Realized Worth | Employee Volunteering & Workplace Giving

6 Reasons Why You Should Be At The ‘2012 International Corporate Citizenship Conference’

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 23:39:00 +0000

Realized Worth is excited to be attending next week’s conference hosted by the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship. We think you should be there too - here’s why.

For all the conferences we present at throughout the year, there is probably only one that is a "must attend no matter what." You guessed it! It's the 2012 International Corporate Citizenship Conference held next week, March 25-27, in Phoenix.

The high caliber of this conference is not due only to the great folks at @BCCCC. In fact, there are at least 5 strong reasons why you might want to consider registering today to claim one of the limited seats still available.

1. It’s BIG

This is one of the few places where you can mingle with over 600 of your colleagues who share your enthusiasm for corporate citizenship. Whether your area of responsibility is corporate citizenship, community relations, sustainability, communications, external affairs or human resources, you’ll be able to find your counterpart in another company.

2. It’s Thorough

With 23 breakout sessions and workshops featuring experts on a range of issues and challenges, you’ll be sure to find answers to the questions you’re asking.

3. It’s Motivating

Each year, the conference organizers ensure there are plenty of motivating keynote speakers to address the big concepts of corporate citizenship. This year all of the speakers come from the Boston College membership and work inside companies that are trying to address issues of citizenship.

Donald Brandt, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer, Pinnacle West Capital Corporation
Edward Z. Fox, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, Arizona Public Service Company
Leisha John, Americas Director of Environmental Sustainability, Ernst & Young
David Jones, Global CEO, Havas
Brendan LeBlanc, Executive Director, Climate Change and Sustainability Services, Ernst & Young
James E. Nevels, Chairman, The Hershey Company
Brad Smith, General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Legal and Corporate Affairs, Microsoft
Trisa Thompson, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility, Dell

4. It’s Revealing

The sex appeal of this year’s conference may be the new research findings which will provide attendees the opportunity to gather relevant insights and data. Here’s some of what you can look forward to:

The latest information from our biennial State of Corporate Citizenship, showing that while corporate leaders recognize the long-term value of investing in environmental, social and governance issues, they face pressure to prioritize short-term returns.

Net Impact research revealing what is important to job-seeking college students, the attitudes of Generation Y employees, and how a company’s commitment to corporate and environmental sustainability influences salary negotiations.

New Nielsen research on the socially conscious consumer, revealing differences in consumer expectations and the preferred social causes across 56 countries.

Results of a new Ernst & Young LLP/GreenBiz Group study – “Six growing trends in corporate sustainability” – which reveals an increasing financial focus on sustainability efforts that impact core business objectives. The study finds that 77 percent of survey respondents anticipate natural resource shortages will impact business and 65 percent say their CFO is now involved in their company’s sustainability initiatives.

5. It’s Cinematic

This will be the fourth year that Boston College has held it’s annual Corporate Citizenship Film Festival. This year, a record 68 entries were submitted for review. Of those videos, a final 10 were chosen, one of which will be awarded the Film Festival trophy. The best thing is that throughout the conference all 10 videos will be playing so you can pick your favorite and re-live the Oscar buzz you’ve been missing.

6. It’s Delicious

I hate to admit it, but one of the key criteria to a great conference is good food! I promise you, the 2012 International Corporate Citizenship Conference will deliver. 'Nuff said.

If you’re convinced and want to register, you should do it quickly!

If you cannot make it for some unfathomable reason, then be sure to check out the Center blog where you can find highlights from sessions and a wrap-up of each day. Go to the News and Features page of the Boston College website to get the latest news from Phoenix. You can also follow along on twitter - @BCCCC.

3 Keys to Successful Crowdsourced Giving

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:45:00 +0000

Thinking of taking your company's community giving online and asking the public to vote on causes that matter most to them? Read this first.

The following is a guest post by Rachel Berdan. Rachel is Lead Copywriter at rtraction, a Canadian digital agency that champions positive change for its clients, many of which are nonprofit and community-oriented organizations. You can connect with Rachel on LinkedIn and on Twitter.

Voting for a Cause

Crowdsourced charity giveaways are en vogue as corporations seek new opportunities to:

1. Expand their social media presence, and

2. Build trust among current and prospective staff and customers by positioning their corporate social responsibility (CSR) dedication as paramount.

Corporations like Pepsi, Staples, eBay, Target and American Express are taking their community giving strategies online and asking the public to vote on causes that matter most to them. Fido ’s Share Your Care campaign is another great example of a corporation crowdsourcing its giving, and the lucky winner of that contest was ReForest London (a client and CSR beneficiary of ours). In the nonprofit world, StayClassy ’s Classy Awards are an example of an organization that is regularly dedicated to doing good asking the public to vote on charities, philanthropic businesses and individual contributors deserving of cash and in-kind prizes that will help them continue doing good. (You'll also want to check out Toyota's 100 Cars for Good - and watch for more info in one of our upcoming blogs.)

The Challenge

With the rise of these competitions in social media, the contest fans and critics are voicing their opinions on the merits of crowdsourced giving. Full disclosure: We’re in the midst of our own charity giveaway. It’s called Canada’s Worst Charity Website.

Canada’s Worst Charity Website is cheeky, fun, geeky and part of how we’re giving back. It’s about doing what we do every day for a charity that needs it, and doing it for free. It grew out of a local community campaign turned province-wide contest to bring the CBC radio show Q to London (more on that here).

While there are valid arguments about why these sorts of contests can be problematic, we also think many of these crowdsourced giving campaigns do a great service to the winners and the donors alike. The following are three principles any organization that wants to launch a charity giveaway contest should keep in mind:

1. Be True to Your Values

Hopping on the crowdsourced-giving bandwagon is a great way to appear disingenuous, especially if it’s all you’ve ever done in terms of CSR. A top criticism of these competitions is that they benefit the “giver” more than the charity by giving corporations a great platform for broadcasting their charitable contributions. That’s a valid point, but it becomes less so when what you are giving away in your contest is only a small piece of the pie.

For example, rtraction has been around for 10 years, and doing CSR since the early days. We give away $100,000 worth of work every year. Our contribution to Canada’s Worst Charity Website is a $20,000 website makeover for a charity we haven’t worked with. The rest of our CSR work goes to organizations we already know, love and want to continue helping.

2. Give Change, Not Just Money

The negative perception of some of these contests is that corporations are simply throwing money at a problem to make it appear as though they care. Combating that criticism means helping a charity actually solve a problem, whether that’s community outreach, getting people donate goods for those in need or finding space to conduct their work.

So, if you’re a manufacturer that can give your product to people in need or a professional services organization that can help a charity do better business, you have an opportunity to truly demonstrate your investment in giving back. In our case, we’re contributing work we do every day to help a charity improve its online presence and better attract donors, volunteers and the people who need their services. And not only do we get to bring something new to a charity that’s dedicated to making the world a better place, we also get to explore new design concepts to help make a difference in that organization’s online brand.

3. Remember: Spamalot is a Monty Python Musical, Not a Communication Strategy

Keep in mind that charities have finite resources, and that includes time. Their staff members have to choose how to spend their time and attention. If the first step of your campaign is to spam them through social media, they’re likely not to take notice—and if they do, it won’t be for the right reasons. If your campaign is going to require charities to spam their supporters with strings-attached nomination and voting messages, they’re probably won’t participate.

Finding opportunities to strengthen existing relationships or build new ones in the nonprofit community can help get the message out about your contest, taking some of the onus off of the participating charities. With a broader message going to people who care about the nonprofit space and allowing for more organic promotion of the contest itself, participating charities can spend less time and energy on contest promotion, which is only one of their many marketing priorities.

A Contest in Action

If you’d like to see how we applied the principles that we outlined here, head on over to http ://www .rtraction .com /vote /. While you’re there, take a look around and vote for the website you think is most deserving of a $25,000 makeover ($20,000 worth web services from us, and $5,000 in additional services from our community partners). Voting is open until March 20th.

Thanks to Rachel Berden for this guest post! You can connect with Rachel on LinkedIn and on Twitter.

___________________________________________________

Realized Worth works with companies to engage employees in corporate citizenship initiatives. Give us a call to chat about what we can do for you! 317.371.4435

Corporate Volunteering & Disaster Relief…Do They Mix?

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Parker) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:38:00 +0000

Can the natural sense of urgency that comes with news of a natural disaster be channeled into corporate programs that have impact? Here's a program that may enable just that...

Among the myriad of TV commercials, internet pop-ups, telemarketing pitches, and roadside billboards seeking our attention, there are good, legitimate causes seeking our support. This relentless bombardment can get a little dizzying for most of us, to the extent that actually reflecting on the merits of a particular cause becomes increasingly difficult. We are preconditioned to go blank.

Disasters are different. Disasters have a way of clearing the haze. When disaster strikes, our daily lives are halted. We see the wreckage in vivid detail every time we turn on the TV. No need for a fundraising strategy on that day. The pitch has been made, the need is palpable and people everywhere are talking about it. Some of the talkers are ready to do something . . . including employees in your company.

Can Employees Respond to Disaster?

For CSR professionals who believe companies can make a difference, it’s worth paying attention when vast numbers of employees are motivated to act. Can this natural sense of urgency be channeled into corporate programs that have impact…or is it just too cumbersome to pull off at the moment of crisis?

For corporate giving programs, the answer is yes. Yes, the sense of urgency can be channeled into programs with impact. Before and after a disaster hits, relief organizations need funding. Corporate Giving Programs can support these non-profits all year long and then, when mother nature hits, employees have a familiar place to go with their desire to give. In fact, the recent report by the CCEP, Giving in Numbers: 2011 Edition, noted that 40 companies added a specific disaster-relief matching program that had not been offered in 2009. Moreover, many companies now provided above-budget funding for relief and recovery efforts. What was the chief reason cited by corporate contributions professionals for increased giving among these companies? The large amount of international disasters in 2010, in particular the Haitian earthquake.

...Beyond Giving Money?

Harnessing concern provoked by disasters is trickier when attempting to do more than give money. A company can’t simply dial up the Red Cross and tell them they have hundreds of volunteers ready to be deployed. By the time disaster hits, it’s too late. Case in point, a million people offered to volunteer after Hurricane Katrina. Only 250,000 could be placed, leaving 750,000 unplaced.

To actually be helpful in a relief effort, volunteers need thorough training over a span of months. As Jayne Cravens argues, “volunteers who show up, unaffiliated, untrained and not self-sufficient get in the way rather than helping, and take precious resources from those who have been in a disaster situation…Disasters are incredibly complicated situations that require people with a very high degree of qualifications and long-term commitment, not just good will, a sense of urgency and short-term availability.” (read the rest of Jayne's article here).

Ready When the Time Comes

Fortunately, there is a program with some teeth and history that ameliorates the inevitable snags inherent in the mixing of employee volunteering and disaster relief. The Red Cross’s Ready When the Time Comes (RWTC) program trains employees of participating companies as Red Cross volunteers and mobilizes them as a community-based volunteer force when disaster strikes. Established in 2001, the program in its first 10 years trained more than 13,000 employees from 460 businesses and organizations in 52 cities to be disaster relief volunteers. These volunteers have been deployed as Red Cross volunteers to such disasters as the Mississippi River flooding, Hurricane Irene and deadly tornadoes.

”Companies want to be involved in disaster response but historically there has been no way to get a foot in the door during the actual work,” says Bruce Summers, former National Lead for the RWTC Demonstration Project. “The win for the company is they are now provided an entre point to be pre-trained for the Red Cross. We found many companies (and their employee volunteers) were frustrated during Hurricane Katrina response that they could not easily jump in and help and Red Cross chapters usually found they were too busy managing large scale disaster to pause and negotiate partner relationships on the fly.”

How Does it Work?

Local companies partner with their local Red Cross chapter, recruiting employees as volunteers who the chapter trains for disaster response.
Partner companies commit to making these employees available for serve at least one day per year.
When a local, large-scale disaster occurs, the Red Cross calls the Partner Companies, which then activate the volunteers as directed.
RWTC volunteers work alongside Red Cross employees and trained disaster volunteers.

People all over the world have come to depend on the Red Cross during a disaster, and with RWTC, your employees can be right there on ground as Red Cross volunteers. This is a true win-win. It’s good for your company, it’s good your employees, and it’s good a community in desperate need. Click here to find out more about RWTC and how to become a Red Cross partner.

While working with clients to engage employees in corporate citizenship initiatives, Realized Worth loves to collect information and share what we learn. Any other disaster relief programs out there that we should know about? Share your comments below, email us, or call us: 317.371.4435.

3 Steps to Engaging Stakeholders in your Sustainability Strategy (that means employees too!)

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:35:00 +0000

Guest blog post by Derek Young, Twitter: @dayoungdc

So, you think you have a good sustainability strategy, right? You know your carbon footprint. You've set goals to increase efficiencies, reduce your footprint, and cut costs. You’re giving money to charitable organizations. Maybe you actually have a really good "green" product to offer.
Is that enough?
If you are developing that strategy absent a robust engagement program, it may not be.

The six letter word

“Engage” – it’s just a six letter word, but it means a great deal and could be the difference between success and failure when it comes to your sustainability or CSR efforts...

Are you engaging your stakeholders, do you know who they are?
Are you engaging with your customers, do you know what they think?
Are you engaging your employees, do they feel involved in your efforts?

These are all critical questions and necessary actions if you want to maximize the impact and efficacy of a sustainability strategy. (What is sustainability?)

Why?

You don't want to establish a sustainability strategy in a vacuum.
You need to understand your market, benchmark your competitors and understand where you stand relative to them.
You need to know what the key issues are facing your industry and what is critical as well as opportunistic to your marketplace.
You certainly want to make sure you are both educating your employees.

Three reasons you must engage employees

Employees are obviously your most important ambassadors when representing sustainability efforts to stakeholders.
Employees represent untapped potential in the form of ideas for advancing your sustainability strategy.
Employees possess the knowledge you need to know: what is actually already happening at your company and what is not.

So, the question is how do I start engaging stakeholders?

It's important to ask the right questions when developing a successful engagement strategy. Here are some you should consider:

How do I prioritize the issues?
What is the process for outlining a successful strategy?
How do I measure and evaluate the effectiveness of the engagement strategy?

If you follow the following 3 simple steps you will be well on your way to an effective engagement program.

