Creating clear, purpose-driven goals

Your employees will find it helpful to see that the programme has goals they can align with and contribute to. Goals should be specific but not restrictive, as employees like to have flexibility in how they participate and the freedom to support good causes that they individually empathise with.

Main output

Goals tab

Note: We have left a few examples in the document for reference & format.

Step 1 - Understand community issues

A good place to start is by identifying the issues and impact themes that you want to support through your volunteering programme. You may wish to survey your employees to understand what they care about and where their motivations lie.

Themes may have already been defined as part of your business mission and sustainability plan, in which case these can form the basis of your campaign goals.

Pro tip: When surveying employees, keep the survey short and with questions that are mostly quantitative and easy to answer (e.g. multiple choice or check boxes). Give a completion deadline and send a reminder email a few days before the deadline.

Master doc worksheet

Collect your findings in a document. You may wish to populate the Community issues tab in the master worksheet provided.

Resources

Make a copy of the survey template

Copy the email templates below in pink

Identifying Key Community Needs to Shape our Volunteering Goals

Hello team!

We’re excited to share that we've partnered with Neighbourly, a platform that connects companies with local charities and community organisations. Through Neighbourly, we will be [list programme details here] to support local causes making a difference.

We want to ensure that the support we give aligns with issues you care about. Please take a few minutes to complete this short survey [survey link here] on the causes and community issues you feel are most important. Your input will help us shape our community strategy.

In the coming weeks, we'll provide more details on next steps for getting involved, including how to access local volunteer opportunities. Thank you for helping guide our efforts to give back and create positive impact.

Please reach out with any questions!

Step 2 - Business goals & impact themes

Gather together the relevant decision makers in the business to brainstorm and agree your impact themes, programme goals and internal messaging. This is often best achieved if you get together a small working group of individuals from across the business that are passionate or have experience in charity partnerships & community issues.

Business goals may include;

Internal awareness around the programme
Broader sustainability initiatives or impact themes
Engagement rates for the first and subsequent years of the programme
Recruitment of charity champions
Targets for first-time volunteers
Reporting requirements
Positive employee feedback
Senior management participation

Review your employee survey results if you sent one and set a few primary & secondary goals. We'll use this information in your messaging when its time to release the programme to engage employees.

Pro tip: When selecting your impact themes and the types of charities you wish to support, avoid being overly restrictive. Employees like to choose charities that resonate with them personally, and limiting the options may hinder engagement rates. Impact themes should inspire rather than limit participation.

Resources

Copy the email templates below in pink

Defining our Community Engagement & Volunteering Goals

Hello everyone

I'm writing to invite you to a brainstorming session on [day, date, time] to help shape our community and volunteering programmes.

As you may know, we recently partnered with Neighbourly - an award-winning giving platform - to support local charities and community causes. Defining clear, achievable goals is crucial to ensuring this programme's success and positive impact.

If this is your first time hearing about the programme, I encourage you to visit Neighbourly.com to learn more about their work.

During our brainstorming session, we'll align on priority goals for our programme - ones that benefit the local community, our employees and the business. We value your perspective and want your input as we shape our strategy.

You can join the virtual meeting here: [meeting link] or access it through your calendar invite.

Please come ready to share your thoughts and ideas. Your participation will be instrumental in setting our programme up for maximum positive change.
Let me know if you have any questions.

Best,
[Your name]

Step 3 - Completed goals list

At the end of this stage, you should have a short list of S.M.A.R.T programme goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) that are signed off by all the relevant stakeholders and can be communicated internally.

It's important not to set over-ambitious targets for engagement, particularly in the first year of the programme. Every company is different but a sensible engagement target may be circa 5-15% of your workforce, but will vary depending on business type, prior volunteering culture, demographics of your workforce etc.

Master doc worksheet

Collect your findings and input into the Goals tab in the master doc. Feel free to use our list of examples below to get started.

Resources

Note: We have left a few examples in the document for reference & format.

Volunteering goal examples

These are goal examples we have taken from clients in our network who have had direct success with engagement after using them to shape their programmes.

Follow this general template to ensure your goals are S.M.A.R.T;

Location
1. Where do you want to target your support towards?
2. e.g “Improve access to education in South London”
Beneficiary types
1. Who do you want to target your support towards?
2. e.g “Reduce child poverty for 1-10 year olds”
Resources
1. How are you going to support your goal? (money, time etc.)
2. e.g “Improve access to free skills training by donating 1 day of volunteer time per employee, per year”
Duration
1. How long do you want to support this goal?
2. e.g “Support local single parent re-homing charities until 2025”

Note: For nationwide companies or companies with multiple branch locations, your goals may be general rather than location-specific.

Your goals should be focused on;

Improving community issues
1. Attempting to alleviate or work towards reducing the levels of a specific issue directly
  1. e.g “Reducing income deprivation outcomes”
  2. e.g “Enhance social inclusion in local communities”
  3. e.g “Supporting homeless communities"
Engagement rates
1. Setting an objective target for employee participation in volunteering programmes.
  A good rule of thumb is anywhere from 5-15% for a company's first programme
Deliverables
1. Setting an objective target for amount of hours donated through volunteering programmes
  1. e.g “Deliver 900 hours of volunteering in 2024”
Employee benefits
1. Setting an objective target to improve outcomes as a result of offering volunteering programmes
  1. e.g “Reducing employee churn”
  2. e.g “Attract more millennials”
  3. e.g “Improving employee wellbeing”

Pro tip: Avoid emphasising company-centric goals when promoting the programme, as this can be less motivating for employees. Keep the focus on community impact to maintain employee enthusiasm and convey an authentic commitment to taking positive action.