Recently Forbes Insights released the results of its latest survey on corporate social responsibility. According to the report, “Corporate Philanthropy – The New Paradigm: Volunteerism. Competence. Results.” companies are relying to corporate responsibility more and more to position themselves for success in new markets and to build the competencies of high performing employees.

For example, the report details MasterCard’s recent partnership with the Grameen Foundation in Colombia, which involved an 8-month leadership program for a select group of talented employees.

Patricia Devereux, group head of Corporate Philanthropy & Citizenship at MasterCard Worldwide, explained, “Corporate social responsibility isn’t just about writing checks anymore; it’s making important ties with what is going on in your community.”

She continued, “The commitment from senior management is strong, our employees worldwide are increasing their volunteer hours, and all of us can see firsthand the impact we are having in our communities.”

Devereaux also discussed another trend revealed in the report – tracking progress and making changes based on that data to achieve results. “Those are long-term metrics, of course, but that’s what we are interested in – long-term, sustainable improvements,” she said.

Survey Findings

The report is based on interviews with 311 executives at large companies – two thirds of whom worked for companies bringing in $5 billion or more annually. According to Forbes, “More than half of the respondents (54%) had C-level titles or were board members. Another 31% had titles of director or above. In terms of function, 37% were involved in corporate management, 29% were in finance, 14% were in HR or talent management, and 14% were involved in community relations or philanthropy.”

About half were located in the Americas, a third in Asia-Pacific, and the rest were in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

About half of the respondents said that their company’s CSR commitments had increased over the past year, which Forbes noted is interesting given the global financial situation.

The report noted that volunteering is increasingly seen as a way to train employees and develop ties to underserved or new markets, and most companies plan to increase volunteer programs. It explains:

“Companies also anticipate that volunteer hours will increase over the next year, highlighting the crucial part manpower plays in CSR. In fact, 72% say that they primarily make donations to causes that will allow their employees to volunteer. In general, companies are finding creative ways to enable this, from allowing employees to donate their work time to causes, to paying for travel, to sponsoring a corporate service corp.”

Companies are tying CSR donations to causes that enable their employees to participate as well. This grassroots involvement may be seen as a way to improve employee engagement within the corporation and their community.

Employee Engagement

In fact, employee motivation was the top reason given for corporate responsibility, according to Forbes, with 64% of respondents naming this as a goal of philanthropy and community involvement.

Additionally, companies are using corporate responsibility initiatives to attract Gen Y employees. “While Gen Y’ers still compose a minority of corporate employees, as the first wave of Baby Boomers retires, competition for young Gen Y talent to be groomed for corporate middle management is skyrocketing,” the report notes.

It continues:

“A study by AMP Agency, a brand management firm, found that 61% of Gen Y’ers feel person- ally responsible for making a difference in the world, and over half of them say that they wouldn’t work for an irresponsible corporation. Companies are responding to that ethos. Case in point: 72% of respondents say volunteerism and philanthropy are critical for recruiting younger qualified employees.”

But motivation isn’t the only goal behind corporate responsibility and volunteering efforts. The study continues:

“Companies use CSR not only to motivate their employees, but also to train them and build skill sets. Fifty-nine percent of survey respondents say they want to increase their employees’ skills and leadership through corporate philanthropy. That’s another incentive for companies—47% say learning more about potential markets and opportunities is a motivator for CSR.”

CSR activities are increasingly seen as an opportunity for high potential employees to develop skills and prove themselves, while better understanding new communities’ needs. This type of work serves as a training ground for developing and retaining talent.

According to the latest global Corporate Responsibility Best Practices survey, the number of global companies with a lead role overseeing CR increased to 62% last year, compared to 42% in 2010. The survey also revealed that 77% of companies plan to grow their corporate responsibility programs in the next three years.

The report, released by Corporate Responsibility Magazine, the Corporate Responsibility Officer Association and NYSE Euronext, is based on a poll of companies on NYSE Euronex Indices, plus other companies within the magazine’s database, reported Environmental Leader.

The study showed that companies are expanding CR programming and recognizing that it does have an impact on their market competitiveness and employee engagement levels. In fact, the study showed, even corporate leadership is working to drive the CR conversation within their companies.

Leadership and Employee Engagement

The study showed that 72% of the companies polled have a formal corporate responsibility program, which has increased from 62% in 2010. Additionally, the survey showed, those companies that do not have a formal program, most frequently said they “believe CR is integrated into other functions or part of the culture.”

In fact, the majority of survey respondents felt that their companies’ leadership and employees were dedicated to corporate responsibility. Almost 80% of respondents said they felt their CEO understands the importance of CR and how it “integrates with operations.” Additionally, the survey said, “82% of CEOs meet with their CR leaders at least once annually, most often monthly or quarterly.”