1. Identify your Stakeholders

Stakeholder mapping is an important exercise that is too often left undone. It is a process of clearly defining your areas of interest (customers, competitors, industry associations, ngo’s, employees, etc) and then, within each category specifically identifying who falls into them as well as how relevant that stakeholder is to your company.

Why is this important?

When faced with an almost inexhaustible list of possible programmatic options you can pursue, knowing who your stakeholders are and what level of importance you afford them is vital. This knowledge enables you to managing your time and ensuring your efforts will produce the most value. For example, you might not want to spend a lot of time developing a strategy to influence a trade association, if that association has no real bearing on your business. On the other hand if you have a specific reporter, or a particular customer that holds significant influence on your business or sustainability efforts, then they might demand more time and effort when developing your engagement plan.

2. Develop an Issue Map

Once you have determined who your stakeholders are and how important they are, you must also look to determine what the key issues are that will have an influence on your business:

Is energy more important than water?
Is waste management or recycling relevant?
What about noise, odor or traffic around your plants?

Knowing the key issues is another step in refining your engagement plan. This will also ensure your plans are specific to a set of stakeholders or a particular geography.

Here are some simple steps to developing your map:

Determine the list of issues that have materiality for you
Overlay the list with your stakeholders
Pay attention to key geographic spheres of influence

These simple steps will help you create a map that will determine your engagement plan. For example, let's say you've identified a non-profit as an important stakeholder because of their focus on energy and greenhouse gas emissions relative to manufacturing. The opportunities for your company, relative to that issue, likely include taking steps to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Another opportunity may be to join a programs like Climate Leaders (an EPA industry-government partnership). Therefore, your engagement plan relative to that NGO is clearly defined. What's more, by understanding the importance of that particular stakeholder you can determine the degree to which you prioritize those actions.

3. Create an Engagement Plan

The final step in this process is outlining a plan with detailed timeframes leading to specific actions. This will be your engagement plan.

Here are some things to remember:

Review your engagement plan at regular intervals throughout the year (say quarterly)
Check your progress against your goals on a monthly basis
Be sure to have identified specific metrics to measure your progress (such as positive press, increased efficacy for securing permits, partnerships, etc)
Use your metrics to determine the effectiveness of your efforts.

This process of review and evaluation will ensure you know what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong.

Remember, things will change. New stakeholders will emerge. Existing stakeholders will fade in importance. Issues will evolve. All of these changes will frame the evolution of your plan. However, the need for having a plan will not change. Having a plan will enable you and your staff to effectively act on the right objectives.

Good planning results in success

Developing and employing an effective engagement plan will increase the success of your sustainability efforts.

How?

By tying sustainability to your unique business needs and areas of opportunity
By clearly and accurately assessing both who has an impact on your business and who your business impacts

If you achieve these two essential results you will ensure the sustainability strategy is dialed in and delivers on the value you set for it.

_______________________________________

Derek Young, LEED Green Associate. Derek is an experienced professional with nearly 15 years in the sustainability, corporate responsibility, environmental and communications fields. You can find out more about him on his LinkedIn profile, or follow him on Twitter as @dayoungdc.

Our Presentations Spring 2012 - See You There!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:31:00 +0000

We love meeting our online friends in person. One of the best ways to do that is at conferences where we are presenting.

So in the hopes that we’ll get to meet in person for the first time or renew our connection from the last time, here is a list of events at which we are presenting over the next 5 months.

Also - check out our blog listing 16 conferences in 2012. Each includes some aspect of engaging employees in Corporate Citizenship. Be sure to check the comment section for new additions.

EF 2012 Corporate Citizenship Conference
‘Corporate Social Impact’

WHERE:   eBay Town Hall Conference Center, San Jose, CA
WHEN:   Friday, March 9, 2012

More information
Register here

Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship
2012 'International' Corporate Citizenship Conference

WHERE: Phoenix, AZ
WHEN: March 25-27, 2012

Click here to view a recap of the 2011 Conference
Register here
NOTE: This year we will not be presenting at this conference. But we have been invited to attend and provide coverage of the event on our blog. So we hope to see you there!

11th Annual Charities@Work Best Practices Summit
'Engagement, Giving and Volunteerism'

WHERE: Hilton New York, 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York City, NY
WHEN: April 3-4, 2012

More Information
Register here
Sponsorship opportunities

Human Resources Professional Association
'CSR for HR'

WHERE: Best Western Otonabee Inn, Toronto
WHEN: April 25, 5:30 pm

More information

International Association of Business Communicators
Employee Engagement in CSR & Sustainability Programs

WHERE: Montreal, Quebec
WHEN: April 26

More information - be sure to check the website for updates

Minneapolis Corporate Volunteer Council Annual Awards Luncheon
‘Building Engagement from Within'

WHERE:   Minneapolis, MN
WHEN:   Thursday May 3, 2012

More information

VolunteerMatch
Client Summit 2012

WHERE:   Gap, Inc. Headquarters, San Francisco, CA
WHEN:   May 17, 2012

More information
NOTE: Limited to VolunteerMatch clients only

America's Charities
Annual Membership Symposia

WHERE:   Washington, D.C
WHEN:   May 22, 2012

More information - be sure to check the website for updates

Sustainable Brands Conference 2012

WHERE:    Paradise Point in San Diego, CA
WHEN:   June 4 - 7, 2012

More information
Register here
Sponsorship opportunities

Points of Light Institute
National Conference on Volunteering & Service

WHERE: Chicago, IL
WHEN: June 18-20, 2012

Register here
NOTE: Our presentation at this event has not yet been finalized.

This Valentine's Day, Think Like Microsoft

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Parker) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 02:50:00 +0000

This Valentine’s Day, take Microsoft’s lead: Cater to Individuality, Tap Into Passion, and Be Extravagant. Follow the philosophy of a company that intends to change the world – and you just might change your world too.

Photo used with permission by http://www.norebbo.com/

As long as people keep falling in love, Valentine’s Day will be a source of awkward conversation for men everywhere. Last week, for example, we overheard three guys at a bar feigning nonchalance over this particularly stress-inducing holiday. “Not that I care, but she says chocolates are unoriginal…” “Yeah… red roses… everybody does that. But whatever, right?”

Women aren’t off the hook here, either. In fact, unless her partner happens to be especially fond of the colors pink and red, a woman may have a more difficult time deciding on the perfect Valentine’s Day gift than a man.

For a centuries-old holiday, Valentine’s Day still stumps the best of us. But this year? We think we have the perfect answer.

THINK LIKE MICROSOFT.

No, seriously.

First of all, some background: For the past few months, we have been anticipating the results of Microsoft’s 2011 annual giving campaign. The other day, we finally had the opportunity to learn that their employees donated 55 million dollars. Microsoft matched those dollars and brought their total contribution to nonprofits this year to a whopping 100.5 million dollars.

To us, the amazing piece is that this amount came from employees and from the company – not from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. And although the brand is one of the best known in the world, Microsoft is not the largest American company. Yet, compared to Bank of America, the 3rd largest company in the world (Forbes, 2010), Microsoft and its employees gave 70% more per employee.

MICROSOFT’S GIVING PHILOSOPHY

1. CATER TO INDIVIDUALITY

The worst thing about a box of chocolates isn’t just that it implies you forgot about Valentine’s Day until the last minute. It’s not even that chocolates are not exactly going to contribute to your partner’s overall health. The worst thing about a box of chocolates is that it says to your beloved: You are just like everyone else.

Microsoft doesn’t just raise money during their annual giving campaign. Rather, they celebrate the individuality and uniqueness of their employees.

For example, James Liao came to Microsoft as part of the Microsoft Academy for College Hires. James had a passion “to use technology to improve children’s lives” so Microsoft enabled him to donate to Dream Corps, a youth education nonprofit. But instead of donating cash, James dedicated more than 700 volunteer hours within his first six months and Microsoft matched those hours with a $12,000 gift to the nonprofit through their dollar for doers program.

Not only was James able to give to the nonprofit to which he felt most connected, he was able to make the donation in his own unique way, through volunteering. This creates an important alignment between James’ personal and professional life: “I joined Microsoft because it shares the same passion I do to make a positive difference in the world through the magic of software and IT services.” (read more stories here)

2. TAP INTO PASSION.

To celebrate love, tap into passion. There may be nothing worse than when the words “I love you” are spoken out of obligation. No one wants to be loved that way; no one wants to be endured. Passion brings us to places of deep desire. Valentine’s Day is about desire, pursuit, and longing.

Microsoft’s employee volunteering program is not an “everybody else is doing it” initiative. Neither are they involved in an effort to appease their employees. Rather, Microsoft is trying to change what’s normal.

Microsoft believes they can mobilize employees to volunteer in ways that will change the world. Last year, 6,000 of the volunteers that participated in United Way of King County’s Day of Caring were from Microsoft (there were a total of 11,000). How do they motivate such impressive numbers? They fundamentally believe in the potential of volunteering and they encourage it at every level.

When it comes to skilled volunteering, Microsoft has passion. With highly knowledgeable and talented employees, Microsoft is working with part-time teachers to support school districts that are unable to meet Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) teaching needs because of budget cuts or a lack of qualified teachers. In 2011, over a dozen of Microsoft employees committed 1,598 volunteer hours to TEALS (Technology Education and Literacy in Schools), a Puget Sound nonprofit that places technology professionals in elementary and high school classes to teach science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects. Over 800 students benefited from the efforts of these employees and the passion of the company to make a difference.

3. BE EXTRAVAGANT.

Love is romantic when it’s lavish. A card and flowers might be a lovely gift - but don’t just pick up the flowers on the way home from work and don’t just sign the card, “from me.” Go out of your way. Say something unexpected. Be extravagant.

How about sending the flowers to the office? And in the card, include a poem. (It doesn’t have to be your poem, but it does have to be your handwriting.) Go one step farther than your partner would have imagined. Remember, convenience and ease are not love.

Microsoft is ridiculously extravagant when it comes to employee giving and volunteering. Many companies talk about high participation rates during their annual giving campaign: 75%, 80% even 90%. This past year Microsoft’s participation rate was 64% or 35,500 employees. Yet they out-gave and out-volunteered most other companies their size or larger in 2011: to the tune of almost $3000 per employee.

This is the number that tells the real story. It’s not about how many people participated, it’s about the total matched gift per employee. Participation is a feel-good number; giving per employee is the real number.

Results like this are only possible when a company is committed to extravagant giving. Here’s the breakdown by Kathleen Hogan and S. Somasegar, the executive co-chairs of the 2011 Giving Campaign:

“Each full-time, U.S. based Microsoft employee receives an annual $12,000 benefit that matches donations, dollar-for-dollar, to eligible nonprofits. In 2011, 35,500 employees donated to support more than 18,000 community organizations across the globe. If an employee wishes to volunteer their personal time, we honor that donation, too. Employee volunteer time is matched $17/hour to their chosen organization. In 2011, employees committed 426,671 hours which raised $7.2 million for nonprofits. That brings the total number of volunteering hours to 1.7 million hours since we started tracking in 2006.”

Microsoft plans to significantly increase their overall participation rate next year. With their commitment to extravagant giving, next year’s results should be impressive.

Full Disclosure: This blog post is inspired by a 2011 trip to the company’s Redmond campus that was sponsored by Microsoft. They kindly covered all of our travel related costs. We received no fees for writing or posting this article.

Realized Worth works with companies to engage employees in corporate citizenship initiatives. Call us to chat: 317.371.4435

How the IRS Devalues Volunteers

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:39:00 +0000

Tax Time! You Can Deduct your Volunteer Mileage. But there’s a tiny problem....

Today's guest post comes from our friends at VolunteerSpot -- with more than 1.2 million volunteers, VolunteerSpot is the leading provider of free online volunteer management software that's so easy, ANYONE can use it! Committed to make volunteering simpler and more accessible to everyone, VolunteerSpot is raising awareness about a tiny problem having a big impact on volunteers and nonprofits. Please check out the video below and read on to learn more.

-----------------

If you ever travel for work, you're likely familiar with the U.S. guidelines for expense deduction and reimbursement – up to a daily dollar threshold for meals, 55.5 cents per mile for driving, and copy and turn in your receipts for everything else purchased for work.

You might be surprised – and pleased – to learn that there is also a mileage tax deduction for volunteering. But unlike the deduction for business driving, the charitable mileage rate is capped at 14 cents per mile and hasn't changed since 1997 when gas cost $1.30 per gallon! Does Congress Think Volunteers Drive Tiny Cars?

We think the tiny rate for volunteers is not only unfair on it's face, but it makes it unaffordable for some volunteers to bear the cost of critical volunteer services. This has real impact on volunteer groups that depend on driver volunteers for their good work -- think Meals on Wheels, volunteer firefighters and animal rescue groups.

Not only does Congress not provide a meaningful incentive to support volunteering through a realistic mileage rate, it also creates a tax consequence for volunteers if non-profits or businesses reimburse volunteers the true cost of their mileage.

To draw attention to this issue, we’ve started a Tiny Cars Campaign to build awareness and let Congress know it’s time to push through a bill that 1) brings the reimbursement rate in line with the business rate and 2) increases the deduction rate for volunteers to something more closely in line with the business rate.

Please join us! Watch and share the (fun) video, consider tweeting (samples below), and tell your member of Congress to fix the tiny rate here: bit.ly/CongressFixTinyCars. Learn more about Tiny Cars on our campaign page here.

Sample tweets - please use these or create your own:

Volunteers have BIG Hearts but they don’t drive #TinyCars – Fix the Tiny Rate for volunteer driving! bit.ly/TinyCars

I volunteer but I don’t drive a #TinyCar – Congress please fix the tiny rate for volunteer drivers! bit.ly/TinyCars

Volunteers have Big Hearts NOT #TinyCars. Plz watch this (fun) video by @VolunteerSpot & share bit.ly/TinyCars

I'm joining @VolunteerSpot to fix the tiny 14 cent #volunteer mileage rate; learn more and share: bit.ly/TinyCars #TinyCars

Let’s work together to get raise awareness and get Congress to fix the Tiny Rate and make it easier for everyone to volunteer!

***

Jessica Young is an active volunteer and the social media voice for VolunteerSpot. She also coaches volunteer leaders in getting the most out of social media and VolunteerSpot's online tools. VolunteerSpot saves time (and sanity) and makes it easy for ANYONE to organize volunteer project teams at work, schools, community nonprofits, leagues and faith groups. Follow Jessica on Twitter @VolunteerSpot.

