Top Tips for Ongoing Programmes

Drive engagement and build momentum by following our handy tips for ongoing volunteer programmes

"The communications function at RSA has been absolutely fundamental. Making sure we tell those compelling stories... we know that that's what creates engagement amongst our people. Showcasing stories of teams that have been out volunteering and hearing back from individuals about what it's meant to them and what they've seen as a result has been really critical."

- Ruth Poulten, Social Impact & ESG Manager, UK & International

Have you used any of the tools and methods below?

When did you last communicate how to volunteer and why it’s important? Remind your teams at regular intervals.

Provide context - talk about the difference it makes to local communities! Check out your impact reports and dashboards for quotes and data to share and celebrate the success of your programme! 🎉

When did you last email colleagues about volunteering opportunities? Look at your reporting dashboards to view upcoming activity.

Chat to your charity champions and ask them to share opportunities with colleagues in their local area - taking an office-based, location-targeted approach works really well.

Do you have any internal channels or chats that you can use to share information about volunteering? Using a mix of channels and a variety of formats helps reach as many people as possible!

Consider asking a colleague to do a video-diary of their day spent volunteering! This can help bring volunteering to life for colleagues. Asking colleagues to share their stories helps motivate and inspire others. 📽️

Have Senior Leadership and management teams signed up? Ask them to support and help drive awareness - this can be particularly helpful for upcoming peaks

Watch our video with Gallagher below ⬇️

Think about upcoming awareness days/weeks and consider aligning volunteering activities e.g. World Wellbeing Week, National Inclusion Week or World Book Day…

Consider pushing remote volunteering opportunities - these can be more accessible for colleagues who are time-poor e.g. Letter Writing

In Conversation with Gallagher - Senior Leadership buy-in

Driving engagement

Your Neighbourly Client Impact Manager (CIM) is on hand to support you in driving engagement. Ask them to discuss ideas in your status meeting. You could consider:

Hosting a webinar for employees so they see first-hand how easy it is to sign up to volunteer
Analysing data in your reporting dashboards to determine what type of events and causes employees are more inclined to volunteer with, and ask your CIM to curate more opportunities like this
Regularly communicating with colleagues, highlighting relevant, local needs they can support
Reminding colleagues they can nominate a particular charity or good cause to work with, using our easy nomination flow. Involving them in shaping their programme will help drive engagement.
Utilising feedback and your impact reports to bring volunteering to life, and sharing these with colleagues
Reviewing your campaign criteria and impact themes - sometimes these can restrict the success of a programme. Talk to your CIM for guidance.

How to build a culture of volunteering

Colleagues will be more inclined to volunteer if they’ve had a great experience at previous events! Work with your CIM to assess employee feedback and share positive stories with employees
Colleagues often copy the behaviours modelled by senior leaders. Encourage your SLT and management team to get out and volunteer themselves. This gives employees permission to do the same!
Ask your senior leaders to recognise and celebrate employees who have supported their local community through volunteering, helping motivate and inspire others
Utilise your charity champions - consider offering them more volunteering days as a perk? The more they can share about their experience, the better!
Remember that volunteering works wonders for employee wellbeing and retention - a happy workforce is a productive one!

Watch this snippet from a recent webinar with RSA. Ruth gives some excellent advice about increasing employee engagement and building a culture of volunteering!

This material is part of the Neighbourly Volunteer Engagement Success Plan, for use by Neighbourly partners only.