A helping hand through corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility has taken an ever increasing role in many modern day corporations which in turn has led to to a large increase in the amount of companies who actively support their employees volunteering.

A VolunteeringAustralia study found 54 percent of the survey respondents ranked corporate social responsibility considerations as the main reason why their company engaged in volunteering programs, with 57 percent giving between twenty to thirty thousand dollars a year to fund their volunteering programs.

While direct funds contributions can go a long way, contributors often feel a greater sense of involvement in the project to which they are donating when they actually donate their time. Community organisations also like to know that their supporters are fully engaged in their projects.

That’s why schemes like United Way Australia’s corporate volunteering program have emerged, to offer corporate partners a way to give that goes beyond a bank cheque.

The program recently had senior managers from Commonwealth Bank trading their suits for paint smocks at the Collingwood Housing Estate’s computer hub.

As well as working to brighten up the facility with a fresh lacquer, the working bee helped to engage corporate employees in their community at a grass-roots level.

The corporate volunteers had the opportunity to see for themselves the benefits that the community computer hub and access to affordable internet and helpdesk support bring to residents of the estate.

There are many grassroots Infoxchange programs that could benefit from such corporate volunteer partnerships, so please get in touch.