LinkedIn Is About To Revolutionize The Way We Volunteer

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Parker) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:21:00 +0000

Join us in supporting LinkedIn's effort to make volunteering a normal and expected element of a well-rounded resume. Click here to add your volunteer experience to your LinkedIn profile and join the revolution!

Two weeks ago, the RW team had the opportunity to meet with Meg Garlinghouse, Head of Employee Branding and Community at LinkedIn. We sipped coconut water and heard first hand about LinkedIn’s new initiative—LinkedIn for Good.

We all know LinkedIn to be in the business of connecting talent with opportunity. Now, they are expanding their mission to include the non-profit sector. In the fall of last year, LinkedIn added a Volunteer Experience & Causes field to the LinkedIn Profile. Members can now share volunteer experiences, causes they care about and organizations they support with their professional networks. Through this initiative, LinkedIn is putting a stake in the ground that volunteerism can and should be a part of everyone's professional brand, and they are passionately trying to get the word out.

Today's Employers are on a Search for Character

Why? For starters, volunteering is good for your career! In today’s uber-competive job market, employers increasingly look for evidence of volunteering to differentiate top candidates. New research from LinkedIn shows that one out of every five hiring managers in the U.S. agree they have hired a candidate because of their volunteer work experience. Employers know that successful people are often invested in causes that extend beyond themselves, and they are also looking for candidates with character. Evidence of volunteering not only allows you to showcase certain talents and experiences, it also reveals compassion and commitment. (Read more on the LinkedIn Blog)

Today's Professionals are Ready to Make a Difference

Secondly, this initiative carries incredible potential to support nonprofits around the globe by connecting millions of talented people to their causes. Did you know the #1 reason people support a cause is because of a recommendation from a trusted connection? Through the Volunteer Experience & Causes section, you can now share with your professional network the meaningful volunteer work you do, which creates awareness about your favorite causes and inspires new supporters. Additionally, non-profits gain an easy way to find who their supporters are, who they are connected to, and what professional skills and experiences they have.

Since we at Realized Worth believe in the power of volunteering to transform individuals and communities, it’s no surprise that we are big fans of LinkedIn’s new direction. Think about it - what would the world look like if active volunteering was a normal and expected part of a well-rounded resume?

Revolutionizing How we Volunteer

But here is the real game changer – we believe LinkedIn is going to change the way we volunteer and mobilize a lot more of us into doing it. As Meg told us, “we have a vision of creating a marketplace that connects our members’ skills, knowledge and experience with skill based volunteer opportunities.” So imagine waking up in the morning and having a list of volunteer opportunities in your area that are tailored to your unique background, skills, and interests.

No more searching for nonprofits in your area.
No more figuring out what kind of organizations match your interests.
No more missing great volunteer experiences just because you didn't know what to look for.
With LinkedIn For Good the volunteer opportunities are looking for you!

For those of us who want to volunteer but may feel overwhelmed by the multitude of causes, or feel unsure of where to start, this is a great mechanism to bring focus, clarity and convenience. LinkedIn's immense wealth of data will ensure the volunteer opportunities are perfectly tailored to your experience, your interests, your skills and your location.

Join the Revolution

If anyone could walk us into this kind of cultural shift, it’s LinkedIn. With 135+ million members, LinkedIn has already revolutionized today’s job search. Let’s help them revolutionize volunteering. Meg let us know that LinkedIn For Good is eager to welcome participants who want to join LinkedIn in realized these dreams. Specifically, they want to see 1 million members fill out the Volunteer Experiences & Causes field (there are 250,000 currently). When you finish reading this blog, take 2 minutes to fill out the Volunteer Experience & Causes section of your LinkedIn profile and join the revolution!

Update your LinkedIn Profile here.

Are you a nonprofit? Then you are key to this revolution! Here are some practical steps to ensure you are positioned to find the best and brightest volunteers in your area!

 If you are not yet a LinkedIn member, it takes just a few minutes to create a profile here.  

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Realized Worth works with major corporations to launch high impact employee volunteer programs. We focus specifically on the challenge of employee engagement. Call us to chat: 317.371.4435.

A Comparison of 12 Workplace Giving Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:06:00 +0000

There are new options for workplace giving tools almost every month. The United Way may have
normalized the idea of ‘giving at the office’ but these new tools take the concept way beyond traditional giving campaigns.

With so many options available these days to manage workplace giving, we've created a list for our readers - and we've added our own perspective. The following list is not exhaustive by any means. In fact, we’d like to extend an invitation to our readers to create a more complete list by adding organizations we’ve missed in the comments section below.

What makes a workplace giving tool useful?

We're taking a slightly different approach than our previous post ‘7 Reasons Why Online Giving Improves Workplace Giving’. This approach is also different than discussing what makes an online tool engaging such as:

an attractive interface (what the site looks like)
easy to understand
an enjoyable and social experience (competitions, sharing achievements with friends, etc)
the ability to add and manage my own personal interests alongside those of the company
the ability to see my progress (how much have I given, how much has my team or company given?)

While related to the above list, the attributes that make an online tool useful to CSR and community investment managers are:

Real time reporting - it needs to be simple, accessible and organized. If you’re still using a spread sheet you’re probably wasting your time and the company’s money.

Integrated giving and volunteering - Nobody wants to purchase, learn and manage two separate systems: one for volunteering and the other for workplace giving. Especially since the two are becoming more and more intertwined in practice.

A ‘both/and’ approach - You need to be able to promote the company’s Corporate Citizenship priorities and signature nonprofit partners. But this shouldn’t be at the expense of your employees interests. A good giving tool will allow you to do both and give you plenty of options on how you go about it.

Recognition - Automating your recognition process can save you a lot of time and avoid creating feelings among your employees of being unnoticed for their efforts. For example, a great way to reward employees is with a donation gift card, bearing your brand, that can be used for the cause of their choice.

Mobility - IBM has declared this the ‘post-PC era’. Whether or not you agree, it’s difficult to ignore the staggering increase in mobility and smart phone usage. Whatever tool you choose needs to have a mobility aspect to it for recording hours, making donations and viewing dashboards.

12 workplace giving solutions
Be sure the check out the comparison table at the end of this article.

Causecast
We’ve gotten to know Ryan Scott, the CEO of Causecast over the past few months and he’s a great guy. The big news is that Causecast recently announced the launch of its Employee Impact Platform. From what we’ve seen, it looks like it will be a great option for companies looking to drive engagement.

Spark! by Benevity
We’ve been a part of helping Benevity design their workplace giving and volunteering tool and we think it stands out as an industry leader. They're newer to the field than some of the other organizations, so you can count on some fresh ideas. The leadership team of Bryan de Lottinville, Jana Taylor and David Scuik have tons of integrity.

AngelPoints (Micro-Edge)
We’ve known Andy Mercy for a couple of years now and we think he’s designed a great tool that’s attractive and very easy to use. There’s been a bit of change up at AngelPoints as they’ve been recently acquired by MicroEdge. We’re hoping for good things for Andy Mercy and his team.

YourCause
YourCause clients seem to really love the tool. YourCause has been acquiring clients who used to be with some of the more traditional vendors in the field. The tool is versatile and includes a strong social element. Matt Combs, the CEO, is a fun guy as well!

VolunteerMatch
Although VolunteerMatch is primarily a 'volunteer engagement platform', they’ve had corporate solutions for some time including workplace giving and volunteering management. They stand out as one of the largest players in the space with an impressive roster of clients. We’ve been happy to be featured in their webinars and look forward to hosting round table discussions at their upcoming client summit this May.

Global Giving
If you're a large company with a decent budget (Eli Lilly for example), Global Giving seems like a great option. I don't know the team over there very well, but from what I understand, their tool offers a plethora of great features. It may be important to note that Global Giving charges 15% fulfillment fee per donation. As with other vendors, such as YourCause, companies may elect to cover the transaction fees with an upfront charge so that the full donation is transferred to the charity.

Give Back
Unfortunately, I don't know a whole lot about Give Back - simply because they aren’t a name we come across very often. It’s also a bit tough to figure out the cost of Give Back. It seems their revenue comes from the interest accumulated from the dollars they manage. This may cause some kind of delay in seeing the dollars move from donor to charity which means a more traditional model of giving as used by the United Way. But again , I'm not the best source for info on this particular tool.

MatchRight™ by Grant Stream
Grant Stream is a Canadian standard. They’ve been in the market for quite some time and many Canadian companies use them. The only complaint we hear is that the data needs to be handled several times in order to be useful. Also, because they began as a grant management system, they lack many of the other attributes necessary for easy volunteer management.

Truist
Truist is used by a number of large companies. They’ve been in the field since 1999 and have managed to become fairly well known. They struggle with a friendly user experience and many managers complain of difficulty understanding the data the reporting system produces. (To be fair - we've not seen the tool in action ourselves. As well, the feedback we've received is anecdotal and only represents a small number of companies.)

JK Group
JK Group is arguably one of the first companies offering online giving tools for corporate philanthropy. In, in the Fall of 2010 they were acquired by Susquehanna Growth Equity, LLC (SGE) and Brad Galle (now CEO). The hope was that this acquisition would enable the JK Group to move forward and develop more versatile technological abilities as well as a more enjoyable user experience. With almost 300 clients, many of whom are well known brands, JK Group is the largest player in the field with the most experience. While this is a an advantage, it has also become a drawback as many companies are beginning to look to new options which have more advanced technological abilities.

Cyber Grants
Cyber Grants, as the name suggests, is primarily a grant management system. They do offer an array of employee solutions that include volunteering and giving. But if their website is any indication they are about a decade behind in the look and feel you’d expect from an online tool. In fact, you can only submit a rudimentary form to request a quote for grant management. They have no examples or detailed information about workplace giving or volunteer management.

Network For Good
Network for Good manages the backend of the giving process for a variety of vendors. They integrate their platform with the vendors such as AngelPoints and YourCause and power online credit card donations, payroll donations, dollars-for-doers, charity gift cards and other giving functionality. To provide this essential service, Network For Good collects 4.75% of all the donations that the vendors process.

But your company can use them directly if you like. They integrate their donation processing platform into your companies site. So they are not a stand alone solution like the other vendors listed here.

Here's an example of their work with DC Comics and Warner Brothers

A little secret

...which brings me to a little known secret. It is impossible for any vendor to pass along 100% of donations. There is always a cost associated with transferring these dollars. For example, many vendors pass the money along to another organization such as Network for Good (a nonprofit) that distributes it for them. Typically the cost of this process is 5-15% of each donation. The reason some vendors can claim that 100% of donations go to charity is because they themselves are a registered charity. For example, the United Way charges 10-35% to process corporate donations - but the United Way is a charity, so they are able to claim that 100% of donations go to charity. Make sense?

There are only two ways to ensure that 100% of each donation arrives at the charity of choice. First, the organization keeps the money for a period of time (up to a year) and makes interest off of it. Second, the company pays an additional fee to offset the costs of handling the funds. This fee is over and above the cost of the online solution and any additional support your company may require.

Help us complete the list! (who'd we miss?)

A comparison of each tools capabilities
(click to enlarge)

If you'd like the Excel Spreadsheet file - just email me, Angela Parker, at angela@realizedworth.com and we'll get that to you right away!

Don't forget to comment below if you know of additional Workplace Giving Tools.

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Realized Worth works with major corporations to launch high impact employee volunteer programs. We focus specifically on the challenge of employee engagement. Call us to chat: 317.371.4435.

13 Conferences in 2012: Employee Engagement in Corporate Citizenship

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:06:00 +0000

Guest blog post by Alyson Genovese, Twitter: @alysongenovese

I've got to admit, I love going to conferences. They're kind of romantic (no, not that way!) - I get to hang out with others who care about employee engagement and sustainability as much as I do, learn from the best and the brightest about new trends and successes in our field, and leave feeling inspired and ready to tackle the challenges facing our (somewhat mundane) everyday.

Even those of you who are more pragmatic about conferences than I see the importance of attending a few of our industry’s key gathering opportunities to network, grow and “be seen.” So together, the team at Realized Worth and I, have culled through all the newsletters, blogs and press releases to offer you a quick list of 2012 conferences, listed below in chronological order.

Check out their individual web sites to see pricing, calls for presenters, lodging information and all the other pertinent details. See you there!

2012 Conference Listing (in chronological order)

‘Corporate Social Impact’
EF 2012 Corporate Citizenship Conference
March 9, 2012, eBay Town Hall Conference Center, San Jose, CA

This event is designed for companies interested in creating, enhancing, and strengthening their corporate community involvement and philanthropy programs. The Conference will showcase corporate citizenship programs and feature panels and workshops from a broad variety of large and small, public and private companies. Expect to learn about trends, metrics, best practices, and issues facing companies today.

2012 'International' Corporate Citizenship Conference
Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship
March 25-27, 2012 in Phoenix, AZ

Successful corporate citizenship is all about managing many interests in a way that contributes to the bottom line. How to make this work for your company is the focus of the 2012 conference. Note: Registration is open exclusively to corporate citizenship practitioners inside of companies.

Best Practices Summit on Engagement, Giving and Volunteerism
Charities@Work
April 3-4, 2012 in New York, NY

A peer-to-peer forum for employee engagement professionals to learn integrated approaches to grow and evolve their programs. This organizers of this conference are interested in new ideas and trends. The more intimate size allows for some great networking as well.

Ceres Conference 2012
April 25-26, 2012 in Boston, MA

The Ceres Conference provides a unique forum for networking and connecting with corporate and investor leaders, nonprofit groups, thought leaders and media to discuss current challenges, trends and opportunities within sustainability.

Cause Marketing Forum 2012
May 30-31, 2012 in Chicago, IL

This is the 10th anniversary of the conference, which brings together national corporate and nonprofit leaders in cause marketing together in one room – a great spot for cause marketing newcomers and veterans alike.

Sustainable Brands Conference 2012
June 4 - 7, 2012, Paradise Point in San Diego, CA

Sustainable Brands is an international community of learning and action focused on understanding and leveraging the role of brand in shaping a flourishing future. Now in its 6th year, over 1000 attendees from diverse organizations - both large multi-national corporations and start-ups, investors and NGO's, design, strategy and communications agencies and more will be attending.

2012 Corporate Philanthropy Summit
Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy
June 5-6, 2012 in New York, NY

CECP’s membership of senior corporate giving officers from the world’s most influential companies come together for two days of thought leadership, networking, best practice sharing, and dialogue.

