward-thinking socially conscious businesses and nonprofit organizations, they invite you to be completely immersed in the day.
bigBang! event details:
When: October 19, 2012
Where: Union Station, Dallas Texas
Time: 9:00 am
Tickets: General admission with access to all events $225.00
Registration link: http://www.dsvp.org/bigbang/information
About Dallas Social Venture Partners
DSVP is a artnership of professionals, social entrepreneurs and foundations who are committed to strengthening our community through the thoughtful application of collective dollars and business expertise. DSVP is comprised of 123 partners and works with a current portfolio of nine nonprofit investments to create positive social impact. For additional information, please call (214) 855-5520 or visit www.dsvp.org.
Our team has put together an infographic that supports how charitable payroll deductions work, which is a follow up to our latest CSRinsights.
Happy Monday,
The YourCause Team
YourCause clients, partners and other CSR leaders collaborated at CSRworks summit to share best practices and innovate on future program directions.
We hosted our first CSRworks summit at the Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Lonestar Campus in Austin to bring innovation through collaboration among Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) leaders and partners. Attendees included more than 20 companies and organizations, including the facility host AMD, and other companies such as Hewlett Packard, Dell, AT&T, Medtronic, UnitedHealth, State Farm, Electronic Arts and others. The collective group spent the day learning best practices, sharing challenges, and engaging in dialogue directed at utilizing technology to tackle some of the industries greatest domestic and international challenges.
The morning began with an opening presentation by AMD, followed with a presentation covering the chronological history and development of YourCause. Shortly thereafter, ‘session one’ began by breaking the participants into four groups and assigning specific topics to collaborate on.
The four group topics for session one included:
Between the sessions, the audience was able to hear from leaders representing YourCause partners (GlobalGiving, Network for Good, and Taproot Foundation) cover such topics as international vetting, domestic donation processing, and skills based/pro-bono volunteering respectively.
The four group topics for the second session included:
Each collaborative session addressed main challenges, best practices and how technology can help administer more effective programs. YourCause and attendees walked away inspired and with tangible conclusions for future programs that will ripple more productivity and impact into communities.
Payroll deduction, the ability for employees to voluntarily give from their paycheck to a nonprofit of their choice, accounts for the highest median dollar amount donated by employees, according to CECP’s 2010 Giving in Numbers. With workplace giving peaking during the last quarter of the calendar year, this edition of CSRinsights aggregates various insights related to how participation, risk, cost and global payroll programs can be improved through technology and third-party partnerships to drive employee engagement, corporate giving and overall community impact.
1. Aggregate and Map Employee Giving Preferences
A wide range of differences exist amongst the types of employees choosing payroll deductions as an option for charitable giving (e.g., young versus old, retail versus technology, conservative versus progressive, etc.). When boiled down, it really starts with the preferences and expectations of employees. Generation X possesses different preferences than Generation Y (also known as Millennials).
Consider the following example: Generation X-ers embrace technology and conduct purchasing research online, though their actual processing action occurs more so offline. Their preferences must be guided differently than today’s twenty-something Millennials to which, at some extent, view anything inaccessible by mobile phone as unacceptable.
Food for thought: More than two-thirds of employee donors want expanded options when contributing their time and income through the workplace, according to the Center on Philanthropy.
Here are a few suggestions:
2. Expand Charitable Options while Reducing Risk
Today’s technologies can deliver turnkey solutions for improving participation in workplace giving programs, reducing risk and expanding charitable options. In fact, 73% of companies raised more money after expanding workplace giving options, according to LBG Research Institute. Because online giving systems expand options and provide flexibility, they are increasingly becoming the preference for employees. However, some administrators may have a few concerns before fully committing.
A recurring concern involves the vetting of charities. Administrator’s assume that the more you expand charitable options, the more difficult it is for an administrator to manage. On the contrary; technology has the ability to reduce the legal risk involved with tax-deductible donations. By integrating the IRS Publication 78 list and systems like LexisNexis Bridger Insight, the system quickly scans against 42+ terrorist watch lists. Thus, employees can securely select and give to organizations from valid nonprofit databases without worrying where their money is going.
Another concern rises in the aforementioned point between differences in employee preferences, particularly with the older X Generation or employees that simply do not have access to computers at work. Indeed, this is a preference worth listening to and your third-party vendor should listen as well. Allow those employees the ability to sign up via papered sign ups. Or, hold training sessions that can teach employees how to access and sign up for payroll deduct.
3. Deliver Greater Efficiency at a Reduction of the Cost
Advances in technology, combined with increased services through banking partners, evolved the payroll deduction process leading to reduce time and cost for completing a transaction. It’s no longer necessary to physically print payments on check stock you deliver to your vendor, who then stuffs, stamps, and mails each payment as your ‘paying agent.’ Far more automated today, the utilization of electronic payments and bulk processing is delivering greater efficiency at a noticeable reduction in cost.
Today’s current SaaS (software-as-service) providers of payroll deduction services deliver platforms that streamline campaign pledges, nonprofit selections, matching grant applications, and even absorb any of the related customer support. In addition, today’s platforms deliver more eco-friendly payment methods by utilizing Automated Clearing Houses (ACH) payments. Not only does ACH save paper on check stock and envelopes, but also financially by negating the cost of a stamp (which has risen by 36% since 2000, from $0.33 to $0.45 in 2012). Similar to how one may schedule an online payment via their personal bank, ACH payments deliver donations in a short amount of time, a more secure manner, and at a reduced cost.
The progression of the overall process enables companies to issue single payments from the aggregate of the donations made through the platform. Instead of a fee for each employee deduction made (digitally) to the system, companies now only have to pay for the actual payments being issued to each non-profit organization. For example, if during a response to a disaster 500 employees donate via payroll to the American Red Cross, a single payment will be issued with only one fee to be assessed — the fees directly associated with issuing the single payment.
4. On the Horizon: Expand Payroll Giving Globally
Yet to be developed is the all-encompassing payroll solution that can satisfy the needs for every employee around the world (an increasing need for multinational organizations). Specific country restrictions on data privacy, general decentralized internal data services, language barriers, and the ongoing need for specific vetting requirements makes it unrealistic to apply ‘what works’ in the United States to the international workspace.
However, progress is being made – literally -one country at a time. And in many cases, payroll deductions outside of the U.S. will face a myriad of obstacles, some of which include: international vetting of organizations, processing of payments in a manner that is cost justifiable, and properly communicating the program initiatives within each native language.
Some suggestions for expanding payroll deduction programs globally:
Our team has put together an infographic that supports the business case for CSR (corporate social responsibility), which is a follow up to our latest CSRinsights.
Happy Friday,
The YourCause Team
YourCause 