The State of
Corporate
Volunteering
Driving impact in a hybrid world
Corporate volunteering takes center stage
In the last three years, there has been a massive surge in corporate volunteering, with 94% of Benevity's clients with employee engagement programs now running volunteering initiatives. Never before have so many companies invested this much into corporate volunteering programs — and gained so much in return.
From park clean-ups to paid volunteer days, volunteering is playing a vital role in addressing some of the big issues companies are facing. It’s deepening employee connection, strengthening company culture, and creating a sense of community in a hybrid work environment.
Did you know
Employees who participate in corporate purpose programs through volunteering, giving or taking positive actions are 52% less likely to leave their company.
- Talent Retention Study
Driving lasting impact
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Companies supporting both company-created and employee-created volunteering opportunities have participation rates that are, on average, 12x the level of those companies employing neither feature. |
Charting volunteer growth
An evolving approach to volunteering
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Location-based volunteering is at 3.6x the level it was in 2022 and 8.6x the level seen during the depths of the pandemic in 2020. |
How participation rates compare across companies
While volunteering participation has increased exponentially, a closer look at participation rates by quintile indicates considerable variation across companies. The top performing quintile has a wide range in participation from 15% to 73%.
*Quintiles are based on annual volunteering participation rate. Change in average over prior year only calculated where two full years existed for fair comparison.
Participation rate by country
Participation rate by industry
7.6x
Fact
When company-supported volunteer opportunities are part of a company’s volunteer engagement strategy, the employee participation rate increases to, on average, 7.6x compared with those without these opportunities.
Act
It’s relatively uncommon for individuals to seek out a volunteer opportunity on their own. Companies benefit from creating, planning and promoting opportunities for their employees to act on.
Best in Class
Xylem is a leading global water technology company that encourages its employees to address water challenges by volunteering their time and providing pro-bono skilled expertise. To drive deeper engagement with its manufacturing employees, Xylem evolved its program by creating opportunities that could be done online, offline and via the Benevity mobile app. Promoting relevant and accessible opportunities was critical to engaging this group, and Xylem’s employees stepped up to help communities virtually and in-person, resulting in volunteer hours doubling from 53,100 to 113,100 in just one year.
7.5x
Fact
When team volunteering opportunities are part of a company’s volunteer engagement strategy, the employee participation rate increases to, on average, 7.5x compared to those without these opportunities.
Act
Encourage employees to band together and seek out volunteer opportunities. Team leaders and middle managers can play an important role in this, leading by example and setting norms and rituals around volunteering.
Best in Class
CarMax is the largest retailer of used vehicles in the U.S., with a longstanding record of community service that’s driven by its Volunteer Team Builder program. Employees at any CarMax location can join together in a group of five or more to plan and execute volunteer activities with a qualifying nonprofit organization — which then also receives a donation from the CarMax Foundation. The result of empowering these small teams? Record-breaking levels of engagement. Over 12,000 CarMax employees have participated in these volunteer opportunities, benefitting 10,000 organizations.
2.7x
Fact
When employee-led volunteering opportunities are part of a company’s volunteer engagement strategy, the employee participation rate increases to, on average, 2.7x compared to those without these opportunities.
Act
There is power in personal connection – people trust their peers. Empower employees to discover and share volunteer opportunities that are meaningful to them.
Best in Class
Morningstar is a leading provider of investment research and management services that has experienced rapid growth. It wanted to harness the power and passion of its people to do good across the 30 countries in which it operates. The company identified local Community Champions from across their global offices and empowered them to identify nonprofit organizations, form partnerships and create different project opportunities in honor of Morningstar’s first annual national volunteer week. Over 5,400 colleagues volunteered for 128 different local projects ranging from working with students and assisting the elderly to fighting food insecurity and restoring the environment.
2.5x
Fact
When company-wide volunteering events are part of a company’s volunteer engagement strategy, the employee participation rate increases to 2.5x on average, compared to those without these opportunities.
Act
Promote a volunteer period of service that engages employees and ignites them to participate for a particular day, week or month.
