The traditional ideas of what forms a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program are changing, and skills-based volunteering (SBV) programs are at the forefront of the new face of CSR. Taproot can help you design, implement, and manage effective corporate community engagement and skilled volunteering programs as part of evolving your CSR efforts and building employee engagement.
Within most corporate social responsibility programs, there are generally similar hallmarks – charitable contributions, sustainability and well-being initiatives, employee volunteer programs, and more. But in recent years, CSR programs have been changing due to a variety of forces: from social justice movements to the climate crisis to generational shifts about what employees expect from their workplaces. Increasingly, employees are telling their employers that they want a deeper connection and more meaningful work with nonprofit partners.
Skills-based volunteering can provide that kind of connection. It can align with corporate social responsibility initiatives and can enhance a company’s commitment to making a positive impact in society. But many organizations don’t know where to start in building their skills-based volunteering initiatives. And that’s where Taproot can help. Taproot can provide you with the guidance and support to develop a skills-based volunteering program that will:
- Build your brand
- Engage your employees
- Build a “win-win-win” partnership that benefits your organization, your employees, and your nonprofit partners
- Take your organization’s social impact to the next level
This article is the first in a series of articles that will cover these topics and more – and help you build a business case for developing a skills-based volunteering program in your organization. But first, let’s look at the forces that have shaped CSR programs in the past – and where skills-based volunteering can take them in the future.
The Origins of CSR:
While elements of corporate social responsibility can be found all the way back to the Industrial Revolution, the modern concept of CSR programs took shape in the latter half of the 20th Century. After the U.S. civil rights and environmental movements of the 1960s and 1970s, some of the ideals of those movements influenced corporate America. Burt’s Bees, Whole Foods, and Ben and Jerry’s started in the 1970s with the aim of doing good while also being profitable enterprises.
The first meaningful CSR programs were established in the 1980s and 1990s. Those programs took root as the concept of the “triple bottom line” – where companies could support economic, social, and environmental goals – became part of a more high-profile conversation about the overall aims of corporate America.
CSR Programs Today:
It’s now very common to find most companies with at least a few elements of a CSR program, such as employee volunteer efforts and corporate giving. Most CSR programs span across an organization, and it’s almost considered to be table stakes to have a report or landing page with a summary of an organization’s CSR efforts.
But now, we’re moving beyond table stakes. Given the recent impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the social justice movements, and the emerging climate crisis, many companies are re-evaluating their existing CSR programs through the lens of environment, social, and governance (ESG) principles.
The Next Phase of CSR – Skills-Based Volunteering:
Skills-based volunteering has the potential to shape the future of corporate social responsibility, leading to more sustainable and impactful initiatives, and Taproot is at the forefront of developing these critical partnerships between nonprofits and corporations.
In a Taproot-designed skills-based volunteering program, teams of employees work with a nonprofit organization to solve a pressing operational issue. We consider ourselves connectors: if a nonprofit needs help redesigning their website, improving their financial modeling, or other types of professional services, Taproot can connect a nonprofit with the right support at the right time that would be akin to hiring a consulting firm, providing swift and tangible impact – for free!
“For more than 20 years, Taproot’s programs and services have connected social good organizations with passionate professionals who have expertise in areas like human resources, finance, marketing, strategic planning, and IT to help tackle organizations’ critical challenges,” said Taproot CEO Lindsay Gruber. “And those skilled professionals have made a huge impact. In 2022, 84% of our nonprofit partners reported an immediate increase in their organization’s effectiveness with the support of skills-based volunteers.”
A structured skills-based volunteer program allows your company to scale your support for organizations your team cares about, increase resource equity for nonprofits, and provide your people with new ways to learn and grow – and the data reflects the results:
- In 2022, 30% of nonprofits that worked with Taproot’s skills-based volunteers saw revenue grow and costs decrease.
- While the national rate of formal volunteering dropped in the U.S. in 2022, Taproot increased its volunteer hours by 15% and its number of volunteers by 21%.
How Taproot Can Help You:
Companies can realize their highest level of corporate citizenship, community engagement, and employee empowerment with a tailored Taproot skills-based volunteering program.
Since 2001, Taproot has helped create hundreds of skills-based volunteering programs at more than 110 companies, supporting thousands of nonprofit organizations. And no two programs are alike. Taproot provides a diverse array of opportunities to engage both nonprofits and skilled volunteers. In 2015, we also launched Taproot Plus, an open-access, online platform which enables nonprofits to connect directly with skilled professionals anytime and anywhere through virtual pro bono opportunities.
Taproot is here to help you in designing your company’s skills-based volunteering program. From design and implementation to ongoing management, Taproot is with your organization every step of the way. You can find more information here, including a way to connect with our Advisory Services practice to design a skills-based volunteer program for your organization.
More about SBV:
This article is the first in a series about skills-based volunteering. In our next article, we share more tips on how you can build your organization’s brand through skills-based volunteering programs. In the meantime, read more about CSR here.
Author: Erika Snider
