By studying data from clients with standout volunteering programmes on the Neighbourly platform, we've identified best practices that cultivate participation. The below example is from a company that adopted processes that made volunteering accessible.
Their journey demonstrates how the right foundational elements - consistent communication, leadership buy-in, company values alignment - can unlock an organisation's full potential for impact.
RSA’s story
In 2023, employees of RSA Insurance volunteered for an impressive 6,839 hours in just 12 months, supporting 52,865 people through Neighbourly. 1,366 volunteers were engaged in the programme, with the help of their internal “Charity champions”.
RSA’s programme goals
- Deploy employees directly into local communities under the Community Well-being
pillar of RSA's Building Resilient Communities strategy - Encourage employees to live out the value of Generosity by supporting causes close to
employee's hearts - Attain a high engagement rate without mandating with annual internal target
- Provide a quarterly report to the business
- Receive positive feedback from employees and drive long-term engagement
Supporting policies
- Employees allowed 2 working days per year to volunteer, approved by line managers
- Employees are not expected to 'make up' volunteering hours through overtime
- Charity champions identified at each office site to help drive take-up and engagement
at a local level - Charity champions attend monthly meetings to discuss volunteering successes and
opportunities - Use of engagement data to track & identify gaps and opportunities across business
functions & sites - RSA donates £25 for each employee volunteer to the supported charity
- Executive-level support for the programme
Workforce introduction
- Neighbourly was introduced through a virtual session available to all employees
- Charity champions provided ongoing communications to keep their sites updates
- Central internal comms resource supported department heads with messaging and
tools to help engage and encourage teams - Volunteering hub on internal employee intranet created
Ongoing engagement
- Engagement stats regularly communicated and engagement stats regularly
communicated alongside impact stats and success stories - Employees encouraged to share their volunteering stories on social media with support
from central External Communications function - Regular instructions provided about how to use the Neighbourly platform, including
how-to guides and 'lunch and learns'
Programme optimisation
- Employee volunteer surveys were utilised
- Feedback from charity champions to programme heads in monthly meetings
- Employee volunteer survey data identified trends, what went well, and also suggestions
for improvements - Data-led approach to set targets for increased volunteering engagement
Summary
RSA has delivered successful programmes year on year with impressive engagement. How did they achieve this?
Goals
Upfront planning with clear, achievable goals focused around positive community outcomes and employee engagement.
Supporting policies
Supporting policies that encouraged engagement and offered incentives for all volunteers,
without mandates. Active encouragement to volunteer during working hours, with no
pressure to make up the time. Flexibility and choice in the opportunities on offer, with a
local needs focus.
Launch moment
A company-wide event utilised as a launch opportunity.
Follow-up engagement
Multi-channelled ongoing communications. Regular success updates including sharing
regular case studies and success stories.
Programme optimisation
Staff listening exercises, and adjustments in response to feedback.
Special thanks
A special thanks to the wonderful programme leaders at RSA who allowed us to publish all this information to help other companies create successful volunteering programmes.
How much time will this take?
Less than you might think! This success plan was created to save you the time of figuring out the steps and creating documents yourself. We’ve done a lot of the legwork by curating a basic set of plans, templates and steps to follow - with lots of downloadable assets. If you’re looking for greater engagement for less effort, you're in the right place.
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This material is part of the Neighbourly Volunteer Engagement Success Plan, for use by Neighbourly partners only.