Employer-Supported Volunteering Done Well

What happens when businesses and community organisations move beyond one-off volunteering and start building relationships based on skills, trust and local need?

Employer-supported volunteering is having a resurgence. Businesses are under growing pressure to show real social value and stronger community connections, for VCSE organisations, that brings opportunity, but also some understandable caution.

At its best, employer-supported volunteering can bring valuable skills, fresh energy and long-term partnerships into the sector. At its worst, it can create extra pressure for organisations already stretched thin for time and capacity. Maybe it's a conversation we need to have more openly.

According to NCVO, employer-supported volunteering involves employers enabling staff to volunteer during working hours. This can range from practical volunteering to sharing professional skills like finance, HR, digital or communications support.

Perhaps instead of asking ourselves: “Can businesses help?”

We need to ask: “What kind of help is genuinely useful?”

Many VCSE organisations are operating under sustained pressure. Demand for services remains high. Costs have increased largely without inflationary uplifts to match. Teams are managing more with less...against that backdrop hosting corporate volunteering days is not always straightforward.
Good volunteering takes planning. Someone has to coordinate activities, manage risk, supervise volunteers and make sure the experience benefits the volunteer, organisation and the community it serves. 

The strongest partnerships usually start with taking the time to understand what is genuinely needed. We experienced this through one of our past volunteering programmes which supported disabled residents to develop employability skills. The programme provided eight weeks of training in a real shop setting in Wimbledon Quarter (the shopping centre formally known as Centre Court). What started as simple in-kind support from a local business RetailIT, providing a till system for the shop, evolved into something much more meaningful over time.

Members of their team volunteered their digital expertise, supported workshops and events and took part in presentations with participants. The relationship continued to grow, eventually leading to work experience placements for programme graduates within their business. The impact went far beyond anything a one-off volunteering day could have meaningfully achieved. In return, their team developed a stronger understanding of the barriers disabled people can face in accessing employment and the importance and value of inclusive workplaces.

For some organisations, practical one-off volunteering works brilliantly. For others, skills-based support can bring more lasting value. We regularly hear from organisations looking for help with:

-digital accessibility
-communications and marketing
-governance
-HR processes
-website development
-data and evaluation

If your business is looking to support the local community in a meaningful way, we would love to hear from you. We work closely with charities, community groups and grassroots organisations across the borough and can help connect you with causes where your time, expertise or resources could make a genuine difference. Sometimes the most impactful partnerships begin with a simple conversation.

Have you experienced employer-supported volunteering that has made a real difference to your organisation or mission? We would love to hear your story. Whether it was skills-sharing, long-term partnership working or a well planned team day that made a big impact; we are always keen to spotlight examples of what works well for our communities.