National Conference on Volunteering & Service
Points of Light Institute
June 18-20, 2012 in Chicago, IL

NCVS is the world's largest gathering of volunteer and service leaders from the nonprofit, corporate and government sectors. If you or your organization deals with volunteers in any capacity, this is the event to attend.

Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability Conference
Conference Board
June 20-21, 2012 in Washington D.C.

Details not yet announced

BSR Conference
Businesses for Social Responsibility
October 23-26, 2012 in New York, NY

Now in its 20th year, the BSR Conference attracts more than 1,000 senior business executives, entrepreneurs, and leaders from the public sector and civil society, providing opportunities to help such individuals “build the business of a better world.”

Commit!Forum
Corporate Responsibility Magazine & NYSE Euronext
October 2-3, 2012 in New York, NY

Commit!Forum is said to be the single largest gathering of leaders improving business and society. All sectors – from media to investors to nonprofits – are included in this mix.

2012 Global Corporate Citizenship Conference
Business Civic Leadership Center at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
October 10-12, 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Conference registrants will connect on how to advance corporate citizenship to “confront today’s challenges and to provide solutions for tomorrow’s opportunities.”

Net Impact Conference
October 25-27, 2012 in Baltimore, MD

Net Impact brings together 2,600 professionals and students dedicated to “using their careers to change the world.”

Who did we miss? If it includes employee engagement in CSR, Sustainability and Corporate Citizenship - we'll add it to the list.

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GUEST BLOG POST: Alyson Genovese is a freelance consultant on issues related to sustainability, corporate social responsibility, public affairs, and employee engagement. She has over 16 years of experience in the private, nonprofit and academic sectors. Alyson may be reached at alyson.genovese@gmail.com. alyson@causesolutions.com www.causesolutions.com Twitter: @alysongenovese

Online Tools Improve Workplace Giving: 7 Reasons Why

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:12:00 +0000

It's time for companies to change the way they invest their philanthropic dollars. It's no longer good enough to simply give money away. The entire process must create impact: for the community, the company, and the employees.

Community investments done poorly

I recently read a post on the 3BL Media site regarding Eli Lilly’s employee giving program. The post explained that in 2011 the employees of Lilly helped donate more than $850,000. Since a big part of our work has to do with employee giving programs I was interested to learn more.

By the fourth paragraph I was rolling my eyes.

Turns out that 14,000 Lilly employees helped give out corporate funds ($775,00), but only contributed something like $75,000 out of their own pockets. That’s an average of $5 per employee.

Not much to brag about, I figured.

Lilly’s corporate citizenship program often provides me with great examples of big companies doing community investment poorly. Each year, as one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, they hold their Global Day of Service and plant shrubbery along one of the highways in Indianapolis. Not exactly high impact volunteering. (To be fair, there are other company activities - but these seem to be small and similarly unfocused)

So I immediately read this post the same way - lots of PR and Marketing - very little substance.

I might be wrong.

Upon further reflection (and because some of my friends are Lilly employees), I'm convinced there is no way the company’s employees only give an average of $5 per year through their workplace giving program. So I’m giving the company the benefit of the doubt and assuming that this article is referring to only one particular program or project. There must be more dollars coming in through other avenues. The important thing - and the fact I want to focus this article on - is that Eli Lilly is making smart choices to encourage and involve their employees in workplace giving.

First, they moved to an online giving platform.

Online tools like online giving are growing in popularity. They are a great alternative to the more traditional United Way program and provide features that stimulate higher levels of interest and participation in workplace giving campaigns. Here are some of the reasons why online tools are so effective:

Convenience: Most of these tools offer incredible ease of use with multiple options for giving such as payroll deductions, matching corporate dollars, ‘dollar for doers’ (matching corporate dollars to employee volunteer time), as well as straight up giving via paypal or a credit card.

Choice: Unlike traditional funding campaigns used by the United Way, this new technology enables employees to give to corporate campaigns as well as any other registered charity. This ‘both and’ approach will become the standard within the next three years.

Socialbility: Most of the tools allow employees to see what their colleagues and company are doing to contribute. Being part of something bigger is incredible incentive to achieve bigger goals.

Real Time: The best online tools will enable employees to give to charities almost immediately. Many giving campaign organizations hold on to donations and use the interest to cover their massive overhead. This can be a real turn off in a world that’s been Googleized - we expect immediate results.

No Minimum: Providing employees the option to give $5 as well as $500 is a great way to increase participation. The ability to fluctuate in my giving enables me to keep my commitments without causing undo stress when things get tight financially.

Alignment: The idea of integrating our personal and professional lives is gaining momentum - especially among millenials. When my workplace allows me to bring combine my personal philanthropic passions with my employment it creates a more meaningful experience.

Partnership: Most people value being included in the decision-making process. When companies offer employees a voice as to which causes and issues should be focused on, they create strong collaborative relationships which bring rewards to both the corporation and the individual.

For more info check out Benevity’s blog ‘The 7 Secrets of Successful Workplace Giving Programs - Part 1 & Part 2

Second, they provided real incentives.

Instead of just announcing that employees could give online, Lilly incentivized the launch by giving each employee $50 to direct to a charity online. According to the article, they also promised to match whatever donation the employees made on top of that $50. So an employee could give $30 out of their own pocket, have that matched by the company and add the extra $50 incentive and the nonprofit would receive $110. Not a bad investment of time!

Third, they bragged about their employees instead of their foundation.

The article deliberately spotlighted what Lilly employees were doing. The Foundation and company were painted as facilitators to the impressive and noble efforts of the employees. I cannot stress strongly enough the importance of this type of advocation. If companies ever hope to see their employees play the role of community ambassadors and advocates - they’ve got to do it first.

Plus, it’s just classy to tell the world how great your employees are!

Fourth, they focused not just what was given - but how.

Companies need to change the way they invest their philanthropic dollars. The days of writing a check and asking for some reports to make sure the dollars were used wisely are over. The entire process of giving needs to create impact for the community, the company, and the employees. That means that companies should invest where there is alignment with their brand and offer some type of return for shareholders and stakeholders.

Companies should also include employees in the process of giving. Why? Because employees are looking for the alignment and partnership we noted above. Work becomes more rewarding and more purpose driven when it offers an avenue for engagement.

Next time we’ll cover the options available for online giving tools and what to look for.

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Realized Worth works with companies to engage employees in volunteering and sustainability programs. Give us a call or send an email to discuss the possibilities for your company. | 317.371.4435 | angela@realizedworth.com | chrisjarvis@realizedworth.com

How to Pitch Sustainability (Part 2 of "Sustainability and Your Employees")

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:54:00 +0000

So, you want to get active but you're not sure your company will go for it? In part 2 of this interview, Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt of The Natural Step tells us what you can do.

Employee Engagement in Sustainability - An interviw with Karl-Henrik Robèrt Part 2 from chris jarvis on Vimeo.

Dr. Robèrt assures that it only takes one person—a “change agent”—to get the ball rolling toward sustainability. No matter what strata of the company you find yourself, there are some basic steps that can help you initiate change.

Find your change agent. It all begins with someone someone who has a passion for sustainability. Is that you?
Find Your Allies – Build momentum around you by finding people who share your interest.
Create a Sustainability Team – As you find your allies, seek to find out which higher-up managers might be receptive to your cause and then build a team.
Make Your Pitch – As you find managers above you to be on your team, ask them to help you get in front of top level executives to make your pitch.

So Far, So Good . . . How Do We Pitch?

The Natural Step is an open source that has many informative, free-of-charge resources on their website to help you make the pitch. In brief, as Dr. Robèrt hints in the interview, the outline might progress as follows:

Tell the story of how the robust framework for decision making toward sustainability came about through 20 years of refinement and testing, and explain the framework.
Assure them that the framework is not about penance or merely about doing good; it also helps us to avoid costs, be more innovative in future markets, and ultimately be more profitable as a company.
Tell some inspiring stories about how this framework is being applied by a growing number of businesses around the world.
And, then, humbly ask them, “after hearing this, what advice do you have for us? What would it take in order for us to move in this direction?”

Robèrt reveals his sales prowess by giving us a tip about technique: in this view, asking for their advice in a spirit of humility is better than asking for them to accept a proposal. He insists that asking top level executives to accept a proposal is not effective because it gives them the opportunity to say no. Instead, if you ask, “what are the conditions required in order for you to say yes?” people will typically give you their thoughts. If you have a contrarian who she sees you following the advice she gave you, you are more likely to win her over.

For more information about the sustainability framework and how to be a catalyst for change within your company, check out their website and Part 1 in this series.

Realized Worth works with companies to engage employees in CSR initiatives. Contact us to discuss what we can do for you! 317.371.4435 or chrisjarvis@realizedworth.com or angela@realizedworth.com

Sustainability and Your Employees: Part I

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Parker) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Want to help your business forge a path toward sustainable practices? Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt has an excellent framework to help you. Listen below to part 1 of a 2-part interview series with Dr. Robèrt and Realized Worth’s very own Chris Jarvis.

Sustainability Made Simple with Dr Karl-Henrik Robèrt of the Natural Step | Part 1 from chris jarvis on Vimeo.

A Sustainable Society?

Karl-Henrik Robèrt founded The Natural Step in 1989 with a desire to create a common language to engage issues of sustainability. In his view, the scientific community had not yet produced a definition that could help ‘decision makers’ in various sectors (e.g., business, government, education, etc.) redraft their practices in accord with the values of sustainability. Intuitively, he felt that if you can define sustainability at the level of key principles, and if you give these principles to intelligent decision makers in any sector of society, they should be able to come up with new and creative ways to make money that are part of the solution rather than the problem. That spark of intuition set off a wave of research involving input from an international network of scientists, and, eventually, a unanimously agreed upon set of principles crystalized.

In their view, there are four fundamental ways that human society is systematically undermining the capacity of nature to function and the capacity of human beings to meet their needs. To become sustainable as a society, we must:

eliminate our contribution to the progressive buildup of substances extracted from the Earth's crust (for example, heavy metals and fossil fuels)
eliminate our contribution to the progressive buildup of chemicals and compounds produced by society (for example, dioxins, PCBs, and DDT )
eliminate our contribution to the progressive physical degradation and destruction of nature and natural processes (for example, over harvesting forests and paving over critical wildlife habitat); and
eliminate our contribution to conditions that undermine people’s capacity to meet their basic human needs (for example, unsafe working conditions and not enough pay to live on).

(Read more here: http://www.naturalstep.org/the-system-conditions)

Making it Practical

At first reading, you may wonder – are these super-smart scientists really suggesting we must stop all mining, shut down our factories, close paper mills, and stop producing chemicals? Can we never disturb a natural landscape? How does this framework get practical in today’s world?

The Natural Step assures us that the problem is not that human beings consume natural resources, per se. It is, rather, that our society is systematically increasing our consumption year after year, and, in so doing, systematically decreasing the ability of natural systems to provide the resources and services we need to survive. Even though we know that we are running out of oil, fish, and trees, we continue to spend money and energy finding, processing, and consuming them. And, we typically don’t stop until the system breaks.

The challenge for businesses is to appreciate our present situation and find creative ways to reduce the growing pressures caused by increases in consumption and decreases in what the earth can naturally provide. None of this, they argue, should dampen entrepreneurial drive. Included in their framework is an understanding of sustainability as a business opportunity, not a liability.

The Natural Step

To learn more about the four principles and how to develop a framework for leading your organization through a process toward sustainable practices, we recommend perusing their very helpful website. Beyond hiring their services, they offer many excellent resources for free that can help you lead your organization toward sustainability on your own. A great place to get started is their very helpful ‘Sustainability Primer’.

Watch for Part 2 of this video series where Chris and Dr. Robèrt talk about practical steps employees can take to start grassroots sustainability initiatives.

Confused about the difference between Sustainability and Social Responsbility? Learn a little more about their respective definitions here.

Meet Brent Croxton, the author of this article and latest addition to the Realized Worth team. With a background in sales, psychology and philosophy, Brent has a lifelong interest in what motivates human beings. He writes and speaks on issues related to personal growth and corporate change. Recent topics have included managing generational diversity, emotionally intelligent leadership, transformational community, and conflict resolution. You can connect with Brent on LinkedIn, Twitter, and via email.

Realized Worth works with companies to engage employees in volunteering and sustainability programs. Give us a call or send an email to discuss the possibilities for your company. 317.371.4435 angela@realizedworth.com, chrisjarvis@realizedworth.com

Corporate Volunteering in Eastern Europe

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

We're happy to report, corporate volunteering in Europe is on the rise. Learn here about a few of the organizations doing great things.

This past November, a few of us from Realized Worth took a jaunt through 7 European countries, presenting on and researching our favorite topic: employee volunteering. We had the opportunity to learn from great organizations such as ICEP in Vienna, Austria, HÍD in Budapest, Hungary and Altruista in Rome, Italy as well as great people such as Andrew Wilson, from Corporate Citizenship in the UK and co-author of “Volunteering – the Business Case.” As the weeks passed, we became convinced that the enthusiasm of just a few strong leaders in western and eastern Europe may be enough to catapult that part of the world into innovative practices that the US and Canada would be wise to follow.

The Pontis Foundation - Bratislava, Slovakia

In Bratislava, Slovakia, we joined the Pontis Foundation at their annual Corporate Philanthropy Forum. The forum was attended by nearly 100 representatives of both local and transnational companies, many with existing corporate volunteering and CSR programs; all eager to strategize for greater effectiveness. When speaking with Pontis program officer, Olga Shaw, she told us about the cooperation of companies across Slovakia in an event called "Our Town." Nearly 4500 (which has increased from 400 5 years ago) corporate volunteers helped restore of castle ruins, removed illegal dumps, cleaned up forests and parks, painted schools and community centers, and more. This kind of event marks a significant development in corporate volunteering in eastern Europe.

To learn more about the Pontis Foundation, the Corporate Philanthropy Forum, and "Our Town," please click on the video below and listen to Olga Shaw speak about it herself.

Pontis Foundation Inverview | Bratislava, Slovakia from chris jarvis on Vimeo.

Realized Worth works with companies to engage employees in CSR and corporate volunteering programs. Give us a call to talk about what we can do for your company: 317.371.4435 or email me here: angela@realizedworth.com

A Vital Connection: Executives & Employee Volunteers

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:15:00 +0000

We'd like to thank Sabrina Dinelli-Viva for the following guest post. Sabrina has extensive experience in managing volunteers in both the public and private sectors; we're pleased to offer some of her knowledge to our readers. To find out more about Sabrina and follow her on Twitter, scroll to the bottom of the article.