And CEOs are doing more than just showing tacit report, the survey said. Sixty-six percent of respondents said their CEO had personally driven a CR campaign in the past year.

Additionally, respondents said, one of the top benefits of CR programs is the ability to attract and retain talent. Respondents said that while customers or clients are the “top audience for CR communications,” the organization’s workforce was the second most impacted audience by these activities.

Board engagement when it comes to CR is also increasing. According to the survey, 47% of respondents said their companies had a director responsible for CR-related topics. That percentage has increased from 41% in 2010. Eighty-four percent said “The full Board/ Board committees are briefed on CR-related issues within the company.”

Corporate Responsibility

The amount of commitment companies are showing toward corporate responsibility is surprising, wrote CROA Executive Director Richard J. Crespin, especially given the current economic environment. He explained:

“While a single-minded focus on shareholder value does no one a real service, when it comes to tackling some of our most pressing challenges, companies are often best positioned to make the biggest dent. This year’s CR Best Practices Study bears witness to corporations’ continued investment in corporate responsibility, even in the worst economic times:

• More respondents are committed to CR than last year
• More CEOs and boards support CR than last year
• Growing numbers of large and small companies continue to implement CR programs”

But, he pointed out, while companies may desire to engage in corporate responsibility initiatives and their ability to put them into practice. “A gap persists between companies’ desire and implementation abilities.”

In fact, only 60 of the organizations surveyed had budgets dedicated to corporate responsibility. Additionally, the survey said, while the percentage of companies with formal, budgeted CR programs has grown, there is still a 20% gap between those with a formal program and no budget. And CR spending isn’t large – more than half of the CR budgets reported were less than $500,000 per year.

Finally, the report showed an interesting curve – the companies most likely to say that CR has a positive impact on competitive positioning  were the largest companies and the smallest by revenue. Those in the mid-range were most likely to say they don’t have the ability to measure the impact of CR on their competitiveness in the marketplace.

Similarly, the largest and smallest companies were also the ones to say that CR had a positive impact on profitability, while companies in the mid-range said they did not have the ability to measure it.

In a recent Harvard Business Review blog post, leadership expert Frances Hesselbein wrote about the critical importance of corporate responsibility – not just as a means to provide visibility to companies, but as a way to nourish deep pools of talent within the community. She wrote:

For leaders in all three sectors there is a new appreciation that when we build the healthy community, it is for the greater good. And even for a leader with little concern about the greater good, there is the reality that a sick and ailing community cannot produce the healthy, energetic, productive workforce our enterprises demand if indeed they are to be viable and even present at the end of this turbulent decade.

Hesselbein was writing in 2010, when, mired in a recession, companies were cutting the budgets of any corporate program that didn’t seem crucial in the short term. She cautioned against this, explaining that leadership had the ability to instill a dedication to corporate responsibility in a high-performing workplace culture.

She also said that the commitment to corporate responsibility must not be superficial, but rather a deep and earnest effort on behalf of the corporation. She writes:

“Ignoring externalities threatens excellence, ethics, and engagement in organizations, but addressing these externalities can transform challenges into opportunities. When we truly focus on the common good, service is a privilege —not a chore but a remarkable opportunity.”

A new study confirms that notion – and goes further. Not only must corporate leadership truly believe in its corporate responsibility efforts for them to have an impact on stakeholders, but the company has to be respected in the marketplace as a high value company as well.

Creating Value

In a new book, Leveraging Corporate Responsibility: The Stakeholder Route to Maximizing Business and Social Value, CB Bhattacharya, Daniel Korschun, and Sankar Sen reveal that corporate responsibility doesn’t have a positive effect on stakeholders unless the company is already good at what they do.

They illustrate this notion in a recent McKinsey Quarterly article, in which they point out an experiment they performed. When consumers were asked to rate how likely they were to purchase a product after learning about the company’s quality reputation as well as its corporate responsibility activities, they were slightly more likely to purchase when the quality was high and when the company engaged in corporate responsibility activities. On the other hand, when the quality was low, they were even less likely to buy the product when the firm engaged in corporate responsibility.

It seems that corporate responsibility is viewed cynically when a firm is known for poor quality. The authors note that this phenomenon is reflected in a similar study that showed that Fortune 1000 companies do better financially than less valuable companies when they engage in corporate responsibility activities.

They write:

“Stakeholders are remarkably open to the business case for corporate responsibility, as long as initiatives are appropriate given what stakeholders know about the business, and as long as companies genuinely pursue and achieve the accompanying social value.”

