Global companies volunteering globally GLOBAL COMPANIES VOLUNTEERIN COMPANIES GLOBAL The Final Report of the Global Corporate Volunteering Research Project Corporate volunteering is a dynamic, global force, driven by companies that want to make a significant difference to serious global and local problems. G G LOBALLY An initiative of IAVE The final report was produced with support from the UPS Foundation Kenn Allen | Mónica Galiano | Sarah Hayes cover_plate.indd 1 6/1/11 11:08 AM Global companies volunteering globally The Final Report of the Global Corporate Volunteering Research Project Kenn Allen, Project Director; President, Civil Society Consulting Group LLC Mónica Galiano, Senior Researcher; President, Iniciativa Brazil Sarah E. Hayes, Senior Researcher; Consultant Director, Global Corporate Volunteer Council ® 2011 International Association for Volunteer Effort. Designed by Walkyria Garotti, São Paulo, Brazil. Printed by Copy General Corp, Dulles, Virginia, USA 30% post-consumer recycled Cronos Font family The final report was produced with support from the UPS Foundation. This report also is available online at www.gcvcresearch.org in English, Spanish and Portuguese. The International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) is the only worldwide network of individual volunteers, NGOs and businesses that exists for the sole purpose of promoting, supporting and celebrating volunteering. It sponsors the biennial World Volunteer Conference. For more information and to become a member, please visit www.iave.org. The Global Corporate Volunteer Council (GCVC), an initiative of IAVE, is a network of leaders of corporate volunteer programs in global companies. Members share information, learn from one another and cooperate on efforts that advance corporate volunteering globally. For more information: www.iave.org/content/about-gcvc. For more information about the Global Corporate Volunteering Research Project, to join the project’s email list and to contact members of the research team, please visit the project web site, www.gcvcresearch.org. | 2 | About This Report The Global Corporate Volunteering Research Project was designed to create new knowledge that will help businesses expand and strengthen their volunteer efforts – globally, nationally and locally. It is a major contribution of the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) and the member companies of its Global Corporate Volunteer Council (GCVC) to the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the United Nations International Year of Volunteers. This report presents the primary findings of the two components of the project. • The State of Health Study was designed to “take the temperature” of corporate volunteering globally and in each region of the world and the trends, challenges and opportunities that are shaping it. • The Global Companies Study was built on in-person and telephone interviews and document review of how 48 global companies organize and manage their volunteer efforts. This is the first global study of corporate volunteering of its kind. It also is the first step in a continuing effort by IAVE and GCVC to develop and share knowledge about corporate volunteering. We invite you to visit our website – www.gcvcresearch.org – to learn more and to register your interest. We are deeply grateful to our corporate sponsors who made this work possible, to the global companies that opened themselves to scrutiny and to the NGOs, consultants and others who so freely shared their experiences, insights and resources with our research team. Kang Hyun Lee, Ph.D Sam Santiago World President Chair, Global Corporate Volunteer Council IAVE Director of American Giving American Airlines An initiative of IAVE | 3 | Table of contents Global State of Health 5 The global companies study 9 Inspiring Practices 11 Strategic Asset 20 26 Latin America Partnerships with NGOs 29 34 Africa Different Philosophies and Operations 36 44 Arab Nations Measurement and Evaluation 46 50 Asia Pacific Technology 52 56 Europe Skills-Based and International Volunteering 58 66 North America Sponsors 68 | 4 | The Global State of Health of corporate volunteering Corporate volunteering is a dynamic, global force, driven by companies that want to make a significant difference to serious global and local problems. Every day, all over the world, tens of thousands of corporate employees volunteer their time, talent and energy to make a demon- strable difference to the world. Even the global recession seems to have strengthened corporate volunteering. Global companies report new employee energy for volunteering; more creative initiatives to respond to basic needs of people who are unemployed or otherwise vulnerable; more strategic use of volunteering to leverage the giving of money and in sustaining employee pride and morale through difficult times. In the 30+ years since corporate volunteering was first defined as a discreet set of activities, it has grown from “nice to do” com- munity relations into a globally-recognized strategic asset that benefits society, the employees who volunteer and the companies that encourage and support their work Based on interviews with global, regional and national companies, NGOs that promote and support corporate volunteering and independent observers – this is the global state of health of corporate volunteering today. Globalization and Localization There is a broad diversity of global companies with sustained volunteer efforts that reach throughout their corporate systems. These include both consumer-focused and business-to-business companies from all industries and operating in every region in the world. At the same time regional, national and local businesses are mobilizing their employees as volunteers. Working on their own and collaboratively, they are responding to the needs of the communities where they do business. Focused Impact Increasingly, companies are seeking to focus their volunteer efforts on specific priorities, leveraging all of their resources – human, financial, in-kind and relational – to maximize their impact across a broad range of human, social and environmental problems. Corporate volunteers are addressing basic human needs – hunger, shelter, affordable housing, safety and security; and access to effective health care. They are working on issues of social justice – prevention of child labor, women’s empowerment, access to legal services, improving opportunities for people with disabilities, overcoming the digital divide. They are helping children, young people and adults to gain greater literacy and numeracy, build job skills and increase their readi- ness for work. They are planting trees, cleaning shorelines, building playgrounds, educating communities about energy conservation, rehabilitat- ing homes and public buildings. They bring to this work their professional and personal skills, their ability to organize and manage projects, their understanding of how to set and meet work goals, their personal passions and commitment. Optimistic Dynamism Corporate volunteering is not static. It is a growing, evolving force, changing to meet new community needs and new company and employee expectations. Global companies interviewed generally reported ongoing positive change – from planned expansion throughout their systems and new program initiatives to full-scale re-engineering and re-launching of their programs. Just as companies are learning to globalize their business, so too are they learning how to globalize their community engagement | 5 | and volunteering. As companies are at different points in that process, corporate volunteering is far from mature and is still in active development globally. Younger workers also have brought new energy and new expectations both to their companies and to their volunteering. In many countries, they come with the experience of having been expected to do community service in high school and at university. While the presence of a strong commitment to corporate social responsibility and an active volunteer effort is not necessarily a reason to join a company, the absence of those can be a deterrent. Corporate volunteering is a “big tent” that encompasses a broad range of activities, philosophies, approaches and management structures. Corporate volunteering ranges from companies that encourage individual em- There is no “best way” to ployees to volunteer on their own to sophisticated interventions by highly skilled do corporate volunteering. volunteers on company time, from neighborhood activities to sending volunteers throughout the world. Decisions about the nature and It is individual volunteers applying their specialized skills in one-to-one relation- scope of a company’s volunteer ships with people in need; small teams working in partnership with NGOs to help efforts are highly situational, them achieve their mission; worldwide mobilizations during days/weeks/months of service that feature one-time projects; and in online micro-volunteering. based on its culture, priorities, Companies depend heavily on global and local NGOs as partners to help them resources, the nature of its learn about community needs and to focus their volunteers where they can add the business and workforce and greatest value – in return they help to build their partners’ capacity and, together, the on-the-ground realities of they invent new initiatives that can transform company, NGO and the community. the communities in which it There are regional and cultural variations in how does business. While it is better volunteering