The NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning believes winning takes place on and off the ice. The organization created the C.H.A.R.G.E. program to provide people in their community with support.
Tampa Bay is a hockey town! In 2004 the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup and since then the team continues to dominate opponents on the ice and make an impact in the community off the ice. The Lightning organization is on a mission to enrich the lives of people in Tampa Bay by providing support to meet basic human needs and enrich lives.
The team and the organization’s employees care deeply about providing support to the community that stands behind them. Each season, players visit schools, hospitals, and other public events that support children and families throughout the community. In 2018, players helped to raise $50,000 dollars for the Humane Society of Tampa Bay and provided support for children battling pediatric cancer. Players also donate their time throughout the Bolts Better Halve program that benefits organizations such as Metropolitan Ministries, the Salvation Army, Feeding Tampa Bay, and the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program.
C.H.A.R.G.E.
Besides player contributions, Lighting also encourages employees to give through volunteerism. The C.H.A.R.G.E. (Contributing Hours Across our Region through our Generous Employees) program was created to help Lightning employees be the difference. Under the program and leadership of owner Jeff, all full-time employees provide a minimum of 40 hours of service to nonprofits throughout the local community.
In the last eight years, the program has provided 200 local charities and nonprofits with over 45000 volunteer hours (more than $1,100,000 in volunteer hour value). The Lightning is passionate about helping the community and getting all employees, players, and supporters involved in the act. Since 2011, the organization also honors a community hero, at every game, by presenting them with a check for $50,000 to donate to a nonprofit charity of their choice. Talk about impact!
“We love introducing staff to local non-profits and all the incredible work they do on a daily basis. We have the opportunity to give back to the community that supports us throughout the season. Our owner’s passion for giving has allowed us to spend close to 30,000 hours volunteering in over 25 impact areas in the last five years,” said Kristina Hjertkvist, Manager of Community Relations & Social Impact, Tampa Bay Sports & Entertainment.
Need for Strategic Volunteer Management
Prior to exploring volunteer management solutions and landing on VolunteerHub, the Lightning used a manual process to manage their C.H.A.R.G.E. program. The process used a combination of online forms and excel spreadsheets to keep track of volunteer data.
The method for management required all data to be manually transcribed from online forms to spreadsheets creating inefficiencies and costing the organization time. The Lightning organization wanted a solution that would streamline their efforts, provide an automated process for registration, enhance communication and help take their program to the next level. The organization landed on VolunteerHub as the best fit for their program and goals.
“We wanted a solution that would provide an easy interface for employee engagement, seamless administration mode, communication tools for volunteer events, and useful reporting to find program strengths and weaknesses. VolunteerHub has delivered,” said Kristina.
VolunteerHub is the Best Solution for Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning love their experience with VolunteerHub and the features that the software provides its employee volunteer program (C.H.A.R.G.E.). Some features that the organization finds the most beneficial are the ability for employees to register for opportunities online, the easy to use back-end interface via Admin 2.0, the reporting features, and the communication capabilities for keeping employees up-to-date regarding what opportunities are available and their personal progress completing yearly community service hours.
“VolunteerHub has streamlined the way that we recruit, engage, and manage employees as part of our C.H.A.R.G.E. program. We could not imagine managing our program without the features VolunteerHub provides,” said Kristina.
The Lighting plans to continue to dominate its goals on the ice and off of the ice. The NHL team is thankful for the community that supports their team and will continue to be an organization that provides their support back to those in need in the community that they love.
