Your corporate volunteer program plays a major role in improving both your community and your company culture, but that impact is often difficult to quantify. The main benefits of corporate social responsibility (CSR) are intangibles like increased employee satisfaction or a better brand reputation, which makes finding ways to measure corporate volunteer program impact crucial.
Armed with data and actionable insights, you will be able to unlock your CSR program’s full potential and effectively demonstrate its value to company stakeholders.
Why Do You Need to Measure Corporate Volunteer Program Impact?
Corporate volunteer programs are a win-win-win situation:
- Your employees remain engaged, get opportunities to upskill, and enjoy better overall well-being.
- Underserved causes in your community get an influx of much-needed resources.
- Your business gains increased brand recognition, a stronger reputation, and new community partnerships, as well as attracting more top talent.
However, since corporate volunteerism does not directly support your company’s profits, your CSR program can often come under fire when budgeting season arrives. Measuring corporate volunteer program impact is critical to making the case for your program; it allows you to show leadership and stakeholders the exact ways that corporate volunteerism generates value and supports your company’s short- and long-term goals.
Beyond demonstrating value to stakeholders, measuring corporate volunteer program impact also allows you to optimize the program itself. The data you collect will keep you and your team accountable, while also highlighting areas for improvement.
Key Metrics to Track
Because corporate volunteerism’s benefits often manifest as soft skills and abstract concepts, finding metrics to track can pose a challenge. However, with a bit of innovative problem-solving, you can identify plenty of relevant data points.
Focus your metrics on corporate volunteer program outcomes. Your CSR has four main areas of impact: your employee volunteers, your company, your nonprofit partner(s), and the community you serve. Take each sector into account when you are building your data tracking strategy.
Employee Volunteer Metrics
- Percentage of employees who participate in the volunteer program
- Level of volunteer satisfaction
- Percentage of employees who report upskilling as a result of the program
- Number of volunteer projects created
- Total number of volunteer hours
Corporate Metrics
- Employee retention ratios
- Customer satisfaction data
- Percentage of customers likely to recommend your business
- Employee satisfaction score
- Brand awareness levels
Nonprofit Organization Metrics
- Volunteer hours contributed
- The monetary value of volunteer hours to the nonprofit
- New nonprofit programs created
- Donations received
- Rate of donor conversion
- Nonprofit brand recognition
- Increase in organizational capacity and reach
Community Metrics
- Number of community members served
- Community impact metrics
- Beneficiary satisfaction rates
- Amount and value of services delivered
Keep in mind that you do not have to track all of these metrics, especially if you have never measured your corporate volunteer program impact before or if you don’t have software to assist with data collection. Start with the data points that you feel are most relevant to your program and scale from there as necessary.
Methods of Measurement
Once you have identified the metrics that you want to track, you have to decide how to collect and measure that data.
Volunteer Data Points
Keep track of important statistics like volunteer hours, the number of volunteers, the percentage of employees who participate in CSR programs, and the number of volunteer projects created.
Feedback Surveys
Surveys are one of the most important methods of corporate volunteer program data collection. You should collect feedback from your employee volunteers regularly, typically after every major volunteering event. You can structure survey questions as yes/no, multiple choice, and numbered scales to turn abstract questions into quantifiable data. However, don’t focus solely on numbers. While open-ended questions take more time to analyze, they provide a level of nuance and specificity that cannot be achieved by numbers alone.
Sample volunteer survey questions include:
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with our company’s volunteer program?
- What skills have you developed through this volunteering opportunity (select all that apply): leadership, communication, project management, problem-solving, collaboration, organization, other (please specify)
- How many hours did you volunteer on this project?
- Yes or No: Are you more likely to stay with a company that offers CSR opportunities?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is corporate volunteering to you?
- What changes would you like to see to our corporate volunteering initiatives?
- What do you value most about our CSR program?
Case Studies
Case studies are a powerful way to showcase your CSR program's impact. They combine narrative storytelling with data for a compelling argument, giving stakeholders insight into how your employees helped real people. Collaborate with your nonprofit partners to create strong case studies that balance emotional quotes from beneficiaries and nonprofit leadership with key metrics. Remember to structure your case study as a narrative: what problem existed, how did you go about solving it, and what was your ultimate impact?
You can also create your case studies that focus directly on your volunteers. Employee success stories give a face to your CSR program. Ask employees to discuss why they engage in corporate volunteerism, what they learned, and what they enjoyed most about the program. These case studies then serve as great examples of your corporate volunteer program impact, both for stakeholders and other employees who may be interested in volunteering.
Focus Groups
Focus groups allow you to evaluate your employees’ interest in and satisfaction with your CSR program in a conversational format. They provide a valuable opportunity to clarify employee opinions, gauge interest in program changes, and brainstorm new ideas. Consider mixing up your focus group demographics to glean different perspectives. For example, you could run a large-scale focus group that includes employees, beneficiaries, and nonprofit staff or a smaller one that includes both volunteer employees and non-volunteers.
Nonprofit Impact Reports
Your nonprofit partners will already have robust reporting systems in place. Utilize this data to measure your nonprofit and community-related metrics, like beneficiary impact, the monetary value of volunteer hours, and volunteer program reach. You should also ask your nonprofit partners for feedback about their experience working with your corporate volunteers, either through informal chats or structured surveys. This feedback will allow you to strengthen your partnership and provide insights into how your program fits into the nonprofit’s processes.