The benefits companies should not overlook when considering employee volunteer programs

The late Steve Jobs, had a degree in MBWA. Not an actual university degree, but a degree nevertheless in Management by Walking Around . Yes, believe it or not, the Chairman of Apple, Mr. Steve Jobs himself, would answer customer calls and emails directly and personally resolve customer issues. The TV show Undercover Boss takes a company’s CEO undercover to work with front line staff. The purpose is to unveil the issues on the frontline, meet with staff and implement better practices from there on in. Why is it so important for executives to be involved and connected with their frontline staff? What are the benefits? How can employee volunteer programs tap into this vital connection between executives and one of their most valuable stakeholders– their employees?

The Vital Connection

The hospital where I work, hosts “talks” with our CEO and executives. These talks give staff the opportunity to ask questions, hear updates and discuss issues. The dialogue begins. I am always amazed at how well attended these forums are. Employees do not miss any opportunity to ask questions and bring issues forward. Great, right? Realized Worth refers to Gallup’s Two Factor Theory, “what makes employees happy at work is not the same as what makes them unhappy.” They could not be more right. When conditions like workplace safety, budgets to operate effectively, salary and benefits are improved, a better work environment is created, but an employee’s happiness with their job goes well beyond that. Employees want and need to have a voice and connection with top level staff. They want them to know the real issues because they (employees) are invested in their career and in their workplace. They want an employer who genuinely cares about them and their development. Someone who knows their name; a personalized relationship built on trust, where ideas and feedback are welcomed and can be shared freely. In large corporations, with thousands of employees, it is not easy to be and stay connected with your front line staff, but it is possible and it may be the most vital connection corporations can make.

The Benefits

Something happens when leaders are present and involved in the day to day operations. They are able to stimulate ideas, motivate, engage and find better practices. When they are in the trenches with their staff, they can provide support and teach, rather than lead from a corporate head office removed from the real issues. One of the most sustainable ways corporations can achieve this is by developing an employee volunteer program.

Realized Worth’s recent blog outlines many of the benefits of developing an employee volunteer program:

· Increased corporate social responsibility

· Increased employee loyalty

· Employee recruitment and retention

These are just a few, but here is the full article.

When a company decides to implement an employee volunteer program they are creating an opportunity, a “space” as Chris and Angela so eloquently speak of; to allow the vital connection to exist. Now, front line staff from across the corporation, have the opportunity to work alongside executives in creating and implementing a program that they are passionate about. What happens next? The connection begins.

This is the essential benefit that should not be overlooked. When you are out of your immediate workplace in a setting that is relaxed and altruistic, employees and executives will have the opportunity to discuss issues, share ideas and find solutions to problems in the workplace. Here, the nitty gritty can come out and real issues can be addressed. Employees can connect with their managers in a comfortable, open environment where feedback is welcome. This leads to various positive outcomes for the corporation and their stakeholders, here are just a few:

· Issues being discussed and resolved

· Implementing better business practices

· Fostering a stronger, open and trusting relationship with your stakeholders

· Increased job satisfaction = retention and greater recruitment potential

· Growing as a corporation, increased profit

· Challenging the status quo and being a leader in your field

It is in the midst of an employee program where people can loosen their ties and real progress can occur; with the sharing of ideas across bridges that wouldn’t have existed otherwise. This is the real worth of an employee volunteer program.

Bridging the Gap

Mastering a practice like MBWA is not something you can learn in business school, but it is essential to your business. Take the time to bridge the gap the lives in most large corporate settings. Invest in your employees, take the time to listen and build a stronger relationship that goes beyond the boardroom. Create practices and programs like employee volunteering that are sustainable and allow that relationship to flourish. Your stakeholders will quickly realize the worth of your efforts and everyone can reap the benefits that are obvious when you invest in people.

About Sabrina:

Sabrina and her husband David, who is a professional musician and private music teacher, live in Toronto, Canada. They recently welcomed their little girl Sol to the world. Sabrina is fluent in Spanish and some Italian, as her background is from Argentina. She studied Psychology at York University and has spent the past decade working as a Senior Volunteer Coordinator with the William Osler Health System, while also consulting for various non-profits. Sabrina has also volunteered locally and internationally for the past 15 years for many causes near to her heart. On her free time she enjoys the outdoors with her family, playing guitar, good music and good wine. Follow Sabrina on Twitter here or check out her LinkedIn profile here.

Set Goals & Find Collaborators: How to Start A Corporate Volunteer Program

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:23:00 +0000

Here are some practical steps to take when designing your employee volunteering and workplace giving program. Be sure to read part one of the series “Starting An Employee Volunteering Program? What Do Your Employees Think?”

Begin with the end in mind

In his book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen R. Covey explains that everyone should take time to decide what they want out of life. For Covey, this means that we "Begin with the End in Mind". We should "begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing your proactive muscles to make things happen." Often we get caught in the tyranny of the urgent and forfeit the important.

This is good advice for life. It is also good advice for designing and managing employee volunteer programs.

One of the earliest steps in creating an employee volunteering or workplace giving program, is identifying the purpose and parameters of the program. Ask yourself, “What are all the good things that could happen as a result of this program?” These benefits should be based on ideal, desired outcomes. Don’t worry - you will be adjusting them later based on potential constraints and other realities within your context. But for now, list as many objectives as possible. Here are some possible benefits that may be of interest to you:

Improved image as a good corporate citizen
Increased brand recognition and customer loyalty
Increased employee loyalty
Increased employee health and lower health care costs for company
Decreased employee absenteeism
Increased ability to attract new talent
Positive perception as solid investment
Increase in employee morale
Enhanced employee skills
Leadership development for employees
Increased team work
Improved networking among employees across departments and divisions
Acquisition of new skills and competencies
Increased social capital within the broader community
Decrease in unemployment in community (fascinating study here)

Identify shared benefits

After compiling a list of objectives, separate the list into the three groups who will benefit from the program: the company, the employees, and the community. For example, take “recruit new talent” and place it in the category that benefits the company. Similarly, take “improve employee morale” and place it in the category that benefits employees. Some objectives will fit into more than one category. It is important that employee volunteer programs are built to offer benefit to all three categories. When the objectives are separated into categories, choose the 3 or 4 top goals that appear to be highly beneficial for everyone.

Find collaborators in other departments

Employee volunteering is not philanthropy. In order for the program to function as a part of the company’s CSR/corporate citizenship strategy, it is essential to integrate the program within other functional and departmental strategies. In some cases these connections may be fairly obvious.

For example, if one of the benefits of the employee volunteer program is the ability to better recruit new talent you should be talking to Human Resources. Without a doubt, your HR department already has a recruitment strategy in place. This is a great opportunity to integrate employee volunteering with the existing HR strategies for recruitment.

Another natural connection with HR is in employee development. Here’s an example of how this might work based on a great bit of research by Corporate Citizenship based in the UK. (Read Volunteering - The Business Case here).

The corporate responsibility team at Société Générale engages with the HR department with regard to the development of training programmes. Typically, the head of CR will look at programmes which have been developed by HR and see if there is scope to add a CR element. Training which tends to lend itself to this kind of input includes leadership, resentation, confidence, listening and innovation development. Discussions between the two departments have begun regarding individual development linked to realising managerial potential. HR identifies areas for development for individuals and volunteering can sometimes be used creatively to fill that need.

Take some time to discuss the potentially mutual benefits of employee volunteering or workplace giving with other departments and business divisions. Ask for input on the program objectives and determine whether or not there is potential for working together. This process will not only provide essential information, it will begin to offer each department the opportunity to buy in to the employee volunteering program before it even launches.

There’s still a lot of work to do at this point - but you’ll be on the right track. What’s more - you won’t be the only one invested in the program’s success.

Stay tuned - we’ll have more soon.

If you’d like to learn more about this, we'd love to talk to you. You can reach us here:
chrisjarvis@realizedworth.com
angela@realizedworth.com
317.371.4435

Do You Know What Employees Are Saying About Your Volunteering & Workplace Giving Program?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:20:00 +0000

Are you responsible for engaging employees in your company's volunteering or giving program? Are you being realistic about your employee's perceptions of the program? Do they even know you have a program? Or are you 'bending the map'?

The first step in any of our client engagements is to understand what employees think of the existing corporate citizenship or CSR programs. Employee perceptions provide essential information. Why? Because companies often make assumptions regarding what employees know and feel about the corporate citizenship programs. Most of the time, these assumptions are woefully wrong.

Managers responsible for CSR and corporate citizenship spend every waking moment (and many sleepy moments) getting the word out the company initiatives. The idea that there are thousands of employees who may not know about these initiatives is almost too hard to believe. Just the suggestion that two out of three employees have never even heard about the companies community investments, philanthropic efforts or CSR strategies seems absurd.

The problem is - it’s true. Most of your employees know little to nothing about your company’s corporate citizenship program. We know it’s true - because we ask them.

This misunderstanding will doom any program from the very beginning. Believing your one place and building an employee volunteering program based on that misinformation will get you lost in the woods. Very lost.

Oh no! I’m lost!

Each year, over seventy million Americans head out into the wilderness to reconnect with nature (or go hunting). Hiking into the woods is a great way to rediscover something about ourselves and to find our true selves. The problem is, in an effort to find our true selves, thousands of Americans get lost doing it. Literally lost. People may be finding their true selves and the meaning of life, but they have a hard time finding their way back to the car in the parking lot.

Being lost in the wilderness can be a frightening experience. It can also be quite deadly. William G. Syrotuck, a search-and-rescue (SAR) expert, conducted systematic research on 229 SAR cases. He was interested in a number of things, but focused on the behaviour of people who get lost. He discovered that 11% of those who had gotten lost ended up as a fatality. Out of all of the fatalities recorded in that group, almost 75% died within the first 48 hours. Most of the deaths were due to hypothermia.

Amazingly, most of those who died did so within 2 miles of their group or parked car. A 30 minute walk. How is that possible? How can someone, usually with a map, some sense of direction, and hiking gear forget where they are or not find their way back 30 minutes of travel?

Well for one thing, it’s easy to get lost. If you are having a great conversation on the trail or deep in thought, you are probably not paying close attention to the details that could act as markers to retrace your steps. Or, if you are a little inexperienced with being in the wilderness the terrain can look pretty similar, this tree or that tree, this rabbit trail or that one, they all look similar. Especially because of a normal human reaction we all have in moments of crises or panic. That reaction is called "bending the map."

Bending the map

If you have ever done any traveling that involved looking at a map that did not have clear street names, highway numbers, or other indicators of your location you may have experienced "bending the map." You look around and for whatever reason believe that you may not be where you thought you were. You grab the map, scrutinize it, look around again, and then stare back down at the map as if it were for the wrong city, state, province, region or even country. You look back up and mutter something under your breath (or at least that’s what I’ve been doing as I get lost in the maze of streets here in Rome).

Next, you begin to line up the landmarks with what is on the map. In a city, usually you can deduce your problem, or just ask someone walking by to make sure that the map in your hand isn't some horrible practical joke by the printing company. They point out a couple simple misunderstandings in YOUR perspective and you suddenly make sense of everything.

Now, put yourself in the middle of nowhere, with 2 other guys who weren’t paying attention either (or worse, they were but their ideas on which way is north don’t agree). No one is going to walk by and help you with perspective. The bears are kinda glad you showed up, and now it is just a waiting game for the locals to open the buffet. You’re in a world of hurt and you know it. Problem is, you cannot quite believe it. So, we become ridiculous optimists. We look at the horizon, then back at the map, then at the trees and river next to us, then back to the map. We bend the map.

We tell ourselves, and the guys next to us, that that river shouldn’t be there, but maybe it’s the river that’s on the map just a few inches over. And that there isn’t a mountain on the map, but maybe it’s the mountain from over on the right a bit. ‘Yeah, yeah, that must be it. We must be right here (no where near where you actually are) so that means we go this direction for an hour (it will end up being five) and we’ll be back at the car before dark.’

Professionals have identified five general stages of bending the map;

You deny that you're disoriented and press on with growing urgency.
You admit you're lost, you begin to panic.
You calm down and form a strategy.
You deteriorate both mentally and physically as your strategy fails to get you out.
You become resigned to your plight as you run out of options.

This is a dangerous and fatal mistake. We try to make reality conform to our expectations rather than see what is actually there.

Bending the employee volunteering map

A similar process happens when managers responsible for employee engagement in sustainability programs, CSR, volunteering, and workplace giving find their best efforts are yielding minimal results.

You deny that employee engagement in the program is all that bad. Instead, you press on with growing urgency believing that improved communication will raise awareness resulting in improved participation numbers.
You admit it’s not working and you begin to panic. You reach out to other sources of information, mostly other company’s, and try to compare notes. There is a strong belief that somewhere out there is a ‘best practice’ that will solve your problems.
You calm down and form a strategy based on what another company has claimed worked for them.
You deteriorate both mentally and physically as your strategy fails to get you out. To your horror, you discover that most other companies are in exactly the same position. Low participation rates. Low awareness. Everyone is asking each other ‘What’s working?’.
You become resigned to your plight as you run out of options. You decide to reset your expectations. Employee volunteering is never going to be very popular (beyond the one big day/week out of the office). This is the rest of your life.

Seeing things clearly

The reality check of knowing what your employees know and seeing what your employees see will save you and the corporate volunteering program from this depressing and fatal process. The best part? Gathering this information is not as difficult as might be imagined. Here are three actions that are relatively easy to perform:

1. Conduct a simple survey: Asking as few as six questions will offer some very important insight:

Do you volunteer in the community? Why or why not?
Have you ever participated in the company’s employee volunteering program? Why or why not?
Do you feel the company invests enough in the community? Why or why not?
How would you describe your neighbor’s or friend’s perception of the company’s community investment?
What could we do better in this regard?
Do you use the resources and online tools to help our employees volunteer in the community? Why or why not?

Make sure to ask enough people to get a decent response rate. You may want to limit your survey to a particular market or region. You can even attach the questions to other surveys going out - such as an HR survey (they may or may not like the idea). Survey Monkey is an easy and free tool if you’re sending it out on your own.