Best in Class
Charles Schwab is the largest publicly traded investment services firm in the U.S. Its annual Schwab Volunteer Week has become a favorite employee activity. The company makes volunteering easier for everyone by offering both in-person and virtual volunteering and creating onsite drop-in events for employees who may not be able to get away from the office. Since its start in 2004 as a single-day event, the initiative has grown into a two-week, nationwide event engaging more than one-quarter of all Schwab employees and supporting over 400 nonprofits.
The path to strong performance
The structure and features of corporate volunteer programs have a direct impact on their success, and are evolving to better match today’s workforce.
Volunteer program features
In the last three years, our data shows a very high adoption of Volunteer Acts of Kindness, followed by rewards and use of the Benevity mobile app. Only 15% of companies are using minimum thresholds, which have all but become a thing of the past as companies start to build more inclusive programs that allow even one hour of volunteering to count.
Volunteer content types
For purpose-driven companies, the desire to do more will always be strong. Our analysis found a company could increase volunteer participation by an average of 12x if it allows both company-created and employee-initiated volunteer opportunities, compared with none. The more diverse the volunteering content sources — for example, from nonprofits, volunteer champions and employee resource groups — the more people are likely to be drawn into the program.
*Based on Benevity data that shows the activation of partner content in the client's Benevity employee engagement platform.
Volunteer rewards programs
Increasingly, companies are rewarding volunteers for giving their time, no matter the length, to incentivize greater participation. Rewards programs, such as Dollars for Doers♣, recognize people’s contributions and provide them with financial incentives they can direct to a nonprofit of their choice.
*Median reward per hour volunteered
Best in Class
Principal Financial redesigned its employee engagement program in 2022 to make it more accessible and saw an impressive 197% increase in volunteer rewards in the first three months alone. Previously, Principal had run a more restrictive matching program that required a minimum of 25 hours of service and only matched dollars to one cause, the United Way. With its reimagined program, Principal replaced the 25-hour requirement with a generous $25 per hour reward, up to $1,000 per year. Employees may earn the reward in hour increments or smaller bits of time and will receive the reward whether they volunteer with a recognized nonprofit or simply help a neighbor with their groceries. In total, Principal employees generated over $2.6 million in donations to over 2,450 causes in just four months.
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The average number of volunteer hours per person is 50% higher in companies that offer rewards. |
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“If there’s one thing that will make or break this industry’s effort for impact in the new era, it’s volunteering. Not the number of people who volunteer, not the hours dedicated to volunteering, not even skills-based versus hands-on volunteering. In the new era, we will make a choice: Is volunteering a mechanism for change or a mechanism for numbers? Is the objective to drive societal impact or report increased outputs? If we, as social impact professionals, choose to focus on one issue that will improve the status of every other issue we face, we’ll focus on the strategic “why.” Why are we doing this? Why does volunteering matter? And, most importantly, for whom does it matter? Without this, we are at risk of backsliding into a category of volunteering that not only lacks value but, in fact, perpetuates the very societal issues our industry exists to address.” 
Angela Parker |
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“Once employees engage in a skills-based volunteer opportunity, our research shows that 90% are excited and ready to donate their professional expertise again in this way within the next year. This is reflective of the many ways that skills-based volunteering provides employees with a deeper level of engagement and awareness of the impact they are able to be a part of through supporting organizations in this way. And it’s the employees who participate in skills-based volunteering who are often among the highest performing – the ones who will be your company’s future leaders.”
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Lindsay Gruber
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“Corporate volunteering can be public service at its best. Done well, we create an incredibly thoughtful human-centered process of bringing skills to bear in service to the needs of a community. Ironically, it can also be a self-centered exercise in impact-splaining and paternalism. Organizations that come to the table curious about how they can be of service to a mission will find the rest comes easy. That is equity, empathy and engagement in action. That’s what leading nonprofit organizations are hungry for.”
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Jude O'Reilley
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“Volunteering is one of the best ways to build bridges in a polarized climate. Getting out of our own bubbles to experience what life is like for others, volunteering alongside people who come from different walks of life and face different challenges broadens our horizons and fosters compassion and empathy that serves us, our teams, our companies and our communities. We become better people while bettering the people around us. As corporate purpose leaders, let us not lose the opportunity to be a source of unification and de-polarization by promoting volunteering in the years to come.”
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Sona Khosla