Volunteering Resource Library

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!

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]

Developing Policies to Support Employee Volunteering

Hi all,

As we've discussed, we're working on a company volunteering policy to empower you to get involved in charitable and community projects through Neighbourly.

The first step is gathering your input on what allowances and features would be most motivating for you. Please take a few minutes to fill out this brief survey on potential volunteering policies:
[Insert survey link]

We want to shape our policies around how to best support you and your volunteering goals. Your perspectives will ensure our programme is tailored to what you find most motivating and practical.

Thanks for taking the time to provide your feedback through the survey. Please reach out if you have any other thoughts or questions.

Developing a Volunteering Policy

Hello everyone,

As you may know, we recently partnered with Neighbourly to help our business get involved in local charity projects. A crucial first step is developing a company policy to drive employee engagement and ensure everyone feels supported to volunteer.

I'm inviting you because your input will be valuable as we shape our policy approach. If this is your first time hearing about the programme, please visit Neighbourly.com to learn more before the meeting.

We will hold a brainstorm on [insert date/time] to align on an impactful and feasible policy approach.

You can join virtually here: [insert meeting link] or via your calendar invite.

I'm looking forward to collaborating on how we can best empower and motivate employees to participate in volunteering. Please reach out with any questions!

Sign up as a charity champion!

Hello everyone,

As you know, we recently partnered with Neighbourly for our new volunteering programme.

To drive engagement and success, we're looking for 5-10 Charity Champions across the business. These internal volunteers will:

- Promote the programme internally
- Act as a point of contact
- Recommend local causes
- Support gamification initiatives
- Capture success stories
- Chair programme meetings
- Organise group events

Ideal candidates have volunteering experience, but it's not essential. This informal role is for those passionate about our company's community impact. Those with existing links to local charities have an opportunity to nominate them for support and get them added to our programmes.

If interested, please email [contact details] with your background and any thoughts.

We hope you'll consider this opportunity to have a positive impact on our volunteering efforts.

Thank you!

Request for Executive Volunteers

Team,

As part of our new employee engagement strategy, we will be launching a company-wide volunteering programme in partnership with Neighbourly.

A key component of driving participation is having our executives and leaders volunteer first to set the example. I'm asking for 2-3 senior leaders to commit to an upcoming volunteer activity in our community. You can browse opportunities on the Neighbourly platform after registering.

By volunteering and sharing your experience, you will help to demonstrate our company's commitment to this programme and inspire others to get involved too. 

If interested, please contact [name] by [date] to sign up. I appreciate your support in launching this impactful initiative.

[Your name]

Gaining Alignment on Volunteering Across the Organisation

Hi team,

We're excited to be launching our new volunteering programme in partnership with Neighbourly that will positively impact our community.

To set these efforts up for success, we will be distributing a company-wide announcement covering our goals and supporting policies. This will ensure alignment across the organisation.

In addition to the company-wide email, we need help cascading this message through face-to-face team meetings and to any groups with limited email access. As a department lead, please take the time to review the attached goals and policy documents in order to provide assistance should your teams have questions.

On [date], connect with your teams via email or in person to communicate the volunteering strategy using the attached presentation template.

Strong understanding across all levels is key to effective participation. Please let me know if you have any questions after reviewing the programme details. Thank you for helping relay this important initiative to your teams!

[Attach Goals document]
[Attach Supporting policies document]
[Attach release communication template - Find in following section]

Our new volunteering partnership with Neighbourly

Hi team,

Exciting news! We are launching a new employee volunteering program in partnership with Neighbourly. This platform connects us with over 30,000 local charities and causes needing support. Neighbourly has over 10 years experience delivering volunteering and giving programmes to some of the biggest brands in the UK such as Samsung, Virgin Media O2, B&Q, Coca Cola, Hays & M&S.

From [date], we will begin organising volunteer events. Based on your feedback, we have set goals to improve and focus on [impact themes/programme goals] in our community. You will be able to volunteer for any cause you are passionate about through Neighbourly's local network.

We have also organised some supporting policies to make your experience as easy and rewarding as possible based on your feedback.

Goals
We aim to have tangible impact in the following area:
[themes / metrics]

Supporting policies
To support volunteering, we are providing:
[policies]

Charity champions
We have selected [names] as volunteer champions. They will help organise events, answer questions and communicate about the programme. We are fully committed to success by leaning on existing knowledge and expertise in volunteering.

For those new to volunteering, Neighbourly has created a guide that summarises how the platform can empower you to support local good causes & the immense value of volunteering for our communities, company and you. I encourage you to read it!

[Attach volunteering intro PDF] [Download]

Our communities need help now more than ever. By volunteering through Neighbourly, we can collectively make a positive local impact. Please reach out to our volunteer champions or [contacts] with any questions!

How to sign up:
Please visit [Insert unique link] to register and start searching for volunteering opportunities.

Use this guide [Attach employee volunteering journey PDF] [Download] to familiarise yourself with how volunteering works functionally on Neighbourly.

Let's do this - our communities are counting on us!

[Your name]

How to share volunteering success stories

Hello everyone

To help you share great volunteering stories, we've created a handy template. Please follow this format when submitting your content.