2. Hold a few focus groups: This takes a bit more time than sending around a simple survey. First you’ll want to get a good representation in the room. Make sure to include people who volunteer alongside those who do not. A good number is probably six to ten employees. (Although we’ve done larger groups and they’ve worked just as well). Ask questions similar to the ones above, but spend more time facilitating the discussion between employees. Make sure to take copious notes.

3. Conduct one on one interviews: This process yields very useful information but can be time consuming. We recommend spending most of your time interviewing people you know volunteer already. That’s because they have a lot of insight as to why their fellow employees do not volunteer (and this just saves a bit of time). Here are some ideas for putting together a list of people to interview:

Ask other senior managers in various departments to help you identify a sample of employees who they feel are active as volunteers in the community on behalf of the community or in their own personal time.
Make sure the sample includes a cross section of all company divisions, markets, regions and hierarchical levels
Conduct a limited number of phone and in person interviews to understand the employee’s volunteering experience and interest in community investment.

In each interview, be sure to explain you are interested in growing/improving the current employee volunteering programs. Following introductions, you might use two open-ended questions to invite responses. Follow your opening questions with additional questions focusing on more specific information about what the interviewee talked about. Here’s an example of how we do it:

Have you volunteered before? (With the company? In your personal time?)
What is your current perception and/or understanding of volunteerism (sustainability, workplace giving, CSR, or whatever the focus is) at the company?

Your follow-up questions might include:

In what ways does the company benefit when employees volunteer?
How have you (or have you) benefited from the employee volunteer program?
What barriers might be keeping employees from volunteering?
Do you have any suggestions for increasing volunteerism at the company?

Getting where you want to go

This is just one part of the process of starting or growing your employee volunteer program. Stay tuned - we’ll have more soon.

If you’d like to learn more about this, we'd love to talk to you. You can reach us here:
chrisjarvis@realizedworth.com
angela@realizedworth.com
317.371.4435

IKEA Pays ‘LIP’ Service To Community Investment

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 17:29:00 +0000

Should marketing and corporate citizenship go together? Yes and no. Thanks to IKEA for providing an instructive opportunity.

A good example of what not to do...

Last night, during a delicious meal in Venice (cool, eh?) I received an email asking what I thought about IKEA’s Life Improvement Project (LIP). The reason my friend thought to write and ask specifically about IKEA’s program was because our review of the program last year. Let’s just say it was less than favorable.

The goal of IKEA’s program is to “help inspire and empower people to improve their lives, as well as the lives of others in their community.” Good enough, but it misses that goal - by a long shot. While there have been some changes in this year’s version, the fundamental flaws remain the same.

We don’t make a habit of pointing out the flaws in the community investment programs of specific companies, but the IKEA program offers an instructive opportunity to point out what companies need to avoid if they want to design credible corporate citizenship programs.

Besides which, they’ve spent a lot of money and time marketing the program so we figure it’s more than fair to make a few observations on our little blog.

So very briefly, here’s what the program includes:

“A Life Improvement Sabbatical Contest which offers an opportunity to win a year-long sabbatical* (worth $100,000) to improve the lives of others”

“A series of free, in-store Life Improvement Store Seminars which provide tips and inspiration to improve people’s lives at home”

“Random Acts of Life Improvement, unexpected moments when IKEA will surprise the public with tokens of appreciation to improve everyday moments in their lives”

“A Life Improvement Challenge, where every IKEA store will commit $10,000 to support local community initiatives”

“A Soft Toys for Education Campaign to donate 1 euro to children’s education programs for every IKEA soft toy purchased during the holiday season”

We want to be clear - none of these things are bad. These actions will not contribute to the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. No one is going to be hurt by these initiatives. No animals will be harmed.

So what’s the problem?

It’s not real. The Life Improvement Sabbatical Contest is almost a guaranteed waste of money. Worse yet, offering someone $100K to do something good suggests that to really make an impact, you need to quit your job for a year. While that’s an interesting concept, it’s just not true. Good community investment programs utilize the resources, time and interests that people have in the every day of their lives. If someone wants to work full time in the nonprofit sector, that’s fantastic. But we can all contribute from where we are. That’s an important message for a company’s citizenship program to declare.

Again - nothing wrong with quitting your job and devoting yourself to a cause or community. But that’s not sustainable for society. It’s not even a reality for most people. In fact, IKEA can only offer this opportunity to one person out of 7 billion. We need to think through more realistic approaches to creating shared value for as many people as possible.

There’s no transparency. As I read the press release, I realize that I have absolutely no idea where the $100K from last year really went. I know dogs and vets were involved but there isn’t one (not one) metric as to outcomes or impact. Nothing. This obvious omission tells me that it was never really the point in the first place.

It lacks engagement. Voting for your favorite cause/charity/desperate situation is so 2009. There are so many more interesting and engaging ideas for involving customers in corporate citizenship programs. They can vote by giving small amounts (a quarter for example - organizations like Benevity can help you do this). They could join the employees in the volunteering programs (Starbucks has successfully done this). But the biggest problem is that voting programs don’t actually do much more than engaging people in voting. There is no attitudinal or behavioral change. (Voting happens between November 28 and December 23).

It’s a marketing program. The Random acts of Life Improvement is solely marketing. Giving out free stuff to customers has nothing to do with CSR or Corporate Citizenship (or at least not the way it’s described here). Neither do the Life Improvement Store Seminars.

It’s blind philanthropy. Donating 1 euro per sale of a soft toy is fine, but that’s straight up philanthropy. Which (I want to be very clear) is fine. Companies that make philanthropic donations a part of their product sales are smart. The problem is that neither I, nor the customers who donate the money, will have any idea how IKEA helped 8 million kids? Apparently, to date, the company has been able to donate $47.5 million to help kids in 40 countries. The euros are used “to support children’s educational programs in developing countries.” But how? Were the children able to go to school? Did they have access to clean water so they could stay in school? Were they supplied with vaccines and affordable medicine so they didn’t miss school?

We don’t know.

(Here’s a better example of how a program connects donors to impacts.)

IKEA has made improvements

There have been some improvements which should be noted. This year “IKEA is providing $10,000 to one team in each of its 38 stores ($380,000 total) to support a local community project.” That’s a significant increase from last year’s contribution of $10,000 to just five community projects.

So that’s cool.

But IKEA’s greatest mistake is confusing marketing and community investment. Again, we (Angela and Chris) need to be clear about something - corporate citizenship and marketing or PR should be working together. But they should never be confused.

Companies that have good corporate citizenship programs should make every effort to ensure their customers, vendors and shareholders know about what’s being achieved. That’s a smart and integrated approach to corporate citizenship. But mixing together obvious sales strategies such as the ‘Life Improvement Store Seminars’ and calling it community investment is not credible.

Here’s the rule - marketing serves corporate citizenship. It is never the other way around.

This whole program was conceived by Ogilvy & Mather, IKEA’s creative agency, so... I’m not sure why I would have expected anything else. (I’m sure they are a fine firm - but it’s tough for most marketing agencies to develop corporate citizenship programs).

You can read more about IKEA’s other 'Responsibility' initiatives here. They are a bit buried on the corporate website but they cover an impressively wide range of issues and activities.

If you’d like to learn more about this, we'd love to talk to you. You can reach us here:
chrisjarvis@realizedworth.com
angela@realizedworth.com
317.371.4435

What Is Real Corporate Citizenship?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:22:00 +0000

Will corporations be successful in their citizen efforts to address critical social and environmental issues?

The Rise of The Corporate Citizen: The Promise

As we noted in part one of this blog series, corporations are assuming a new role in today’s society. Historically, it has been religious groups, nonprofit organizations, and governments that have mobilized to address social and environmental issues. Now the corporations of the world are playing this role.

Why?

Corporations Want to Make the World Better

Corporate citizenship continues to grow as a key element of today’s business strategy. Granted, the idea of corporations acting as good citizens has been around since the 1950‘s. Yet developments in the economic, technological and geopolitical landscape of the past couple decades have significantly increased the scale and power of the private sector. As the influence of corporations grow, so do the expectations of stakeholders.

Non-financial performance has quickly become an important, if not expected, piece of the corporate annual report. Governments, non-governmental organizations, investors and consumers are demanding leadership in the management of social and environmental issues related to the company’s sourcing, supply chain, production and sales.

Corporations not only have the unique opportunity to address social and environmental concerns, the public has given them a mandate to do so.

Water is Critical to a Better World

The list of social and environmental ills that clamor for attention is seemingly endless. It is likely however, that there is widespread consensus on the issue that is number one on the list: water.

According to Water.org, the nonprofit Matt Damon helped to establish, almost a billion people around the world lack access to safe water. That means more than 3.5 million people will die from water-related diseases. Not even war has seen the consistent killing of so high a number of people. The situation is so critical that in October of 2010 “the main United Nations body dealing with human rights has affirmed that the right to water and sanitation is contained in existing human rights treaties, and that States have the primary responsibility to ensure the full realisation of this and all other basic human rights.”

What Role Can Companies Play?

Companies like PepsiCo use water to make their products - a lot of water. In 2001 PepsiCo used 7.1 litres of water to make just one litre of Pepsi. Water is obviously a big expense for PepsiCo. Decreasing the amount of water it takes to produce a bottle of Pepsi would be a huge benefit to the company’s bottom line. Over the past decade, the company has managed to dramatically reduce water usage - to as little as 2.4 litres by 2010.

As a corporate citizen PepsiCo’s expertise could be said to be essential to addressing the global water crises. But knowing a lot about water is one thing; using that knowledge to help make the world better is another. In an effort to contribute to a solution on a global scale PepsiCo joined the United Nations’ CEO Water Mandate, “a unique public-private initiative designed to assist companies in the development, implementation and disclosure of water sustainability policies and practices.”

Is PepsiCo Acting? Or Just Talking?

By joining the CEO Water Mandate, PepsiCo has agreed that “they have a responsibility to make water-resources management a priority, and to work with governments, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders to address this global water challenge.” More specifically, the company has gone on record and pledged to provide safe water to 3 million people in the developing world by 2015.

Admittedly, while important, signing documents and making public declarations of intention alone will not solve the water crises. Even the UN’s declaration that access to clean water and sanitation is a human right probably matters very little to small villages in Ghana.

In order to be responsible corporate citizens companies have to take real action.

This past year, PepsiCo announced a new idea based on the tradition of the US Peace Corps called PepsiCorps. Within a matter of months, 168 applications came in from employees around the world willing to participate in the month-long pilot taking place in Ghana this past October. The eight employees chosen for the team came from Vietnam, US, Turkey, Canada, and Spain representing various PepsiCo business units, functions and company locations.

The team traveled to Southern Ketu, on the coast of Ghana. The team’s objective was “to equip district leaders, local chiefs, and the community with the means and business tools” to ensure access to clean and safe drinking water.

Real Corporate Citizenship

The success of company’s corporate citizenship program ultimately depends on people. To be precise, it depends on employees. The same could be said of the Peace Corps. The success of the program depended on individual citizens traveling abroad, building relationships, and doing the work that needed to be done. Therefore, in order to gain credible insight to the PepsiCorps program we need to look beyond the strategies, UN initiatives, and press releases. We need to hear from the employees themselves. What did they see? What did they experience? What did they do? What’s different?

Is the world better because eight PepsiCo employees spent a month in Ghana?

Next time we’ll take a closer look at the PepsiCo team and the specifics of the project and try to begin to answer that question.

Realized Worth works with major corporations to launch high impact employee volunteer programs. We focus specifically on the challenge of employee engagement. Call us to chat: 317.371.4435.

Employee Volunteering - An Amazing Resource or a Terrible Waste?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:46:00 +0000

Are you meeting your employee volunteers at their highest level of contribution? Here’s how one Microsoft employee is changing the world.

Your Employees Have a lot to Offer

The employees at your company are smart, energetic, and driven, right? Not only that, they are probably generous and socially conscious. They thrive in settings that have a clear purpose and offer a sense of meaningful accomplishment. Yes, they know they are there to get the job done for which they were hired. And when the work they do is connected to making the world a better place, you know it's true - your people give 110%! (Just in case you're not sure we're right; read this).

For many of your employees, the chance to contribute to the community is a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding activity. Many times painting fences and cleaning youth centers can be the right fit. (We’ve talked about why these activities can be a good fit here.)

However, for a significant number of your employees, painting and cleaning is a terrible waste of a valuable resource.

What Do You Offer Your Employees?

During last month’s Giving Campaign at Microsoft, we met with Adnan Mahmud, a program manager for Microsoft. But more famously, he is also the Co-Founder and Director of Jolkona.

Jolkona is an online micro-giving platform. People can find hundreds of projects to which they can make donations of any size. That’s great - but it’s not all that new.

What’s fascinating about Jolkona’s giving platform is the feedback loop. Every donor, no matter how small the amount, is personally contacted on a regular basis. So if you’ve donated $5, you’ll receive updates on how that donation is making an impact. Your dollars don’t just go toward a cause or end up in a big bucket. With Jolkona, you have the chance to give to low cost, high impact projects and receive tangible proof that your dollars achieved an important and measurable impact.

Here’s an example of what we mean by an important and measurable impact:

2 girls were saved from honor killing in Iraq
8 orphans received clothes in Iraq
6 women received farming training in Sudan
2 girls received 1 year of education in Afghanistan
2 businesses showcase opportunity provided in USA
2 mothers and newborn received nutritional support in India
2 months of primary education provided in Uganda

Knowing how what you gave made a difference is incredibly compelling. It may even be addictive.

Outgrowing Microsoft

Jolkona went live about 2 years ago with just 4 projects. Since then, Jolkona has quickly grown to include more than 100 projects spread across 70 countries. A big part of that growth has been a result of being included in Microsoft’s Annual Giving campaign. Kevin Espirito, the Senior Manager of Employee Engagement for Microsoft Community Affairs, offers his employees the opportunity to donate through Jolkona along side thousands of other community and nonprofit organizations. (Kevin's a great guy - you can find him on twitter).

The Microsoft employees are very enthusiastic about Jolkona. Adnan admits he has the wonderful problem of trying to keep up with demand for the site. With only two full time employees, Jolkona has processed over $200,000 in donations to date. In fact, the current rate of donations is quickly moving past the $10,000 per month. That’s with only 1500 users.

Yet the largest single donor doesn’t work at Microsoft. He’s not even an American. Apparently, a gentleman in Switzerland found Jolkona online and loves it. He donates on a weekly or monthly basis.

It’s not just individuals. Companies other than Microsoft are now using the platform to facilitate their workplace giving and philanthropic initiatives.