Additionally, their research revealed that it’s important for the benefits of corporate responsibility initiatives to be valuable in a way that makes sense for stakeholders. They continue:

“Likewise, stakeholders are drawn to companies whose corporate-responsibility activities produce solid benefits, which can be tangible (such as improved health in local communities) or psychological (for instance, volunteer programs that help employees better integrate their work and home lives).”

For programs to have an impact on stakeholders, they also have to be realistic within the scope of the companies abilities and marketplace perception, and they should be measurable as well. The authors comment, “A company should assess its initiatives regularly to ensure that they foster the desired unity between its own goals and those of stakeholders.”

Similarly, Hesselbein wrote, “Ensure that your actions are congruent with your values.” When companies engage in corporate responsibility activities that don’t seem genuine to stakeholders – customers, employees, shareholders – those activities aren’t likely to gain much traction in the long term. It’s important that companies engage in the corporate responsibility practices that best match their skills, values, and needs.

According to a recent study by Catalyst and Harvard Business School, companies with more female leaders may be considerably more socially responsible than those with without many women at the top.

The study’s authors, Rachel Soares, Senior Associate, Research, Catalyst; Christopher Marquis, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Harvard Business School; and Matthew Lee, Doctoral Candidate, Harvard Business School, say the study showed a connection between gender-inclusive leadership and corporate social responsibility.

Anabel Pérez, Senior Vice President, Development at Catalyst, commented, “Companies are realizing that advancing more women to senior leadership roles has many benefits, including increased financial performance and sustainability.”

She continued, “As this study shows, inclusive leadership has a positive influence on the quantity and quality of an organization’s CSR initiatives. When business leadership includes women, society wins.”

The study shows that Fortune 500 companies with more three or more women directors or 25% or more women corporate officers made considerably larger charitable donations than those with zero women directors or 0% women corporate officers, respectively.

Female Leader Mean Larger Contributions

The study, “Gender and Corporate Social Responsibility: It’s a Matter of Sustainability,” utilizes corporate philanthropy as a measure of how much emphasis a company places on CSR.

The analysis showed a striking difference in the amount of money contributed by companies with gender diverse leadership at the board level. Fortune 500 companies with three or more women directors gave an average of $27.1 million in 2007. Those with zero women directors gave an average of $969,000.

That’s 28 times higher, notes the report. While the report focused donations in 2007 specifically, it said a historical analysis from 1997 to 2007 showed the trend held true over time. Additionally, it said, “With each additional woman, annual philanthropic giving increased by $2.3 million.”

Similarly, Fortune 500 companies with 25% or more women corporate officers gave an average of $12.8 million – compared to companies with 0% women corporate officers, which gave $965,000.

The report indicates that the result is more than a coincidence. It says:

“It’s not only a matter of companies with more women leaders being larger and having more money to donate or of companies with more women being clustered in industries with higher levels of charitable giving. After controlling for key factors that might influence the amount of donations, including financial performance, company size, and industry, the presence of women leaders in Fortune 500 companies still has a significant, positive effect: more women leaders is correlated with higher levels of philanthropy.”

Are Women More Charitable?

The report considers several potential causes for the increase in philanthropy when leadership is significantly diverse. First of all, it says, one reason is that companies that are more mindful of gender diversity may simply be more mindful of fairness in general. As a result, it continues, “Operating with gender-inclusive leadership can provide diverse perspectives on fairness, which may broaden the company’s understanding of CSR and generate a higher level of philanthropic activities.”

A recent working paper by Marquis and Lee also considered the influence of gender on philanthropy. The two surmised that one reason women leaders may increase corporate philanthropic donations is simply because women tend to give more to charity at the individual level as well.

Secondarily, they said, women are more likely to be socially conscious, and therefore give more money. They write:

“…women senior managers and directors of corporations may be better able to appreciate the importance to the firm of relationships with potential beneficiaries of corporate philanthropy. As a result, the perceptual boundaries of large firms may be expanding into areas clearly outside the corporation to incorporate more diverse stakeholders (Konrad et. Al, 2008).”

The Catalyst report hints at this relationship as well – defining CSR as a strategy for corporate sustainability (ensuring that business is viable in the long term). Women may have a better view of making sure the company will be around in the long term – rather than a quarterly-driving strategic vision. By investing in philanthropy, the report implies, women are influencing the long-term sustainability of a company.

According to Giving in Numbers, the latest report by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, companies are more and more often utilizing corporate giving campaigns in employee engagement efforts.

Report author Alison Poppe Rose, Manager of Standards and Measurement for the CECP explained, “The competition to attract and retain talented employees has encouraged many more [companies] to offer innovative and meaningful employee-volunteer opportunities, including paid-release time and dynamic pro bono service programs.”

