With so many people working from home over the past year, it is no surprise that corporations took to virtual volunteering as a way to preserve company culture and stay on-track for fulfilling volunteer hour commitments.  

As restrictions ease, and businesses plan for the post-pandemic “new normal”, they still must make accommodations for a workforce that will not look the same as it did at the beginning of 2019.  

Remote and hybrid working is here to stay. A recent Upwork study indicates 36.2 million Americans (22% of the workforce) will be working remotely by 2025. 

So the question remains, how do companies maintain employee engagement and culture without physically being together?  The answer is online team building.

If done right, online team building activities can be convenient, flexible, more inclusive, and can have less barriers to entry than in-person events. According to Gallup research, “Virtual team-building exercise leads to an increase in employee performance rate, claims 41% lower absenteeism and 21% higher profitability.” 

Here are some ways to get to most out of your next virtual volunteering experience:

1. Do it for a cause.  Not only does it feel good to help your community, it is good for your bottom line.  In fact,  55% of employees would choose to work for a socially responsible company, even if it meant a lower salary. 
2. Align the company’s donation choices with causes that have the greatest meaning to your workforce. 86% of corporate leaders believe that employees expect them to provide opportunities to engage in the community; 87% of corporate leaders believe their employees expect them to support causes and issues that matter to those employees. (Source: America’s Charities Snapshot Employer Research)
3. Work with a certified non-profit organization. How do you know if a nonprofit is reputable?  https://www.guidestar.org/  is a widely used resource for charity evaluation. There you will find information on a charity’s income, spending, mission and executive salaries.  Look for the Guidestar Seal of Transparency when deciding which nonprofit to work with. The type of information a nonprofit provides determines which Seal it earns.
4. Get a tax benefit. A nonprofit’s exempt status matters if you want to deduct a contribution to it from your federal income taxes (or your company’s federal taxes). Not all tax-exempt organizations can accept tax-deductible contributions. There are more than 30 types of exempt organizations, and only certain ones are eligible to accept tax-deductible contributions. The most common are 501(c)(3) public charities
5. Use resources such as Volunteer Match, BuildingImpact, or Impact4Good  to match your corporation to nonprofit organizations. Explore corporate virtual volunteering made easy with Fleece & Thank You.

Learn from other organizations by reading these case studies: 

• Discover engages nationwide team with +600 Blankets
• Verizon works on their volunteer hours remotely throughout the year
• Nemes Rush Family Wealth Management hosts annual Client Appreciation Party with Fleece & Thank You