Social Days as a success factor for your corporate engagement

Social commitment and sustainability are becoming more and more important and companies are increasingly looking for ways to fulfill their social responsibility. Also with regard to the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). A particularly effective and popular method of corporate engagement is corporate volunteering and so-called Social Days. This form of commitment benefits not only the non-profit organizations, but also the companies themselves. The associations and non-profit organizations (NPOs) can draw on additional resources such as financial support, but also specialist knowledge and an expanded network through the social commitment of companies.

Wondering how you can create a meaningful impact with your company? Here you can find out everything you need to know about social days and corporate volunteering programs, what benefits they bring for you and how vostel.de can support you in your search for a meaningful commitment for your company:

1. What is corporate volunteering?
2. What advantages does corporate volunteering offer companies?
3. What is a Social Day?
4. What should we look out for when planning a Social Day?
5. We want to hold a Social Day – how should we proceed?
6. How can vostel.de support you with corporate volunteering?

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What is corporate volunteering?

Corporate volunteering refers to the voluntary involvement of companies and their employees in social, environmental or cultural projects. This commitment supports non-profit organizations and creates added value for society in other ways.

As part of corporate volunteering, employees get involved either individually (e.g. in pro bono projects) or together as a team on social days. Both the charitable organizations and the companies and their employees benefit from meaningful and needs-oriented collaboration.

What advantages does corporate volunteering offer companies?

Corporate volunteering offers companies numerous benefits that affect both the company itself and its employees. We present some of them below:

Increased motivation and loyalty

Employees who participate in charitable projects often feel a greater sense of purpose and fulfillment in their working lives due to increased self-efficacy. They are therefore often more satisfied with employers who promote social engagement, which, according to a UPJ study on corporate volunteering in Germany, has a positive effect on motivation and employee loyalty.

Strengthening the corporate culture & external impact

By volunteering with a charitable organization, a company can show what values it represents and actively stand up for them. This can strengthen employees’ identification with the same values, which is reflected in a positive corporate culture. In addition, corporate involvement has a positive impact on the company’s image.

Personal & professional development

Non-profit work gives participants the opportunity not only to develop existing skills, but also to discover new abilities and talents in unfamiliar areas. Employees are thus encouraged in their personal development and also bring new knowledge and perspectives into the company.

What is a Social Day?

A Social Day is one possible form of corporate engagement. Companies give their employees a day off to support one or more charitable organizations. These activities can take many different forms – from renovating premises and supporting cultural events to providing advice on IT issues.

What should we look out for when planning a Social Day?

A successful Social Day is a win-win situation for you and the NPO you want to support. However, organizing such a day requires some planning in advance. Many things need to be considered, from the purpose of the Social Day and the size of the team to the catering and materials on site. That’s why we’ve summarized the most important points you should consider when planning in the next paragraph.

Our Corporate Volunteering Team will be happy to support you in organizing and implementing your Social Day. Please send us a message.

We want to hold a Social Day – how should we proceed?

Organizing a Social Day requires a lot of effort. Here we show you which points you should pay attention to.

Clarify what you want to do

First of all, you should think about what you want to achieve. Do you want to do something for the environment and nature conservation, support people with migration or refugee experiences or renovate or build something? The size of your team is also important, as many hands don’t always mean a quick end. Active campaigns such as renovating shelters or building raised beds can easily be accomplished with 20 to 30 people. But in a soup kitchen, things can quickly become cramped and confusing.

Matchmaking with associations and organizations

The next step is to look for organizations and associations that are involved in your chosen field of activity. However, you should expect rejections, as not every NPO has the capacity to organize a Social Day. Once you have found a suitable organization, it’s time to find a date. Depending on the type of Social Day, you should plan half a day or a whole day for the commitment.

Fine-tuning and then off we go

Once you have found the right commitment with the organization you trust and have been able to identify a date, you need to brief the participants accordingly. After all, it is essential that everyone knows what they are getting involved in and sees the purpose behind the work. This way, the commitment also has the aforementioned added value for the employees.

After discussing with the NPO which materials are needed and who will procure them, don’t forget to provide food on site. Snacks and drinks are particularly welcome during an energetic event. Of course, it must be clarified which party will provide these. Social organizations often do not have the financial means to cover these costs, which is why you should reckon with material and catering costs.

Once all these points have been clarified, nothing stands in the way of use.

How can vostel.de support you with corporate volunteering?

At vostel.de, we do a lot of the work for you when it comes to planning corporate volunteering activities. We have almost ten years of experience in organizing social team events, whether on-site, digital or hybrid, across different locations in parallel. From our network of over 1,900 non-profit organizations throughout Germany, we will find the right ones for you and take care of the preliminary arrangements and planning of your activity. As we are in constant contact with our partner organizations, we are aware of their needs and can quickly find and arrange suitable volunteering opportunities for your team. It is important that you also plan a budget for the commitment. Since the planning and organization of truly meaningful assignments requires a lot of time, effort and experience, we charge a fee for our communication and organizational efforts.

It is also possible to set up your own company platform. This will then be filled with selected projects from charitable organizations that are tailored to your goals. This allows your employees to register directly for the right volunteering project for them. You can also use our volunteer management tool to perfectly plan, coordinate and evaluate your company’s corporate volunteering activities.

If you are interested in organizing your next Social Day or even a holistic corporate volunteering program with us, we look forward to hearing from you!

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