In addition to an uptick in employee engagement efforts, corporate giving has changed significantly since 2007, the beginning of the economic crisis. But, according to the report, companies are employing significantly different strategies when it comes to philanthropy. About equal percentages of companies increased and decreased contributions by more than a quarter (25% and 21% respectively). Last year, more than half of the companies on the CECP’s list of matched-set companies gave more than they did in 2007.

The report was is based on a survey of CECP’s membership of 180 global CEOs and chairmen of companies, which, according to the organization, “account for more than 40% of reported corporate giving in the United States.”

Giving as an Employee Engagement Strategy

The report showed that as of 2010, 94% of the companies polled provided some matching gift programs, and this amounted to 15% of total cash giving. According to the report, 57% of companies increased their cash giving since the previous year – and increases in employee giving and raised caps on matching gift limits are two reasons why.

Interestingly, the industry with the largest percentage of matching gifts out of total giving was the Information Technology sector, at 22%. This field is well known for its job-hopping employees, and matching programs could be seen as a retention effort. The report says, “matching-gift programs can be instrumental in attracting and retaining employees, as they foster goodwill and increase employee engagement.”

On the other hand, the report continues, “matching-gift programs may be considered insufficiently strategic, diverting corporate funding from identified priorities if they are structured as open programs where any 501(c)(3) qualifies for donations.”

The CECP also showed that pro bono service and employee volunteering are popular activities, and advises companies to utilize these programs strategically.

It says, “The appropriate policy for a company should reflect the company’s commitment to volunteerism and the community, but should also take into account the nature of the business and the accepted metrics for time away from a normal paid work day.”

Paid-release time policies were considered one of the most popular volunteering initiatives, but according to the study, there has not been a significant change in the percentage of companies offering this type of program (59%) since last year’s study.

The report explains, “Given the ongoing economic uncertainty, heightened scrutiny on employee and operational efficiency may have dissuaded some companies from instituting new programs allowing paid time off.

Changes in Philanthropy

One of the major changes in philanthropy programs over the past few years is a shift in mindset around what corporate philanthropy is supposed to do for a company. These days, corporate leadership is recognizing the strategic benefits of giving. As Michael Hiltzik wrote in the LA Times last week:

“We’re seeing a whole new approach in corporate responsibility,” Charles Moore, the committee’s executive director, told me. Corporations are integrating philanthropy into their business strategies, say, by supporting charitable programs serving their suppliers, customers or markets — PepsiCo paying to train the Mexican farmers who provide it with its corn syrup or Novartis delivering health education in rural India to residents who might end up buying its drugs.”

The recession has also influenced the way companies are giving – with some companies giving less due to their own financial strains, and others giving more to help communities in need. Similarly fears of a double dip recession and an uncertain jobs outlook are forcing companies to rethink how much they plan to give next year. As Rose wrote, “Companies do not always move in tandem.”

The report explains, “Thus far, since the downturn, companies have taken diverging paths, reflecting different methods for determining corporate priorities and assessing financial performance, community need, grant commitments, and employee and customer expectations.”

Before she became CEO of Pepsico in 2007, Indra Nooyi was CFO of the company for 7 years. Even then, Nooyi’s commitment to diversity was well known. The company implemented clear and measurable diversity targets, with development programs for women and ethnic minorities as well as a push to hire local talent in the countries where Pepsico operates. The diversity efforts paid off: the company more than doubled profits in that time, and Nooyi attributed that success at least in part to the diverse workforce.

Today, the Pepsico’s Performance with Purpose mantra is often repeated when discussing the success of the company’s diversity and inclusion work.

In fact, as the business case for diversity and other so-called soft issues like sustainability are gaining recognition, these issues are increasingly falling under the purview of the CFO.

Sustainability as Risk Management

Last month Ernst & Young released a report on the changing relationship between the CEO and sustainability, mainly as a function of risk management. CFO Magazine’s Kate O’Sullivan explains, “As sustainability initiatives become ever more closely tied to risk management, and as companies do more reporting of their sustainability efforts and liabilities, the issue is moving out of its organizational silo into a more-prominent place on the finance chief’s agenda.”

The report, “How sustainability has expanded the CFO’s role,” details the ways in which sustainability has become relevant to number crunchers on the financial team.

It says:

“As ESG factors are incorporated into investment analysis, companies have started to view environmental and social initiatives as contributing directly to their economic performance. CFOs and other market-facing executives will need to become more familiar with their companies’ most vital ESG issues. They’ll also need to prepare for hard questions from stakeholders, and to demonstrate a heightened commitment to ESG performance.”