The template includes:

Title: Provide the name of the charity or good cause helped and a brief summary of what happened during the volunteer activity (e.g. Volunteering at the Greenway Centre to redecorate the community hall)

Image: Provide a good quality photo of any of the following;
- The team volunteering
- The charity or good cause
- The volunteering location
- The outcome (e.g. the space before & after)

Event overview:
- What the charity does (its main purpose)
- How many volunteers attended and from which department/team
- Event duration
 
Problem/task: What problem were you tasked with solving during the event?

Activities: What did you do during the event?

Outcomes: What was achieved on the day?

Impact: What positive impact did the volunteer activity have on the local community?

Charity & volunteer quote: Ask the charity lead if they would be happy to provide a quote focused on how useful they found the support. Include your own quote about how you found the activity.

Please save the information from your volunteering events and upload your stories here [Insert link to storage folder] or send an email to [Insert contact]

There are some great online resources for how to take good pictures with a mobile phone;
For apple users - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRLTOBBkm2I
For android users - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZYGsx1i5L8

Volunteering with Neighbourly: Our success so far

Hello everyone

The momentum and engagement around our new volunteering programme has been incredible. I want to provide a quick update on the impact and highlight some of the most heart-warming stories so far.

Impact achieved to date
Employees signed up: (Insert here)
Employees volunteered: (Insert here)
Volunteering hours donated: (Insert here)
Charities supported: (Insert here)

Members of the community supported: (Insert here)
Financial impact: (Insert here)



Thank you all for helping to create real positive change and making an impact in our local communities!

Featured Success Stories:
[Insert 1-2 curated success stories using success story template here]

If you want to join your colleagues in helping your local communities, please sign up here: [Insert unique link] and send us your success stories using the template in the email we sent on [date]

Again, thank you all for supporting this programme. Our neighbourhoods and local causes are so grateful, and I'm really delighted with what we've accomplished together already!

Let's keep up the great work.
[Your name]

Make a difference this [insert month]: Join our employee volunteering programme

Hi there,

We’re excited to announce our company-wide volunteering programme in [insert month] in partnership with Neighbourly, offering a valuable opportunity for everyone to support local causes in our communities.

We’ve worked with Neighbourly to arrange a variety of volunteering opportunities throughout [insert month] in each of our employee locations, based on the support that local good causes need the most, enabling us to provide the most meaningful help where it’s truly needed.

This programme offers more than just a chance to volunteer; it’s an opportunity to connect with colleagues in a new way and contribute positively to your community. Let’s work together to make [insert month] a month of positive impact.

Interested in participating? Here’s how to get involved:

•  If you haven’t done so already, create your free Neighbourly account [insert link]

• Once you’ve logged into your account, head to the [insert company] campaign page to browse available opportunities. [link directly to events]

• Sign up for an opportunity that works for you and your team using our company code [insert code]
• Reach out to the good cause to introduce yourself and complete a risk assessment.

• If you have any questions, please reach out to the Neighbourly team at community@neighbourly.com

We look forward to seeing the positive impact we can create together this [insert month]. Your time and commitment are greatly appreciated – happy volunteering!

Many thanks,

Read XXX’s volunteering story

Hi there, 

Our month of volunteering is just around the corner and we have XXX spaces left to fill. 

To inspire you to sign up and support your local community, we wanted to share XXX’s story. 

[Insert case study of previous colleague volunteering via Neighbourly]

To see the opportunities available in your area, click here [insert link], sign up for an opportunity that works for you and your team using our company code [insert code]

If you have any questions, please reach out to the Neighbourly team at community@neighbourly.com

Many thanks,

There’s still time to make a difference in [month]: Join our employee volunteering programme

Hi there,

We’re excited that the [campaign name] volunteer programme is fast approaching!

We’ve had a brilliant response from [company] volunteers so far - responding to the needs of the charities and good causes that need your support the most. 

• XXX charities and good causes in our network have created over XXX volunteer events across the UK & Ireland for this campaign!
• Over XXX [company] colleagues have already signed up to volunteer and are getting ready to head out volunteering, so a huge thank you!

With [insert peak month] just around the corner, we really need those of you who have not yet signed up to do so. It’s helpful to give the charities plenty of notice so they can prepare, as they are often under-resourced. There are still over XXX volunteer spaces that need filling.

To get involved in the volunteering effort this [insert month], please head to the [insert name and link] campaign page, search for your location and select ‘volunteer’ on one of the events and enter your company code. 

If you need any support, don’t hesitate to contact community@neighbourly.com

Many thanks,

There’s still time to make a difference in [month]: Join our employee volunteering programme

Hi there,

There’s just one week to go until our mega-month of volunteering!

It’s not too late to sign up to support a good cause in your area. To get involved in our volunteering effort this [insert month], please head to the [insert name and link] campaign page, search for your location and select ‘volunteer’ on one of the events and enter your company code. 

If you need any support, don’t hesitate to contact community@neighbourly.com

Many thanks,

There’s still time to make a difference in [month]: Join our employee volunteering programme

Hi there,

We’re excited that the [campaign name] volunteer programme is now underway!

This month, over XXX colleagues will be out volunteering in their local communities, supporting XXX charities and good causes across the UK & Ireland. 

There is still time to get involved! Please head to the [insert name and link] campaign page, search for your location and select ‘volunteer’ on one of the events and enter your company code. 

If you need any support, don’t hesitate to contact community@neighbourly.com

Many thanks,