Waggener Edstrom Worldwide (WE) just wrapped up a successful giving campaign where they matched up to $5,000 (U.S.) of individual donors' contributions to global development projects.
In China, Hias Gourmet, a culinary company, is using Jolkona to manage their philanthropic activities.

This is exactly why we think Jolkona is a great example of how to meet your employees at their highest level of contribution.

For many employees, almost 2 out of 3, volunteering is not a regular part of their lifestyle. There are a lot of reasons why that’s the case, and most of them make a lot of sense. Maybe they grew up in a home where no one modeled volunteering. Maybe they have a young family and there doesn’t seem to be any extra time. Maybe they have commitments to family members who are ill or in some kind of need. Whatever the reason, most employees don’t volunteer.

For the segment of your employee population who doesn't volunteer, painting fences makes a lot of sense. You want to offer an achievable, experiential, and rewarding experience. People need a chance to fall in love with volunteering. Asking inexperienced volunteers for a huge up-front commitment is a very tough sell. (Here is a more thorough discussion of this reality).

Offering Employees a Higher Level of Contribution

Adnan is not one of these volunteers. He was already convinced that ‘giving back’ was something that needed to be part of his life. Adnan grew up in Bangladesh. He witnessed some of the worst conditions on the planet facing people trying to make a living and raise their children. A big part of his life has been about trying to figure out how to use what he knows as a program manager at Microsoft to improve the lives of his fellow countrymen in Bangladesh.

Asking Adnan to paint a fence wouldn’t have been a terrible crime. We’re sure, having met Adnan, that he’d be more than happy to participate in these types of community investment programs at Microsoft.

But limiting Adnan to paining fences would have been a terrible waste.

Adnan is using the skills, networks and promotional opportunities offered by Microsoft to create an effective tool allowing people around the world to join him in saving lives.

If you’d like to learn more about how to do this, we'd love to talk to you. You can reach us here:
chrisjarvis@realizedworth.com
angela@realizedworth.com
317.371.4435

The Rise of the Corporate Citizen

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:28:00 +0000

A new idea

John F. Kennedy was exhausted. It had been a long day and now, at 2 a.m. Kennedy was just arriving at the University of Michigan. The upcoming Presidential election was just three short weeks away and Senator Kennedy had been traveling across the country in a last ditch effort to secure every last possible vote.

Kennedy stepped to the podium. A cheering crowd of some 10,000 students filled the auditorium in front of him. His speech began weakly with a joke that he had come to Ann Arbor to go to bed. The students cheered, their energy filling the air. Kennedy’s exhaustion was replaced by their enthusiasm and as he stood in front of the future of the nation, something magical happened.

An idea was born.

Kennedy set aside his prepared notes and spoke from his heart:

"How many of you, who are going to be doctors, are willing to spend your days in Ghana? Technicians or engineers, how many of you are willing to work in the Foreign Service and spend your lives traveling around the world?"

A couple of nights later the students wrote out a call to action on a napkin. Within a few days time 1,000 students had signed the petition to create Kennedy’s Peace Corps. Six months later, having won the election, President Kennedy signed an executive order and the Peace Corps began. Since then, more than 200,000 citizens have participated in the Peace Corps serving in 139 countries around the world.

An idea with a rich tradition

The Peace Corps may have been born that night in Ann Arbor, but the idea itself had been around for awhile. In 1951, Kennedy, as the Representative of Massachusetts, proposed the following:

"Young college graduates would find a full life in bringing technical advice and assistance to the underprivileged and backward Middle East ... In that calling, these men would follow the constructive work done by the religious missionaries in these countries over the past 100 years.”

This idea of mobilizing American citizens to assist nations and communities around the world had been considered by Kennedy and other members of Congress since the conclusion of second World War. Yet Kennedy’s comments revealed an idea with a much richer tradition. The Peace Corps was rooted in missionary work that had been carried out by churches and other religious bodies for hundreds of years.

When asked where the idea for the Peace Corps came from, Kennedy answered that he had based much of his thinking on the example of Operation Crossroads Africa founded by Rev. James H. Robinson.

A Tradition Continues

Just a few weeks ago on October 14, PepsiCorps landed in Ghana. An 8 member team, drawn from around the world and across PepsiCo’s business units, was tasked with addressing the acute issue of access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene in the Ketu South District.

PepsiCorps is a month-long project in partnership with CDC Development Solutions. Each member of the team is expected to draw on work-related skills to help the host community and achieve the goals of the project. The team will be living and working alongside members of the Ketu South District community. The hope is that they will become “more attuned to on-the-ground realities and develop deep insights into the connections between business and social needs.” (You can read the teams' blogs here).

Ghana was the first country in the world to receive Peace Corps Volunteers on August 30, 1961. Inspired by the best qualities of missionary work around the world, the United States government mobilized citizens for the benefit of other nations facing seemingly insurmountable social and environmental crisis. The Peace Corps was established for the following purpose:

“To promote world peace and friendship through a Peace Corps, which shall make available to interested countries and areas men and women of the United States qualified for service abroad and willing to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help the peoples of such countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained manpower.”

Now, 50 years later, PepsiCorps has landed on the beaches of Ghana. Inspired by the best qualities of the Peace Corps tradition, PepsiCo has mobilized its employees with similar aspirations:

“PepsiCorps is about more than volunteering; it speaks to the responsibilities of businesses to the communities and the larger world in which they are embedded. This theme of prospering at the intersection of what’s good for business and what’s good for society derives from PepsiCo’s mission – Performance With Purpose.”

Over the next few weeks we will examine the rise of the Corporate Citizen. This will not be a theoretical exercise (although we admit that the field of corporate volunteering and corporate citizenship is in need of good theory). Instead we will be taking a closer look at the PepsiCorps experiences, successes, and failures in Ghana over the past few weeks.

We’ll be looking to better understand this new role corporations are taking in the world. In light of the past successes and failures of the earlier initiatives of religious organizations and governments, what should we expect? What can we hope for?

Stay tuned, this should be interesting.

Realized Worth works with major corporations to launch high impact employee volunteer programs. We focus specifically on the challenge of employee engagement. Call us to chat: 317.371.4435.

Dollars for Doers: The Incentive Nobody Wants

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:33:00 +0000

When 184 managers of employee volunteering programs were asked which program was most successful they answered “Dollar for Doer programs”. But they’re wrong - and here’s why.

Employers think it's great

According to the latest report produced by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), Giving inNumbers: 2011 Edition, "Dollars for Doers has been the most frequently offered employee-volunteer program” for the past few years. More companies offer Dollars for Doers than any other employee volunteering incentive including employee recognition awards, flexible time for volunteering or even a day of service.

That makes sense. Dollars for Doers programs enable employers to recognize the volunteer efforts of their employees with cash. When an employee volunteers with an eligible nonprofit, the company matches their volunteer hours with financial donation to that nonprofit. The typical formula is $10 per each eligible hour spent volunteering, although according to the CECP report it is not uncommon to see corporate matches of $20/hour or more.

If you'd like to learn more about Dollars for Doers, the Entrepreneurs Foundation offers details about this type of program with a sample template.

I suppose the reason Dollars for Doers enjoys such widespread popularity is that it makes use of the most universally understood incentives - money. Apparently its working. When CECP put the question to program managers what is the 'most successful domestic and international programs” guess which incentive program topped the list? Dollars for Doers.

So why then are only 7 employees out of 100 applying for this cash incentive?

Employees don’t care

That’s right. Dollars for Doers is arguably the least utilized employee volunteer program. We’ve often heard that the participation rate for Dollars for Doers is around 20%. It’s not. According to CECP it is a minuscule 7%.

We spoke with our friend, Kevin Espirito about this very issue during our visit to Microsoft a couple weeks ago. Kevin is the Senior Manager of Employee Engagement for Microsoft Community Affairs, and is responsible for the company's volunteer strategy, giving campaign, Puget Sound employee engagement, and the year-round matching gift programs.

Despite the huge financial and volunteering investment Microsoft makes in communities across the United States, (this year the company and employees are on track to give a whopping $100 million) Kevin will tell you that only 7.8% of Microsoft employees participate in Dollars for Doers.

Kevin has implemented a number of strategies to increase this number:

Simplified the application process - drastically.
Implemented an App for smart phones that allows volunteering employees to immediately record their hours.
Invested time with Microsoft’s vendor who processes the Dollar for Doer funds to increase the program’s efficiency.
Partnered with Nonprofits to encourage Microsoft employees to record their hours.

We wrote about Kevin’s brilliant out-of-the-box thinking during last year’s annual campaign at Microsoft. Each year he invites hundreds of nonprofits on to the Microsoft campus, offers great food and drinks and asks them to partner with him to increase the participation rate in the Dollar for Doers program. You can read about "Microsoft’s Smooth Kung Fu Moves" here.

The result remains to be seen, however. Even with Kevin’s solid strategies there may not be much change this year.

Why the disconnect?

In a recent interview with Margaret Coady, CECP's director, I asked why managers of these programs consider 7% a success. Margaret said that unlike almost every other question in the survey this one offered little guidance in defining "success." Managers were left to determine what success meant for each program and didn’t include their thinking in the response.

I asked Margaret to conjecture a bit as to why Dollars for Doers ranked number one given the low levels of participation. She offered two insights that made a lot of sense: First, Dollars for Doers is usually lumped in with other successful workplace giving initiatives. If the annual campaign is a success then it follows that the Dollars for Doers program contributed to that success. Second, Dollars for Doers appeals to managers. It’s flexible and it has that universal incentive of cold hard cash. How could it not be the smartest and best part of the employee volunteering program?

The Problem with Dollars for Doers

The Cost is High: The CECP report indicates that “companies that dedicate large portions of their cash contributions to matching gifts appear to have a higher ratio of management and program costs relative to total giving. Matching gift programs require substantial investments in grant-management technology, employee communications, and staff to manage these programs.” These high costs can be worth it but you’ll need a higher participation rate to realize a solid ROI on the Dollar for Doers portion.

The Awareness is Low: If your company has a Dollar for Doers program, I guarantee that most of your employees don’t even know about it. Posting information about the program on the employee volunteering website is not going to work. Sending emails and reminders may actually incentivize people NOT to participate (it feels like nagging). The most successful strategy for creating awareness is collaboration through one-on-one conversations. This means you have to appeal to people’s WIIFM (What’s In It For Me). And you have to do it in person. Of course you can’t be everywhere, so you’ll need a strategy to multiply your efforts. Keep reading to find out how.

The Process is Clumsy: Unless you're a technology company like Microsoft you’re probably not going to be developing smart phone apps for your Dollar for Doers program anytime soon. Asking employees to remember to record hours and fill out semi-lengthy application forms is a huge barrier - not to mention all the work managers are required to do to develop the forms, post them online, collect the information and submit everything in a timely manner to release the funds. Instead consider using a third party solution like AngelPoints. If your budget is really tight (or non-existent), you might want to consider Spark! by Benevity which only requires a one-time, minimal setup fee.

The Eligibility is Low: Most of your employees who volunteer won’t qualify for the Dollars for Doers program. Companies often require a minimum number of hours per year to qualify. 40 hours is probably the most common threshold among the companies in our circles. Yet only 1 out of 3 employees volunteer on a regular basis - or enough to even qualify for the program. That means that the best companies can realistically hope for as a participation rate is 33%. On top of that, many companies do not include part time employees, further limiting the impact of the program to act as an incentive or reward.

The Motivation is Wrong: The bottom line is that for the employees who are both eligible and likely to take part in this program - it just isn’t motivating. Understanding the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations will help managers position Dollars for Doers in a way that makes sense to employees. The following blog articles and video explain what I mean:

Making Dollars for Doers work

We use a process of ‘Capture and Convert’ to increase participation rates in employee volunteering programs.

Capture: Find the employees who are already volunteering in the community and embody the corporate purposes and vision. They may be volunteering on their own personal time or as part of corporate volunteering events. Either way these employees are influencers. They are a key to spreading the word about the Dollars for Doers program and are uniquely able to mobilize their colleagues to participate. The goal is to capture their hearts and minds with a vision for what the corporate volunteering program can accomplish for the community, the company and the employees.

Influencers can be identified through interviews and surveys. Once we find them we begin collaborating. This process should include both one-on-one conversations as well as focus group meetings. (We refer to as ‘Collaboratives’.) The process itself is important. Meeting with employees already volunteering in the community and collaborating on achieving shared goals and objectives creates strong peer endorsement. The result is an environment in which the program is offered by management while enjoying the advocacy of colleagues at every level within the company. (For more on how to do this).

Convert: Begin building interest and awareness among employees who may only volunteer on occasion. As I already mentioned, two out of three employees in North American companies volunteer less than once a year. A successful program needs to ‘convert’ non-volunteering employees by offering a meaningful experience. An experience-first approach is key to allowing employees their own intrinsic motivations for volunteering. This is achieved through a strategy of clear messaging which utilizes traditional communication channels as well as the personal invitations of influencers to ‘try it out’. The key is a volunteer experience which is both accessible and immediately rewarding.

Here are some of the benefits of this approach:

Increased Participation - This type of ground-swell approach is able to grow exponentially year over year.

Clear Leadership - You’ll be able to find employees most likely to be early adopters of the Dollar for Doers program due to their existing interest in and passion for volunteering.

Strong Advocates - Enabling influential employees who already volunteer in the community and have a desire to see more of their colleagues involved in community service while increasing their impact through Dollar for Doers.

Effective Support - With minimal training for your influencers, you’ll be able to multiply your one-on-one messaging and coaching for employees across the company.

Increased Satisfaction - People who use Dollar for Doers programs think they are great!

More about the CECP:

The Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy is the only international forum of business CEOs and chairpersons focused exclusively on corporate philanthropy. Membership includes more than 180 global CEOs and chairpersons of companies that together account for more than 40% of reported corporate giving in the United States. Download CECP's Ten-Year History to learn more about the organization's acccomplishments in its first decade.

The Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy has been collecting corporate giving data since 2001. Download the 2011 Giving In Numbers Report (PDF).

Realized Worth works with major corporations to launch high impact employee volunteer programs. We focus specifically on the challenge of employee engagement. Call us to chat: 317.371.4435.

Your City Could Be Smarter & IBM Wants To Help

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:42:00 +0000

Cities across the world can now apply for year-two of the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge – a 100 city, US$50 million grant program that furnishes expert advice from IBM consultants to 100 progressive municipalities.

