The general term used in the private sector is ‘employee volunteering’, but corporate volunteering and business volunteering are also often used.

In the voluntary and community sector the main term used for this activity is Employer Supported Volunteering (ESV).

Although the act of volunteering is free, work is always needed to enable this employee volunteering to take place. So, a budget will often be required to cover the community organisation’s costs of preparing and supervising the event, as well as any materials and equipment.

The national ESV Network have produced a statement for businesses which covers in more detail why a budget is often needed. You can download it here.

You should consider working with a not-for-profit employee volunteering broker. They can match your social responsibility or ESG goals with projects that meet local social priorities, i.e., they will bring the biggest impact to the community and to your employee volunteering programme.

These 12 Dos and Don’ts for businesses volunteering in the community are really useful to consider when planning employee volunteering projects.

Larger charities will normally have more resources to assist with your employee volunteering, but you may also wish to consider volunteering for a smaller charity or community organisation as that can have a greater impact for the organisation.

Allow time for responses from voluntary sector organisations. Many charities and community organisations have part-time workers and there are lots that are run by volunteers.

Although voluntary sector organisations are used to involving volunteers in the normal running of their services, many will not be used to one-off volunteering by a team. This is where brokers can help.

Skilled volunteering, where the activity utilises volunteers’ business skills, usually delivers the most impact but can involve more work to set up and prepare, and also may involve longer volunteering commitments.

When volunteering, impact is key. Always consider what will have the largest positive impact on the charity, your employees, and your business. This way, you can do the most good.

If you or your business is new to employee volunteering, then there are lots of good business reasons to carry this out. Here is some useful information and advice to help get you going:

• Introducing employee volunteering to your organisation is a cultural change. It is not as simple as just setting up a policy and a technology platform

• Involve staff from the beginning so they can help shape it and have ownership of a programme

• Start small, evaluate, grow and evolve

• This example employee volunteering policy from CIPD is a great template for your policy

• This report from Pilotlight outlines benefits to businesses, employers, employees, charitable and community organisations and to society as a whole

9 Expert Tips for Developing an Employee Volunteering Programme – This free guide will help businesses avoid common mistakes and pitfalls when developing an employee volunteering programme. It is a free guide, but you need to provide an email address to download the report.

Why businesses often need a budget for employee volunteering – This is a statement from the national Employer Supported Volunteering Network. It explains that charities that support business volunteers should be able to achieve full-cost recovery for the services they provide.

Your local Volunteer Centre Check the London directory to find your local volunteer centre.

Works4U specialises in employee volunteering. They have taken on the role of developing employee volunteering in UK, setting up and running the national ESV network. Based in West London, this not-for-profit social enterprise can deliver projects or connect you to a local broker in your area.

Pilotlight offers bespoke programmes designed to meet the needs of partner charities and businesses, focusing on meaningful long-term impact.

Link UP London offers skills-based employee volunteering opportunities to support companies’ ESG and learning & development goals.

Charity trustee roles are voluntary and are vital to how charities work. They can be a great way of supporting organisations and also developing, building on and utilising leadership skills. Find out more about the role of trustees here.

• Getting on Board works with businesses, universities and charities to develop employees to become charity trustees

• Reach Volunteering works with companies to support staff into trustee and other volunteer roles