Ernst & Young expects that over time, CFOs will gain more influence over ESG issues. As such, they will need to gain a better understanding and savviness when it comes to corporate responsibility work. The report says:

“Revenue generation, cost reduction and risk mitigation are typically part of the CFO’s main job of preserving and increasing shareholder value. Sustainability reports often cover all of these critical elements. Accordingly, CFOs must pay attention to the content and credibility of the information contained in those reports. Savvy CFOs will advocate responsible behavior and transparent reporting, and will anticipate growing pressure to become more involved in sustainability issues that affect the organization’s finances.”

Diversity and the CFO

Similarly, diversity is increasingly an issue for the CFO. As numerous studies, for example Catalyst’s report “The Bottom Line: Connecting Corporate Performance and Gender Diveristy,” have shown, increasing leadership diversity also improves financial performance of a company.

In fact in 2009, Deloitte recognized diversity as a critical mission for the CFO. The report, “CFO Insights: The Diversity Imperative,” [PDF] says, “Aside from the obvious advantage an ethnically diverse workforce provides multinational companies, it can also be a speedy way to gain consumer trust and acceptance.”

The report notes, diversity and inclusion promotes the free-flow of ideas and promotes innovation. It explains:

“This freedom enhances a company’s ability to adapt to a swiftly changing global marketplace and win in an increasingly competitive and varied global market. As companies continue to globalize and invite new generations to the marketplace, shifting the mindset on diversity programs toward cultural dexterity, professional and community development, and brand enhancement can greatly boost the return of these programs and adapt them to today’s most prominent needs.”

Finally, one demonstrated key to success with diversity efforts has been careful measurement and target-setting. While galvanizing support for diversity and inclusion within a company culture is something a CEO is better positioned to do, CFOs should be a critical component of the diversity metrics equation.

Because CFOs have a direct impact on the measurement and evaluation of corporate initiatives, they can steer diversity programs toward success, ensuring that these programs deliver a financial benefit to the company. The report explains, “CFOs have an opportunity to take the lead to better align investments in diversity to corporate performance.”

Times have been tough for non-profits during the recession, with at least 40% of nonprofits reporting a drop in donations during 2010. In this environment, corporations can be a vitally important source of funding for many well-established nonprofits. A workplace giving campaign can raise significant amounts of money towards a worthy cause, while increasing employee morale and encouraging team building.

Experts in charitable giving realize that simplicity, or ease of use, is the best way to ensure participation. Digital technologies are helping corporations in a variety of way, to reach both their employees, and their customers, while supporting a wide range of charitable organizations. Increasingly, donors want to be engaged digitally, and are used to multi-tasking while at work and at play. So, forward-thinking companies work to incorporate new technologies into their capital giving campaigns, to maximize participation.

Below are three ways that corporations and organizations are giving digitally.

1. United eWay

United eWay is the United Way movement’s technology solution for corporate philanthropic programs.

United eWay’s platform is accessible from any web browser, and allows companies to run a virtually paperless campaign with real-time pledge tracking and analysis capability. Employees can learn about community needs and pledge a gift within a secure, Internet-based environment, and each employee can review his or her gift information before exiting the system, reducing the number of errors and follow up contact.

Using United eWay, employees can make a one time donation directly from their checking account, or can set up a payroll deduction for amounts as little as $5.00 per pay period. All of this can be done simply over the web, and the sponsoring corporation can send email updates and reminders to their employees. Some of the companies that currently use United eWay include Raytheon, Intel, The Gillette Company, Macy’s, AT&T Wireless, Best Buy and Wal-Mart.

2. Facebook

The first Chase Community Giving program held in 2010 was the most popular corporate philanthropy crowdsourcing campaign of its type.

More than 2 million users on the Facebook platform became fans of the program and were able to vote for over 500,000 charities to receive a share of $5 million. In March 2011, Chase announced an additional two-year, $25-million commitment to the Chase Community Giving philanthropic program on Facebook. The popular program has already awarded $10 million to 300 small and local charities in 38 states, and Washington, D.C., since 2009.

“This initiative is a new paradigm for corporate giving because it removes logistical barriers for small non-profits, provides a national platform for small and newly established charities to be heard, and allows individuals to have a voice in our philanthropic giving,” Kimberly Davis, President of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, said.

Social media is going to continue to be an important way for corporations and charities to reach a new generation of donors. Facebook hit 500 million users in July 2011, and many predict that they will have 1 billion users worldwide in 2012. Numbers like these make Facebook an extremely compelling outlet for charitable organizations and causes.

