The “Win More Grants” series
Engage Corporate Volunteers to Win More
Win more grants??! But you’re already doing all you can! You’re pouring your heart and soul into it and making as much progress as you can possibly be expected to. How in the world can you win more — what rock do you need to look under?
To do this, we’ll look at volunteers as they relate to corporate grants. They may seem unrelated to each other, and may not seem like a way to win more grants, but stick with me, I think we’ll get to the bottom of it.
STRATEGY #7: Engage Corporate Volunteers
The idea is that corporations, a lot of the times, will want volunteer opportunities for their associates. If you can offer something like that, that would be terrific, and you would look more attractive in the eyes of (corporate) grant funders. It may tip the scales for you and your grant application. It may mean … MORE GRANTS!
Do not wait until the last minute to figure that out though, number one. Number two, even if your agency would not be an appropriate place for virtual strangers to come in and mix and mingle, let’s say with the people you serve — I’m thinking children’s mental health, or a battered women’s shelter — think about volunteer engagement in another, more appropriate way.
SOME ASSOCIATE ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
I had a client who saw underage children and often also their parents in a mental health setting. Having corporate associates come in to volunteer for that, that would not work. However, if the agency wanted to repaint, let’s say, and the corporate associates wanted to repaint, maybe you could do it on the weekend because then there wouldn’t be patients coming through, and that might be a possible thing to pitch to a corporate funder.
Another situation that would be appropriate for corporate associates (but not during the work week), would be to be in attendance at, and helping out with, the fundraising event for this children’s mental health agency. If you have a golf outing or a walk-a-thon or just a big gala in a ballroom, anything like that, that means a lot of “hands on deck” at a particular time, and you can anticipate that need for extra hands on deck, that would be a great thing to pitch to a corporate funder.
We have a large insurance company here and I’m friends with someone — an executive assistant within that large insurance company — and he gets time off to volunteer, and then time off. It’s some sort of program that they have. If he volunteers for four hours and it’s approved by the powers-that-be in his business, then he gets a half day off, that kind of thing. That’s an incentive for the associates and it kind of smooths the way for the associate working your event on a weekend or an evening. It kind of spells the hardship of not doing it during work hours. Corporations that value volunteerism or community engagement often give their associates credit or PTO in exchange for volunteer hours, so it could work for an after-hours volunteer engagement.
PLAN AHEAD
Sometimes Corporate doesn’t ask for associate involvement opportunities, but sometimes they do. And boy, wouldn’t it be great to have that figured out ahead of time.
Maybe it would be easier for the corporation if they were able to give their associates time off during the work week if you wanted those associates working an evening or a weekend. If it’s a fundraising event, obviously that is working with the development team to brainstorm who, when, how many, and what would they be doing because these are the sorts of things that you would need to include in your answer to the funder’s question about this associate involvement.
And gee, if you get that corporate funder, then you’re going to have all sorts of hands-on deck. Definitely another opportunity to have a conversation with that funder, because there might be questions about how many they want to have engaged. Would it be a couple of hundred? Or maybe they only have 50 people in their business or maybe they have thousands. Maybe you only need 50, but they’ve got 200 associates that they want to get working for an agency.
If your engagement offering can be something that is program-related — directly program-related — then obviously you need to work with your Program staff to say, how could you use some tutors? Could you use someone to read stories to little kids? Could you use someone to dust the shelves or paint the activity room or box up toys at Christmas time, or box up meals at holiday time, or do a canned food drive, or whatever the program needs. It may be in the way of supplies that the corporate funder already produces and you could use that for your program participants, or add the item or items to your silent auction at your fundraiser. That would be a good way to involve a corporate funder and their associates. And that corporate funder would love the photo opps an engagement like that could offer. Here is an example posted on a corporate funder’s website of associates’ “happy faces” engaged in volunteer work for a nonprofit.
A corporate engagement strategy for associates is something to find out about and consider. Think about it, get ahead of it and get organized about it. Associate engagement would give you an extra hook to further ensure your relationship with that corporate funder, their understanding of you, and vice versa.
You could plan something really fun — and I would believe that the corporation would want it to be fun for their associates. And you never know, the associates that get engaged might be upper management associates. Get those associates going back to the office after your event or whatever, and talking, and talking you up, right? That will help further ensure more grant funding.
ENGAGEMENT THROUGH BOARD SERVICE
The other way to look at volunteer engagement is to recruit board members from that corporate funder. Think about, and work with your agency’s leadership, on possible board slots that could be filled advantageously by a certain corporate funder’s representative within your community. That representative could speak on your agency’s behalf when your grant applications are up for review, perhaps. Or make the path to funding smoother.
Winning more grants from the corporate sector is about knowing what rings corporate’s bell, and volunteer engagement is one big plus to be ready to offer them. Take a look at the Corporate grants installment also, in the Types of Grants section of the Topic Library, for more ways to appeal to corporate funders.
