15 Corporate Volunteering Activities

‍Drive your corporate impact by including these fun activities in your Employee Volunteering Programme

‍PwC, Hasbro, KPMG … virtually all of the big boys and girls are doing it – and many of the smaller ones as well. Corporate volunteering is now generally accepted as an effective tool to drive impact inside and outside of your organisation. And hey, it’s fun too!

‍We’ve written before about the many advantages of corporate volunteering. In this article, we want to offer some practical ideas on the things your company can do to drive impact in your local community. So hold on to your hats, here are 15 corporate volunteering activities for you to include in your employee volunteering programme.

1. Participate in a public clean-up

‍Just starting out with corporate volunteering? Participating in a public clean-up is a good way to get going. Why not ask different departments in your company to sign up together for an existing clean-up day? It’s a great team-building activity and a good way to involve large numbers of employees in a simple, yet meaningful activity. Not only does your local community benefit directly, both the action and the results can be visualised very easily. We do not want to encourage greenwashing, but there’s nothing wrong with letting the world know about your company’s sustainability efforts. In fact, it’s what the public wants these days.

2. Organise a fundraising event at your workplace

‍A workplace fundraising event is a simple and effective way to get everyone involved. There are many ways to this: you can organise a silent auction or a 50/50 raffle. Partner with a local supplier to organise an inclusive, non-alcoholic cocktail tasting. Or boost employee engagement by asking your workers for their favourite recipes. Next, compile them in a beautiful, for-sale corporate cookbook, with benefits going to a local charity. Your imagination is the only limit!

3. Support a local sport team

‍Sport is a crucial activity for children throughout their development. When you buy new equipment for a local sport team or fund a tournament, you give back to the kids in your community. But please, take it a step further and make it personal: find volunteers among your staff who can assist at tournaments or school sports days.

‍And do we need to point out the obvious and say that this corporate volunteering activity provides a great opportunity to put your brand out there? Well, I guess we just did …

4. Compile care packages or food parcels

‍This corporate volunteering activity can take a range of forms, but all have a significant impact. Collect the material of your choice among your employees and assemble packages for schools, homeless shelters or food banks. Make sure a team of volunteers delivers them to the designated charity. This activity offers a simple but effective way to involve everyone in your company.

5. Organise a blood drive

‍Donating blood is a sure-fire way to create serious impact: just one blood donation can save up to three lives! You really want to include this worthwhile activity in your employee volunteer programme. Send out a signup sheet to your employees, and your company can organise a bus or car-pool system to take the group to donate blood. Organisations like Sanquin at Work allow employees to give blood during work hours. This keeps you socially involved while enabling employees to do good. Win-win! :)‍

6. Organise a local race or marathon for a charity chosen by the employees

Participating in a local race or marathon is fun, and good for your team spirit. You could don company shirts and take part in the sport of your choice as a team. It’s an enjoyable corporate volunteering activity to get your employees outdoors and sweat for the money pledged by family and friends.‍

7. Volunteer in your local community

Whether you are looking for a one-off volunteering opportunity or an ongoing project that can be performed in groups, there are many corporate volunteering opportunities. On Deedmob’s volunteering platform you can filter by SDG, activity type, distance and group activities. Using the Deedmob volunteering platform is a great way to select an activity that suits you and the impact you want to make.‍

8. Create a skills mentorship programme for young adults or professionals‍

‍Mentorship programmes are a brilliant way for companies to support local young adults through a skill-sharing partnership. By asking your employees what skills they could teach others, you not only allow them to share their expertise, they also enjoy the experience of making a lasting, meaningful impact on the future of young people in the local community. Top tip: create a lasting partnership. This gives you a pipeline of new and curious students who are interested in taking part in a skills-sharing mentoring programme.‍

9. Organise company quiz nights for charity

Most people love a good quiz, so why not host a company-wide quiz night? It’s a simple and effective corporate volunteering activity that can be carried out in person or online, with individual or team players. Send out a survey to suggest possible charities to raise money for and let your employees vote. All proceeds go to the charity of the month. Activities such as bingo, a raffle and general knowledge quizzes are great to involve large groups of people. And who knows, you might just find that one of your colleagues is the new Bruce Forsyth! 

10. Create a public work of art or grow a community garden‍

‍These two activities are great ways to connect and give back to your local community. If you are looking for an ongoing corporate volunteering project, creating a work of art or growing a community garden are two solid options. Both tasks require planning and organisation. As these activities benefit from regular check-ins from your employees, they are perfect projects for large companies, because they are always ongoing. ‍

11. Support a tree-planting organisation

Let’s go outside and get our hands dirty! Have you got outdoor activities in your employee volunteering programme? They are an excellent way to activate your employees and cement your teams. Guaranteed that many of your colleagues have green fingers, and supporting an organisation that plants trees to combat carbon emissions is a brilliant outdoors volunteer project.

12. Set up in-person and online mentoring sessions for local businesses ‍

Leverage your employees’ expertise and skills in mentoring sessions for local businesspeople. Identify the strengths of your staff members and match them with needs in the local business community. It is a simple, yet effective corporate volunteering activity. Your staff will enjoy the opportunity to help, while the impact on local businesses is significant.‍

13. Organise a company-wide competition to raise money for a charity‍

This corporate volunteering activity is perfect for larger organisations with lots of employees. Let your employees team up and select a favourite charity. Their mission is to compete with the other teams for a month, and raise as much money as they can – in whatever way possible (but hey, of course we’re always legal and respectful of people’s boundaries!). Organising a competition to see which employee or department can raise the most money, is a fun way to engage people’s competitive side whilst also doing good. And there’s nothing stopping you from doing this twice a year …‍

14. Volunteer at a food bank

Food banks often need volunteers to help out. You will find that volunteering at a food bank is the perfect activity for groups or even company departments. All you need to do, is find your local food bank and set up a rotation system so that small teams of employees can work on regular volunteering days.‍

15. Organise a company bake sale for charity

‍Time for the great company bake off! Organising a company bake sale for charity is a great way to get everyone involved in a corporate fundraising event. You could even set up a competition or a theme. Employees – or even the greater public – can purchase the cakes while the money all goes to a chosen charity.

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To be honest, we could go on and on – but with these 15 fun and unique corporate volunteering activities you should be well on your way. It is a varied list of impact activities, with something for every employee. 

‍If you need more inspiration, please read our article on keeping your employees engaged and passionate about corporate volunteering. And with all this, you really have no excuse to get your employees into corporate volunteering – so get started today!

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