3. Mobile Apps

“The power of mobile for charitable giving is huge,” says Jim Manis, CEO of the Mobile Giving Foundation, a Seattle nonprofit that helps charities devise mobile giving strategies. “There is no better interactive medium for engaging donors.”

According to their website, the Mobile Giving Foundation serves as the link between a charitable giving campaign, the wireless industry and the 280 million wireless users in the US. Particularly for young adult donors, the easiest way to give is by texting. When a massive earthquake hit Haiti, US mobile subscribers pledged more than $25 million in less than three days, to the American Red Cross and other nonprofit aid groups. Text message donations totaled $2.6 million in 4 days in response to the Japanese tsunami.

In the US now, hundreds of nonprofits have signed up with various providers of text message donations.

Given the fact that the recession is still going on, companies and charitable groups need to continue to use digital technology platforms to engage donors. By incorporating the web, social media and mobile apps into workplace giving campaigns and corporate outreach, nonprofits can reach a wider audience than through traditional, paper-intensive means.

Last week marked the Foundation for Social Change’s second annual conference, kicking off the event with a day-long Women and Girls Education Summit. For an audience composed largely of corporate responsibility professionals and other individuals in the sector, the Summit detailed the ways that corporations are contributing to and creating education and professional development initiatives for females.

Louise Guide, founder and CEO of the Foundation for Social Change opened the conference explaining that she hoped attendees took away concrete ideas for their own companies or organizations. She explained, “The reason we’re here is that we ant to show how people are taking action – they’re not thought leaders, they’re do-leaders.”

One of the key ideas that speakers discussed repeatedly was the importance of funding programs that create sustainable development. Here’s why.

Collaborating on Sustainable Investment

Amir Dossal, Founder and Chairman of the Global Partnerships Forum, opened the conference discussing importance of sustainability and collaboration. He said, “It’s not about charity, it’s about smart philanthropy. It’s about investing in people for social change, not just giving away money.”

And he continued, sustainable social change also requires collaboration. He explained, “Innovation only comes when we work together. You can have a great idea, but you cannot implement them unless you partner with someone.”

SAP’s Director of Global Social Innovation Partnerships Nicolette van Exel agreed. SAP is partnering with the Foundation on its e-Life program, an initiative in Colombia to bring girls to the classroom. The company is considering the Colombia launch a pilot program to see if it would work in other areas around the world.

She said, “If we can replicate this as a model we can roll out wider, that would be fantastic.”

Van Exel explained that looking for sustainability in social investments makes the projects more valuable. “CSR can be a standalone department in a large organization with money funneled through grants, and you can be effective that way. Or you can be really effective and work through different departments.”

She continued, “Go out and pitch the program to them and explain the value to the business.” Internal partnerships between corporate departments and teams on social investments are important for creating truly sustainable programs, because stakeholders have to be convinced in the value they are building. By generating buy-in, companies can be more sure that their projects are in line with strategic goals.

Sustainability and Self Esteem

The Wayuu Taya Foundation has found a way to partner with other groups so that it can provide sustainable education and business development for its community.

Patricia Velasquez is the founder Wayuu Taya, an organization that provides schools for indigenous children of the Wayuu community in Venezuela and Colombia. The Foundation is funded in part through donations from partners like HP and Microsoft. But it is also sustained by the community’s women, who create hand-woven purses to be sold by high-end retailers. In order to get paid for the bags, the women themselves must enroll in courses with Wayuu Taya.

She said that the organization’s success is due to the fact that its goal is to empower individuals in the long term. “Charity – giving money – doesn’t work any more. It has to be, and it can be… sustainability,” she said. “It is the true form of charity. It is what empowers people and makes them proud of who they are.”

According to Velasquez, empowering individuals is a key part to creating a sustainable program. She said, “We try to keep and maintain indigenous culture. Pride is what sustains a community.”

Similarly, a large component of Brazil’s Consulado da Mulher initiative has to do with empowerment.

The Consulado, funded by Whirlpool but legally separate, has two programs: Enterprising Women and the Work Stations program. Enterprising Women provides business advice and resources (like Whirlpool appliances) to help women take their own businesses to the next level of organizational growth. Their performance is evaluated based on 31 indicators. The Work Stations program grew out of the success of Enterprising Women. Because Whirlpool only operates in 4 of Brazil’s cities, Work Stations certifies external groups to provide the same professional development and resources for women building their businesses in other locations.

Paula de Santis, CSR, Whirlpool Latin America, explained that one of the big goals of the program is to invest in families by investing in women. “We saw that investing in women means also investing in children.” Women put their money and skills back into their families and communities, she said. And being a successful business owner does a lot to improve these women’s self esteem, she added.

And now in its tenth year, the program can claim real sustainability – the women are now making more money than Whirlpool is investing in the program.