Employee Satisfaction and Retention Data
Analyze your company’s current employee satisfaction and retention data to provide insight into your CSR programs. Are employee volunteers more likely to report job satisfaction than their colleagues? Has employee retention improved since CSR implementation?
Large-Scale Corporate Volunteerism Statistics
Putting your CSR program into context with similar programs is a powerful way to demonstrate value to stakeholders. Here are a few statistics to consider.
- 96% of companies see increased engagement from employees who participate in corporate volunteerism
- 71% of employees prefer to work at a company with philanthropy initiatives
- Employee turnover rate decreases by 52% among workers who participate in CSR programs
Tools and Technologies for Measuring Corporate Volunteer Program Impact
Tracking and analyzing corporate volunteer program impact is a complicated task. Leverage online tools to help you build measurement capacity.
Volunteer Management Software
Volunteer management software is one of the easiest ways to measure volunteer data. Volunteer management software can help you effortlessly track hours, run reports, and learn more about volunteer segments. Comprehensive volunteer management platforms like VolunteerHub also offer options for self-scheduling, automated communication, and liability waivers, freeing up valuable time and energy for other elements of your corporate volunteer program.
Survey Platforms
Online survey platforms like Survey Monkey, Google Forms, and Jotforms make it easy to collect employee, nonprofit partner, and beneficiary surveys. Web-hosted forms are convenient options for respondents, allowing them to answer in their own time, and they also assist CSR program staff by suggesting templates and collating data.
Data Visualization Tools
Data visualization is essential to both effective data analysis and sharing CSR program impact. Dashboards, graphs, charts, tables, maps, timelines, and infographics can all play a role in your corporate volunteer program impact measurement strategy. Consider tools like:
- Spreadsheet programs with graph and chart options, like Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel
- Visual analytics software like Salesforce’s Tableau and Google’s Looker Studio
- Online graphic designers like Canva
Reporting and Sharing Impact
All of your corporate volunteer program data is meaningless if it cannot be shared. When you are communicating your CSR program impact, keep your audience in mind. You will likely have to develop two separate reporting strategies, one for internal company audiences and one for public relations.
Internal Reporting
When demonstrating value to internal stakeholders, the most effective way to showcase impact is to prioritize outcome. Internal CSR reports should lean heavily on quantifiable data and spotlight the issues that company stakeholders care most about, like how the CSR program improves employee retention, increases brand reputation and recognition, and supports overall corporate goals.
External Impact Sharing
External impact sharing advertises your company’s corporate social responsibility programs to a broader audience; it can include press releases, social media posts, and customer-facing web pages. External impact sharing should focus more on the impact corporate volunteerism has on the community and nonprofit partners than the company itself. Appeal to emotion through case studies and testimonials paired with easy-to-understand data points and visually engaging graphics.
Challenges and Solutions
As you go through the process of measuring corporate volunteer program impact, you may encounter obstacles. Thankfully, many of these problems can be solved with a little planning and flexibility.
- Finding data collection capacity: To measure your corporate volunteer program impact, someone has to have the time to do it. Make the most of your staff’s time by automating as many volunteer management and data collection processes as possible.
- Implementing new processes: Volunteers may be initially reluctant to actively participate in CRS impact data gathering activities, such as completing surveys. Make sure your employees understand why you are trying to measure this data. If they understand that these measures are all about making their corporate volunteering experience better, they will be more likely to embrace these new processes.
- Analyzing metrics: Use visual tools, AI-powered analytics, and employee feedback to make sense of the data points you have collected. Also, consider how your data points interact with each other and let those relationships guide your analysis. How do corporate volunteers impact the company and vice versa?
- Recognizing your volunteers: Corporate volunteerism offers nontangible rewards, like a sense of accomplishment, socialization, and the joy of helping others, but there’s nothing wrong with introducing more tangible benefits. As you gather your data, consider recognizing outstanding corporate volunteers with a special award or social media shoutout. Awarding volunteers doesn’t just make your employees feel more appreciated; it can also encourage friendly competition and maximize your results.
Tips for Continuous Improvement
Armed with all of this data, you can use actionable insights to improve your program.
Respond to Feedback
Act on the feedback you receive from your employee volunteers and nonprofit partners, especially if they consistently report a certain issue. Letting volunteers know you value their opinions improves the overall CSR experience and increases impact.
Optimize Resource Allocation
It’s important to get as much impact out of each volunteer hour as possible. Use your data to ensure that volunteers and other resources are allocated properly.
Set SMART Goals
SMART goals are great ways to drive program development. Consider how you want your CRS program to change and set goals that are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
A vague goal, like saying you want to recruit more employee volunteers to your CRS program, is harder to work towards because it lacks any real benchmarks. Instead, set a SMART goal, such as increasing corporate volunteers involved in projects with a specific nonprofit partner by 10% this quarter.
Track Your Progress Over Time
Your data measurement effort doesn’t finish after the initial push! Keep updating your data and regularly analyzing trends. This method will help you see if your changes are effective and identify other potential areas for growth.