Can Cities be Smarter?

I often complain about Toronto’s public transportation (and so do all of my friends). It seems oddly inefficient, out of date and grumpy. I figure it’s because elected officials have no resources to improve it. Or maybe it’s because no one really knows what to do. But I know it can be better. I’ve been to Portland, Oregon. That city has an amazingly efficient, modern, friendly and even partially free public transportation system.

Your city may be the same way, but maybe it’s not about public transportation. Maybe there are other challenges your city or town is facing. It could be jobs, health, public safety, social services, recreation, education, energy or sustainability - areas where year after year there seems to be little improvement and the basic priority is....decay management.

IBM is offering your mayor help - for free!

Last month I was speaking with my friend, David Robitaille. Dave is the Manager of Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs at IBM Canada. After catching up on life in general, he began telling me about this cool initiative he had been working on: the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge.

Turns out your city doesn’t need to merely manage decay. Even though there may be little to no money in the budget for improvement, something can be done. Cities across the world can now apply for year-two of the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge. This is a US$50 million grant program that is being spent across 100 cities. The grant furnishes expert advice from IBM consultants to 100 progressive municipalities. And according to David, the results are worth it!

If your application is approved, your city will have access to IBM's top talent. They will devote weeks of their time analyzing unique opportunities and challenges your urban center may be facing. During this time, the IBM team will meet with officials, citizens, businesses, academics and community leaders to ensure an accurate understanding of the issues involved. Finally, the IBM team will recommend steps to make the delivery of services to your neighbors more efficient and innovative. The value of the talent provided for an individual engagement in a given city is approximately US$400,000.

Why this is a good idea

I love it when companies play to their strengths when it comes to CSR. The IBM Smarter Cities Challenge not only aligns with IBM's brand, it utilizes employees in strategic roles. This isn't philanthropy, but it does make the world a better place. It isn't volunteering, but it
engages employees in unique and interesting ways to improve communities. The initiative certainly passes our litmus test for high impact community investments.

Other community programs do not. (Pharma companies planting trees, for example).

Is it working?

The program is already helping cities that engaged with IBM in 2011. For example, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina is now planning its budgets and improvements with all its towns and villages in a more coordinated way. St. Louis, Missouri has hired officials to better share of information among agencies involved in criminal justice so that they can make better legal decisions. And Edmonton in Canada is using data more effectively to improve traffic and pedestrian safety.

Here’s how to apply

In order to be eligible for the IBM grant, city mayors need to apply before December 16, and the application is online.

To find out more, please visit http://smartercitieschallenge.org/ or YouTube for videos from some of the 2011 Smarter Cities Challenge grant winners.

Realized Worth works with major corporations to launch high impact employee volunteer programs. We focus specifically on the challenge of employee engagement. Call us to chat: 317.371.4435.

The Annual Giving Campaign: 6 Tips for Success

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Here are Microsoft's six recommendations to increase employee engagement in your company's next annual giving campaign.

The real question:

October has become the month of corporate giving in North America. If you’re one of those companies looking to break the giving record you set last year you know exactly what you have to do - increase the number of employees who give and the enthusiasm with which they participate.

Simple, right?

Sure, until you ask yourself the question, "How exactly do I increase employee engagement in my annual giving campaign?"

The answer?

To find the answer to that very question, we traveled to the Microsoft campus in Seattle for a behind the scenes peek at one of the largest workplace giving campaigns in North America. The giving goal this year is a whopping 100 million dollars. No small feat - not even for mighty Microsoft.

(For more information about how these funds are invested in the community, read this article by Brad Smith, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, Microsoft).

Microsoft uses a strategy that we’ve seen successfully employed by other companies looking to create widespread participation in workplace giving campaigns. The strategy is to issue the role of "Executive Sponsor" to a senior executive who is willing to step up as a champion for the giving campaign.

Last week in Seattle, we sat down with S. Somasegar (who goes by Soma), the corporate vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft, to talk about his insights as the Giving Campaign Executive Lead in this year’s campaign. Soma has been with Microsoft since 1989 and is an avid supporter of the Campaign.

We asked Soma how he champions the campaign at all levels of the organization. Without hesitation, he outlined six action points that blew me away. I think these action points are brilliant and may prove helpful in your campaign.

Microsoft's 6 Tips for Success

1. Distribute Responsibility. As an executive, Soma has the opportunity to sit with his peers and have conversations with them about the campaign goals, tools, and benefits. Enlisting your peers is the first logical step toward broad engagement.

2. Think Small. Yes, it’s important that the CEO give a mandate for the month of giving, but if Microsoft relied on Steve Ballmer to make this campaign successful, it would fail. The key is to look at the bottom of your org chart instead of the top. Where are the smallest teams or units of business within the company? These people are on the ground level, executing every day. It is essential to go to these employees and engage them directly. Soma does this by making sure managers and supervisors at this level have all of the information and tools they need to talk about the campaign during their team meetings. This equips an army of people to pitch for the campaign, rather than relying on the voice of the big guy or gal.

3. Hold Big Events. Too many options for giving and volunteering can be confusing for employees who wish to participate for the first time. Yet Microsoft knows that by increasing the options for employees the participation rate will increase. The key is to do both. Microsoft holds one or two big events designed for everyone. This provides clarity and direction for those employees who may be joining in for the first time. They also offer hundreds of small events and opportunities to give and get active in the community.

4. Deal with Nay-sayers. Managers are very aware of their business targets. So sometimes when they are approached by employees who want to spend time volunteering or raising funds they are less than enthusiastic about granting time away from work - even for sanctioned, community investment activities. Soma believes that one-on-one conversations are they only way to help these managers see the value of activities that may not seem to contribute directly to the business unit goals.

5. Give What You Can. Soma doesn’t like asking people to give money. He prefers to present opportunities and then enable people to give however they can. Some employees give money. Other employees give time. Microsoft also loves to give away software products. Whatever the contribution, Microsoft is working to match each type of donation. Matching allows people who can only give a little feel a sense of significance. Successful campaigns enable individuals to matter.

6. Have fun. This should go without saying, but sometimes annual giving campaigns can be dreary or boring. Microsoft’s Giving Campaign is neither. For example you can bid online in an auction for the world’s best baloney sandwich. Or, following the 5k run/walk, you can join your colleagues at the beer garden for food and live music. (We made sure to join this one - you can check out the pics on the Facebook Page). But maybe the most interesting/fun/bizarre event is the Flamingo Flock:

This year the Microsoft Operations team is ‘flocking’ the offices of unsuspecting employees with plastic flamingos. Employees can plot and surprise co-workers with their own flock of flamingos. There are four levels of participation:

Flock‘em - Allows an unsuspecting individual’s office to be overtaken by FLAMINGOS!
Flock Migration - A Flock Migration allows the ‘flocked’ individual to pass the flock over to another colleague.
Flocksurance - The well prepared and those with Flamingo Phobia can purchase the Flocksurance to avoid these pink creatures.
Flocksurance Side Stepper - The Side-Stepper is a premium product which allows one to override another’s Flocksurance.

Weird - but fun (and financially successful).

More about Microsoft’s Annual Giving Campaign

Microsoft’s campaign is held during the month of October. Employees are mobilized to engage in the local community and support nonprofit organizations nationwide. The month is filled with engaging fundraising events driven by employees and executives across the United States. Every year, full-time Microsoft employees receive up to $12,000 in corporate matching gifts. Microsoft will match employee volunteer time at $17 per hour. If employees wish to give financially during October, Microsoft will make a dollar-for-dollar match of an employee’s financial donation to the non-profit. Last year, the company raised a record-breaking $96 million throughout the year with a big push during the October giving campaign that helped achieve this exemplary goal.

Full Disclosure: Our trip to was sponsored by Microsoft. They kindly covered all of our travel related costs. We received no fees for writing or posting this article.

Realized Worth works with major corporations to launch high impact employee volunteer programs. We focus specifically on the challenge of employee engagement. Call us to chat: 317.371.4435.

Shifting Trends in the Corporate World: Your Guide to CSR

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Jarvis) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 15:00:00 +0000

A big thank you to Brook Folliot, a recent business school graduate who developed this educational resource on business ethics as part of her business degree project. We are pleased to offer our readers a look at the definition of CSR, how the concept has infiltrated business and education over the years, and where to go to learn more.

Is Corporate Social Responsibility Changing The Way We Do Business?

The short answer is yes, of course. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a specific type of business self-regulation that many companies around the world have begun to mesh into their business models. It can be described abstractly as an approach to doing business that focuses on things on like environmental stewardship, cultural sensitivity, and a general willingness to improve the quality of our world's societies. Aside from the obvious external benefits of such an approach, there are plenty of intrinsic boons associated with developing a solid CSR plan for any business, whether large or small. Corporate social responsibility emphasizes the importance of having a positive impact on the world, but it is certainly not meant to deemphasize profit. CSR tempts businesses to focus on the triple bottom line (people, planet, profit) in order to drive growth in a way that adds a certain intangible value to a venture. The specific policies and protocols that blossom from CSR have helped many corporations use their size and power to create positive change in the world and the trend seems to be steadily increasing. CSR continues to gain traction as a popular buzzword in schools and workplaces, but the idea itself actually dates back to the Industrial Revolution. This is not surprising, considering that most innovation happens as a result of juxtaposing old principles in unique ways to fit the times.

CSR In Schools

Corporate social responsibility is a prevalent theory in higher academia that touches on a diverse gamut of business nuances. Successful entrepreneurs and professors of business often stress the importance of ethical behavior, as well as the need for social responsibility in long-term, international corporate strategies. But why a professor would do such a thing seems to elude students and employees alike. There are volumes of information dedicated to corporate ethical disasters that could have been averted, or at least repaired more efficiently, had CSR been practiced in better faith. A few of these cases are listed below, along with substantial studies that help highlight how this mantra has developed over time.

The Minamata Disaster: methylmercury from a Japanese chemical company was released into a local fishing bay and the Shiranui Sea for over 35 years starting in 1932. The toxic chemical accumulated in fish, which were eaten by Minamata's populace resulting in mass mercury poisoning. A settlement for this case was just reached in March 2010.
The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling is a paper that was commissioned by the Obama Administration as a scrutiny of the disaster. In addition to being an anecdotal keepsake, it functions as an educational business case study that hinges on CSR principles.
The Three Mile Island accident is a historic nuclear failure that occurred in 1979 near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. There are many opinions still circulating about the auxiliary ethical details of this accident, but its core mishaps and lessons learned remain. The nuclear industry is an especially powerful example of how CSR consciousness has improved an entire business niche in a short period of time.
The Seveso Disaster occurred in Italy in 1976. A toxic cloud of corrosive chemicals was accidentally dispersed into the air, cause a slew of acute and chronic illnesses that would affect generations to come. As this interesting case study points out, however, this disaster was a landmark in the new models of disaster relief and prevention that followed, arguably influenced by the overarching ideas of CSR.
The Bhopal Disaster, sometimes called the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, is one of the world's worst of its kind. In Madhya Pradesh, India in 1984 the escape of methyl isocyanate gas contaminated many people, killing over 3000 and injuring thousands more nearly beyond repair. As with other disasters, what the chemicals industry and others in the industrial world have learned from this incident is indispensable to CSR discussion.

These case studies should help you think about why being cautious about the environmental implications of a company's operation are considered important, both in academia and in the real world. Today, the "Ethical MBA" has become a popular term used around the globe, and even Executive CSR Programs are offered (or are in development) at some of the most prestigious schools. Whether you are a student or a CEO, there is wealth of archived information from which to learn and bolster your ability to leverage CSR in your own pursuits. It is well known that CSR helps the bottom line , so it's worth keeping up-to-date.

CSR & Engineering

Engineers are often involved in jobs that have a long-term impact on the development of a major community, and as such they have a large role as employees when it comes to corporate social responsibility. Books like Citizen Engineer and Socially Responsible Engineering are used as primers to help engineers think about their positions when it comes to CSR. Thereâ€™s also a lot of helpful information that a business student can learn from socially responsible engineering practices and the risk management associated with things like the building of bridges, chemical plants, and petroleum operations. Broadening your knowledge base, regardless of whether or not your interests and passions are technical in nature, will only benefit the savvy entrepreneur in the long haul. A few examples of socially responsible and fascinating inventions can be found below. These examples are excellent proof that a product with strong social value can be highly marketable, too.

Time's Top Inventions of 2010 contains an array of socially responsible inventions, from devices to help paraplegics more efficiently to sailboats made of plastic bottles.
A mirror that monitors vital signs - see for yourself.
A Pen That Screens for Disease

Additional Case Studies

Corporations often find out that they can't reach a CSR quota and then stop being socially responsible. The Coca-Cola case study is a prime example of how being socially responsible must be considered on a case-by-case basis.
The Harvard Business School is one of the premiere online spaces for comprehensive case studies on CSR, and is designed to help people develop an understanding of how complex CSR issues manifest work environments.

Socially Responsible Companies

Society is beginning to take note of the world's most socially responsible companies, and this list provides a brief insight into how these companies are differentiating themselves in terms of CSR.
Another list of the Top 100 socially responsible companies might come with a few surprises. Companies like BP, who have been responsible for large environmental calamities, have actually been involved in plenty of CSR projects and therefore rank high on the list.
Projects related to CSR come in all shapes and sizes, but this list of 8 revolutionary socially responsible companies contains a few unique ideas that could end up changing the world.
While there is no doubt that CSR is becoming increasingly important in the business world, this does not mean companies can't be successful without CSR programs. For example, Apple, one of the world's most admired companies, also has a notorious history of non-charitable practice.

Organizations Dedicated to Corporate Social Responsibility

Business for Social Responsibility is an organization that works with over 250 companies to develop sustainable business strategies.
The World Council for Sustainable Development is an association of over 200 companies working together to establish socially responsible practices, and to ensure that the world is living within its means by 2050.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development provides a forum for governments to work together to foster and promote socially responsible practices.
Find out how one government is attempting to make a difference by following the Environmental Protection Agency as it works to establish a socially responsible mindset from within the government.
For more information about the various organizations making a difference socially, this resource (while slightly outdated) provides a solid list of organizations working internationally and locally to establish social responsibility.

Brooke Folliot is a business graduate, with an entrepreneurial background. She is a non-profit and sustainability enthusiast, who wants to see CSR make a difference for both companies and communities across the globe.