According to the 2010 Points of Light Institute’s Employee Volunteer Program Reporting Standards, an Employee Volunteer Program (EVP) is effective in developing employees, improving public perception of the company, and enhancing business operations. Research even suggests that volunteering is good for your health [PDF] and the Institute also reports that EVPs are a sensible, efficient method of achieving general HR objectives for recruiting, retaining, and developing employees. It wasn’t until very recently, however, that corporations began to take a more focused approach to their volunteer programs.

Employee volunteer programs have come a long way in a short amount of time. In a History of Americans as Volunteers, authors Susan Ellis and Katherine Noyes trace employee volunteer programs back to the 1970’s when corporate social responsibility programs began to emerge. At the time, most programs were grassroots efforts and were small in scope, but as of 2006, over 80 percent of corporations report having or sponsoring EVPs. According to Chris Jarvis, co-founder and senior consultant for Realized Worth, a leading employee volunteering and CSR consulting firm, despite their progress over the past 40 years, having a successful employee volunteer program is still something that eludes companies large and small.

“There are many challenges in getting these programs off the ground, but the biggest is usually figuring out who to talk to,” Jarvis said. “All major companies are fragmented – there’s HR, there’s communications, there’s marketing, etc. Each department has a different stake in the company and they’re like islands; they rarely interact with each other, so figuring out who to talk to and how to get everyone on board can be difficult.”

As another challenge, Jarvis cites a common mistake made by a company’s executive leadership: the failure to make volunteering a company mandate. “It’s one thing for a company’s leadership to say it supports employee volunteering, but it’s quite another to give a managers a mandate to make them understand that volunteering is part of their corporate culture,” Jarvis said. “Sometimes there’s interpersonal reasons why this isn’t done, but often it’s that very intentional volunteer programs that go beyond philanthropy are just too new and unfamiliar for them to know how to navigate.”

Brand Alignment and The Logic Model

Jarvis and his partner Angela Parker provide training and hands-on involvement in the design and implementation of sustainable employee volunteer programs for businesses interested in leveraging their CSR programs and differentiating their corporate culture. Some companies that Realized Worth worked with already had an EVP in place, but the problem was that it wasn’t integral to the operation or function of the business. Jarvis likes to share the example of the major pharmaceutical company that plants trees as its main employee volunteering activity. This service is good because it’s capable of turning some employees on to volunteering, but it’s not good enough because the company’s assets are not essential to the employee volunteering program. In other words, it’s not having the impact it could because anyone can plant trees and the pharmaceutical company isn’t adding anything to the equation. Jarvis uses a single question as a litmus test for whether or not a company has created a successful EVP: If you were to remove your company from the equation, would it matter? If not, you’ve got some reworking to do.

This is why Jarvis says that there has to be brand alignment with the type of volunteering the company chooses to incorporate into its program. With their clients, Jarvis and Parker also present the theory of change model, also known as the logic model, which sets out how a program is understood or intended to produce particular results. The model has four components that represent a flow: inputs (resources such as money, employees, equipment, etc.) to activities (work activities, programs, or processes) to outputs (the immediate outputs of the work that is delivered) to outcomes (results that are the long-term consequences of delivering outputs).

“The model basically requires companies to take stock of their resources. When creating a volunteer program you have to know what your assets are; this includes skill sets, knowledge, infrastructure, and connections,” Jarvis said. “Companies need to figure out what they want to do by factoring in what they’d be good at. There has to be alignment between key activities and what they do as a business. If companies figure out their brand alignment and follow the model, they are halfway there to creating a better program.”

What’s In It For Me?

The uncomfortable truth of volunteering is that many employees, already busy with work and family and other responsibilities, will wonder what’s in it for them, which is why companies must take their needs into account. Considering the interests of employees is key to creating a successful volunteer program, but it doesn’t hurt to offer incentives. Flex scheduling, tying donations to volunteer hours, and supporting organizations employees volunteer with are all popular options, but Jarvis also recommends simply making the experience fun.

“Create an outstanding experience for your employees. Don’t even call it volunteering, call it fun,” Jarvis said. “After digging ditches all day, why not have a BBQ where everyone can just hang out? If you’re successful at making it fun, you’ve already converted a third of your employees into volunteers. Others will get on board after finding out about the other incentives. Chances are you have employees already familiar with volunteering, you may have some who’ve been volunteering outside of work for over 20 years and those are the people you need to bring into leadership positions. They have the experience and knowledge needed to excel and motivate other employees, so take advantage of that. Don’t just lump them in with everyone else and give them a bumper sticker for their service.”

