We’ve put together post-event steps we recommend to keep the momentum going after a volunteering event or campaign:
Step 1: Gather & Review Corporate Volunteering Event Materials & Results
Basic metrics that paint a picture of participation and results can be formed from asking questions like:
- How many employees participated in the corporate volunteer event?
- How many volunteer hours were completed by employees?
- How many people were helped or served during your volunteer effort?
- How do these numbers compare to past similar events?
- What goals for this specific event or ongoing campaign were set and were they met?
- What materials from the event can be used in post-event communications?
- What did the stakeholders from the non-profit have to say about your company’s involvement? Gather a few quotes from those impacted by the event.
- What did your employees have to say about the event? Gather a few quotes from employees who volunteered during the event.
Step 2: Create and Distribute Your Story
Research continues to show an increase in consumers’ interest in purchasing through ethically-minded companies, but
a decrease in the trust of brands and the organizations behind them. This leaves a particularly interesting challenge for effectively building your CSR story.
The metrics gathered in Step 1 can be used to build an authentic CSR story behind your campaign or event success so it can be distributed internally and externally.
Story Formats to Try:
- Web copy messaging to post on your website or career site.
- Blog articles to post to your company or careers blog.
- News/ press releases to distribute through newswires and publish on your site.
- Social media posts for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
- Video to use on your site, social and through email or any other distribution channels available through your marketing department.
- Company newsletters or even printed material in areas where employees gather.
By using personal stories from employees who participated, you can reach the rest of your workforce in a way that generic messaging can’t. Download this printable worksheet to build your CSR story messaging.
Suggested Distribution Channels:
You’ll want to partner up with marketing to distribute communications internally and externally across your:
- Intranet
- CSR Software
- Corporate Social Media Accounts
- Careers Social Media Accounts
- Corporate Site
- Careers Site/Page
- Job Postings
- Company Meetings
- Break Areas/Reception Areas
Step 3: Reward CSR Participation
Host a reception, breakfast or even cater in lunch to commemorate the end of a big event. This makes things official and provides a great time to share results and give thanks, appreciation and rewards to employees for their participation. Make the celebration exclusive to participants only, but make sure to include a fun photo booth or photo backdrop so employees can share their attendance.
This can help generate future participation from those who missed out on all of the fun while also giving those who participated a keepsake or timehop memory. Order a custom Instagram frame photo prop for attendees to pose in and post them to your company’s Instagram account with an event hashtag! You can use these photos later in CSR reports, videos of corporate philanthropy efforts during the year or in your employee engagement programs for future events.
Bonus Idea: Draw for Prizes
Take the roster of participants and select employees at random to receive a prize! Be sure to use prizes that are attention-grabbing like a day off with pay or one of these 99 ways to reward CSR participation. Then be sure to blast the winners along with their prize across company comms to spread the news.
When the next event comes up, feature the prizes you’ll draw for post-event. Your employees will jump at the idea to get involved knowing they get to do something good, receive the traditional benefit of paid time off or dollars for doers, AND have the opportunity to win something special.
While we understand a lot more work goes into following these three steps, we hope it gets you thinking about engaging employees in volunteering programs in a much more strategic way. The right corporate philanthropy software can lessen some of the hurdles often found in engagement. We invite you to speak with an engagement expert from our team to learn more about how we can help you increase participation in your programs.
About Liz Bardetti:
Seasoned advertising and marketing professional with 15+ years experience, including work for Gatorade, Welch’s and most recently, CyberGrants. CyberGrants is the preferred CSR software provider to the best philanthropic corporations around the globe. Our clients represent over 50% of the Fortune 100 and nearly one-third of all corporate giving. In the last twelve months alone, CyberGrants helped 250 customers give $6.5 billion plus more than 50 million volunteer hours to over 400,000 non-profit organizations.
