The benefits of employee volunteering are endless, from learning and developing new skills and increasing engagement to improving recruitment and raising the profile of your business. However, despite there being lots of charities doing amazing work, many struggle to provide volunteering opportunities that meet the requirements of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes.
Action4Youth, a leading charity working across Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes and the surrounding counties, which provides positive, often transformational experiences and activities to inspire children and young people, has identified a programme of opportunities, ideally suited to businesses and their employees, who are keen to reap the benefits of corporate volunteering.
In a recent report published by NCVO*, employers said that beyond the impact they want to make on their communities, participating in Employer-Supported Volunteering (ESV) benefits their employees (eg supporting their development, feeling better about their work place) as well as benefiting their business (eg increased employee productivity, enhanced image and reputation of the business, supporting their organisational strategies, and breaking siloes across teams.)
Many agreed that it was important for employers to demonstrate a good ethos and values as an organisation, and an increasing expectation among those they engaged with, whether clients or employees.
Action4Youth has a huge range of volunteering opportunities throughout Buckinghamshire, from helping to prepare young people for working life, to improving facilities for children with disabilities at the Caldecotte Xperience in Milton Keynes. Corporate volunteering offers employees fun and rewarding experiences, which will directly contribute to Action4Youth’s work with young people in the community, so everyone’s a winner!
Rosalind Lee, Fundraising Manager at Action4Youth says: “We currently have a number of opportunities available, including; hosting a group of students and giving them an understanding of different career opportunities within your business; helping to prepare young people for a job interview; and taking part in a ‘dragons den’ panellist session to question teenagers taking part in the National Citizenship Service on their social action plans.”
“We also have more practical group volunteering opportunities at the Caldecotte Xperience, such as painting, decorating and garden maintenance, creating an accessible archery range, building an outdoor pizza oven and extending accessible pathways through the site.”
Action4Youth would like to hear from business or employee interested in finding out more about corporate volunteering opportunities, all of which are listed on our website at https://www.action4youth.org/volunteer-opportunities/
For more information about Action4Youth go to www.action4youth.org, call 0300 003 2334 or email [email protected]. Keep up to date with all of the latest @Action4Youth on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
*Time Well Spent, Employer-Supported Volunteering, Research Report, June 2019 – https://www.ncvo.org.uk/images/documents/policy_and_research/volunteering/time_well_spent_ESV_report.pdf
