Kate Lovesey, senior corporate volunteer manager at Macmillan Cancer Support, says that skills-based volunteering can bring benefits to both corporates and charities, as long as they get the formular right.
Volunteering has increasingly become as much a key component to corporate partnerships as fundraising. Whilst taken at face value this provides fantastic resource to the charity sector, preferences for practical team away days have proved challenging, a lot of work for a minimal return on investment and tricky for charities who do not own their own buildings. I believe the shift in preference for skill sharing is a great investment for both charities and corporate partners.
How do you sell skill sharing to business?
Progressive organisations recognise the business value of skill sharing, encouraging their people to use skills the organisation wants to be known for whilst also developing new skills to bring back. When they do this in partnership with their charity partner it further complements the organisation's CSR objectives as well as their HR strategy.
I think Lloyds Banking Group is a great example, they have a clear ‘skilled’ volunteering policy that centres around: personal skills development, professional skills development and business development. This is all under pinned by their Helping Britain Prosper Plan in which Lloyds Banking Group has committed to deliver 2.3 million colleague volunteering hours by 2020.
They have one charity partner who all parts of the business will get behind as well as a local focus so staff can give time to any charity they admire and support. This approach has become more inclusive and interactive and has proven to be hugely popular with staff who feel proud of the groups contribution to society.
What are the opportunities for charities?
I believe this approach provides more value added and strategic opportunities to charities, making the most of the expertise within a corporate to influence and improve our own skills and capabilities. At Macmillan, we’ve taken a three-prong approach to embracing and shaping skill sharing.
Mass audiences
We run a programme of talks, from internal and external speakers as part of our staff development offer. Speakers not only offer stories of success and guidance, new trends and opportunities but they also share challenges and ways to overcome these.
Recent speakers include Steve Kemp from Marks and Spencer who spoke about inspirational leadership, other upcoming topics include networking and profile raising, as well as ‘How the Cancer Story is Changing – through the lens of a late-onset rock chick’. These talks are filmed and available for Macmillan staff wherever they are in the UK.
Teams
We are working with our corporate partners to develop a mutually beneficial team skill sharing programme and identify opportunities for corporate teams to share their skills with Macmillan. For example, a team from our partner Argos, is currently using their professional skills and understanding of Lean 6 Sigma to refine and help improve our processes and quality framework within our Welfare Rights Team as well as help to up skill our own Macmillan colleagues.
Individual
Skill sharing allows a charity to harness the knowledge of experts and senior executives who may identify further opportunities and open doors. It gives you the chance to build closer relationships with the individual and generate long term supporters who potentially provide their support for longer than the length of your partnership.
Over the past two years we have run a successful mentoring scheme with Marks&Spencer, which as well as investing in our staff, has helped us set a standard mentoring programme which we are in the process of rolling out with other partners.
We are also piloting volunteering roles within partner organisations such as the Macmillan representative role. Corporate volunteers are given training on how to talk to people affected by cancer, which many people find daunting. These individuals are also equipped to understand local Macmillan services to signpost staff and customers to relevant support in their area.
Whilst skill sharing offers more strategic benefits than traditional forms of volunteering, I believe it is still important to tailor your offer for each partnership. You still need to identify volunteering opportunities that mobilise and engage the broader volunteering population of your partners’ staff audience but these opportunities should be roles which alleviate existing volunteering demand. Getting the balance right is important for mutual ROI.
Macmillan is part of the Corporate Volunteering Network. This is a peer support group which shares best practice, learnings, case studies, challenges and sector trends. Interested charities are welcome to join this group, which is on LinkedIn and meets quarterly by clicking on the link above or contacting Macmillan’s corporate volunteering team on 020 7091 2086.
Kate Lovesay is senior corporate volunteer manager at Macmillan Cancer Support
