Scaling purpose: How Iress drove a 341% increase in participation

Company overview

Iress is a global software company that provides technology solutions to the financial services industry. After undergoing a period of transformation, the company set out to revitalize its long-standing community program. With only one program owner and support from volunteer champions around the world, Iress reignited their social impact program, building strong foundations that prioritized data, transparency and engagement.

The challenge

Iress Impact is the company’s community program. It launched in 2017 and selected Benevity as its platform partner in 2022. Shortly after, Iress embarked on a comprehensive two-year transformation that saw a change in management team and a reset of the company’s strategy. While Iress invested in solid foundations, inclusive of donation matching and paid volunteer leave; two years of organizational change meant program awareness and engagement was low. With only one program owner, it was difficult to demonstrate value, scale initiatives globally or align internal stakeholders around a common vision for impact.

Key challenges included:

• ‍Limited engagement and visibility: Participation remained relatively flat over 2023-24 with only 12% of employees globally participating in the program.‍
• Low program awareness across regions: Without localized reporting, regional committees didn’t have a strong connection to the global outcome, resulting in uneven uptake.‍
• Lack of internal alignment and cultural traction: The program wasn’t well connected with other Iress initiatives and programs, making it harder to build momentum.‍
• Missed opportunities to showcase impact: Iress wasn’t making the most of program data in its communications and program management.

The solution

Starting late 2024, Iress reignited its social impact program by doubling down on culture, simplicity and data. They leaned on Benevity to scale with intention — embedding purpose into the employee experience while building stronger internal alignment. Iress found creative ways to inspire action and measure impact across its dispersed workforce.

With Benevity’s Enterprise Impact Platform, Iress brought its strategy to life through:

• ‍One platform, one person, global scale: Iress leveraged Benevity’s Donate and Volunteer modules to manage giving and volunteering across multiple geographies — all run by a single program manager and local volunteers.‍
• Localized reporting and visibility: Reporting Studio enabled Iress to easily track matching, generate regional dashboards and benchmark participation, giving local teams the insights they needed to engage and plan effectively. By empowering employee fundraisers with data from Reporting Studio, they could encourage colleagues who’d made donations to apply for a match – helping grow both their fundraising and Iress’ program engagement.
• Creative, campaign-driven engagement: Seeding rewards were distributed during Iress’ global People Conferences, with employees using $10 AUD to support causes they cared about. The campaign saw redemption rates of up to 90% in some regions and helped drive an 8% to 40% jump in overall participation.
• Giving on center stage: A dynamic team-building event at Iress’ People Conferences created a new opportunity to connect with the program at scale.‍
• Going back to the basics: Local champions were reminded of toolset features that made their lives easy — by utilizing QR codes linked to a Benevity giving campaign, an annual charity morning tea tripled donations from the previous year.
• ‍Integrated giving into new experiences: Iress introduced Benevity gift cards into a customer survey program as an alternative to traditional giveaways — a change that was so well-received, it’s been adopted across other feedback programs.‍
• ‍Always-on communications: Iress used Slack, internal graphics, and storytelling to consistently promote the program, especially during their year-end campaign push — helping to drive awareness and participation across regions. When Iress rolled out a new internal communication platform, badges for donors and volunteers recognized contributors.‍
• ‍Ongoing support from Benevity: With guidance from their CSM and access to the B-Hive, Iress was able to activate initiatives quickly, stay aligned with best practices, and scale the program with confidence.

‍The results

In just a few months, Iress transformed its social impact program from a quiet initiative with limited awareness into a vibrant, employee-driven movement that’s been spotlighted at the company’s most attended people events — all led by a single program manager and supported by the power of Benevity’s platform.

Here’s what that transformation delivered:

• ‍Record-breaking participation: Overall participation rose from 15% at the end of 2024 to 41% in the first half of 2025, a 341% increase. A single activation at the Iress People Conference helped drive participation to over 40%, with a 90% redemption rate in regions like Singapore.
• ‍Surging donor engagement: Iress saw a 229% increase in unique donors, rising from 159 in 2024 to 629 in 2025 YTD. Donation participation reached 39.44%, up from just 8.22% a year prior. In the first six months of the year, Iress has surpassed 2024’s giving and matching totals with over AU$50,000 donated to global causes.
• ‍Volunteer momentum building: While slower to grow than giving, volunteerism is climbing — with a 2025 volunteer rate of 14%, tripling the prior year. 
• ‍Operational efficiency through Reporting Studio: With Reporting Studio, Iress eliminated manual tracking of matches, automated regional reporting and enabled localized benchmarking. The new visibility from volunteer to board level has reignited momentum across the program.
• ‍Creative program applications: Iress integrated Benevity into new channels like their customer feedback program and people conferences.

Partnership highlights

Looking ahead, Iress is focused on sustaining this momentum. They’re exploring ways to deepen volunteer participation, leveraging employee surveys to better measure impact and continuing to spotlight regional storytelling moments that reflect their people-first culture. Iress Impact is entering a new chapter of visibility and strategic alignment — proving that even a small team can drive meaningful, global change when backed by purpose and partnership.