Companies may also find themselves asking, “What’s in it for us?” If they’re at all interested in attracting new talent off of college campuses, they should consider an employee volunteer program crucial.

According to research in a 2007 Deloitte Volunteer IMPACT Survey, companies that help employees volunteer with nonprofit organizations could have a leg up with recruiting millennial talent. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents in the survey said they would prefer to work for companies that give them opportunities to contribute their talents to nonprofit organizations. The Points of Light Institute also urges companies not to forget about Generation X.  Once believed to be apathetic and disengaged, Generation X stepped up their commitment to volunteering in 2010, giving 2.3 billion hours of service—an increase of almost 110 million hours since 2009.

At a level unlike previous generations, millennials want integration between their work and their life; they do not want their work to be separated from their passions. If companies can harness that desire in their employee volunteer programs and make employees feel as if they’re being productive and contributing to something bigger, they’ve done something very meaningful.

“The number one reason why companies should have volunteer programs is because it creates better people. When you are actively giving people a chance to be the best they can be and you’re filling your company with those kinds of people, it can be transformative,” Jarvis said. “Volunteering makes us more appreciative, more understanding; it helps us rediscover our humanity. When you’re at a soup kitchen, your degree, your job, your house, your car – none of that matters. You’re interacting with people who have found themselves in a situation you could very easily find yourself in. An employee volunteer program has the ability to knit together who we are as people with what we do on a daily basis and that’s very powerful.”

As part of its sixth annual Summer of Community Service initiative, PwC announced a new strategic relationship with classroom savior DonorsChoose, a philanthropy that connects individual donors with specific school needs using a microfinance model. PwC is offering $5 gift cards to all of its 30,000 U.S. employees, and $20 gift cards to any employee who volunteers in a firm-sponsored project during the summer program to put toward the classroom project of their choice.

In the past three years, PwC has sharpened its focus on youth education. In a speech to the MIND Research Institute, another PwC education partner, Shannon Schuyler, Corporate Responsibility Leader at PwC, talked about the firm’s migration toward education as their chosen cause area. As the world’s largest professional services firm, PwC saw youth education as a global issue that resonated with employees everywhere. It was a cause that each employee could be involved with on a local level.

“We’re focusing really on financial services, we’re focusing a lot on math, a lot on analytical thinking, and the notion that we really want to see how we can drive forward science, and math and financial literacy in our next generation of leaders is absolutely critical and is something that we take very seriously. And we believe that’s part of who we are and what we need to do as a responsible organization.”

Heather Wright, Director of Operations for Corporate Responsibility for the U.S. firm, explains that the new partnership with DonorsChoose accomplished two important goals. It enables every employee to participate in their own way, while at the same time directing a substantial gift toward educational needs. “We really have an opportunity to maximize our impact when we group our donation dollars and our volunteer hours around a specific cause, and yet at the same time, with 30,000 people, we have a very diverse population with very different interests. DonorsChoose puts the donor in the consumer role, where they have much more choice and attachment to where they’re giving, and we think that is very engaging.”

Wright hopes that this model will grow once employees use their gift cards and perhaps become so invested that they donate their own money as well. “It’s addictive,” Wright laughed, “you keep giving because you really want to see your chosen project get funded.”

She sees the biggest benefit being the combined impact of volunteering and donating. On her way to financial literacy training at a New Orleans school, Wright talked about how she reminded her team to use their gift cards to fund projects at the school through DonorsChoose. Her colleagues were excited to realize that they could use their gift cards to benefit the school where they were already donating time.

“I think it further connects the dots between where you put your volunteer hours and your donation dollars to create this cycle of contagious commitment where people are excited to see the impact they are making. So you can go into the classroom and feel like you are really making a difference sharing your knowledge, and then you can go back to your desk, and when you think about where you want to give either the firm-provided funds or your own dollars – you can think about the students you worked side-by-side with, and you may want to give where it’s very tangible.”

Wright hopes that making the experience more customizable, personal, and transparent, will contribute to its longevity and sustainability. As for the future, she sees only growth. Now that 30,000 PwC U.S. employees know about DonorsChoose, volunteers could urge their local schools to post their own requests on the organization’s website. When the partnership began, Wright immediately contacted all the educators in her personal network to let them know about it, and what it could do. “I can’t speak for DonorsChoose, but [founder] Charles Best always presents it as a the-more-the-merrier-type endeavor, encouraging teachers and schools to get involved.”

Although the partnership was announced as part of PwC’s Summer of Community Service program, Wright says that the giving goes on all year around. Many PwC employees simply have more time in the summer to participate. The timing is perfect. With school about to start, many classrooms could use those $5 and $20 gift cards toward supplies.