How to Create a Meaningful 1st Experience for Corporate Volunteers

Corporate volunteering is one of the primary ways companies interact with nonprofits.

Volunteer programs can build company morale, foster team building, and help recruit new employees.

Many corporate managers want employees to volunteer in a way that takes advantage of their skills. Nonprofits often want that, too. But the actual volunteers may have other ideas, especially if they’ve never volunteered before.

“As an accountant, I don’t want to spend another 10 hours a month volunteering as an accountant,” says Chris Jarvis, a corporate volunteering consultant who co-founded the firm Realized Worth. “I want to do something fun.”

When it comes to courting these first-time volunteers, Mr. Jarvis says, it’s all about building a “continuum of experience” that begins with basic tasks and builds to the point at which participants feel so strongly about the nonprofit that they’ll happily add 10 hours of volunteer accounting to their workload.

“That first experience has to be wonderful,” says Mr. Jarvis. “They need to fall in love with it.”

To demonstrate his point, Mr. Jarvis guided us through a basic volunteer activity—painting walls at a facility serving foster children—and explained how a nonprofit can make that experience meaningful.

Step 1: Appoint a Team Leader

Before the big day arrives, your nonprofit should designate a point person who will serve as the primary contact for all volunteers. Volunteers shouldn’t arrive thinking they don’t know anyone at the nonprofit: Having some previous contact with one of your employees will give them a sense of comfort. That point person should also be present during the day of service.

The same goes for your partner company. Suggest that the company identify a project leader who can coordinate volunteers and get them jazzed for the experience.

Step 2: Introduction and Briefing

When volunteers arrives, don’t just hand them buckets of paint. Every volunteer experience should begin with a formal greeting. Here the nonprofit point person explains a bit about the nonprofit and the mechanics of the day’s task. Wall painting doesn’t require much expertise, but some instructions will likely be required.

Make sure you have all the volunteers introduce themselves. Just because folks work for the same employer doesn’t mean they know one another. Building camaraderie—or at least familiarity—early on can make the experience more rewarding. It’s also the kind of benefit employers love.

Finally, bring in someone your organization serves to talk about what the nonprofit does and how it has helped him or her. Explain to the volunteers why painting this wall matters. Make the connection between their help and the good work you do.

This is vital to creating a relationship with your volunteers that can flourish into something more substantial.

“Now I’m painting trim because I know I have the potential to change a kid’s life,” Mr. Jarvis says.

Step 3: Get to It

Before folks get jittery—or outright bored—let them get to work.

Step 4: Debrief

After your volunteers cover the walls, gather everyone one last time to ask how the day went.

Mr. Jarvis suggests eight questions to ask volunteers:

1. Was your volunteering experience what you expected?

2. Did you learn anything about yourself?

3. What kind of things did you discover about the community you were working in?

4. What do you think of your personal contributions to the volunteering experience?

5. Have any of your values, opinions, or beliefs been influenced by volunteering?

6. What is your biggest takeaway?

7. How have you been challenged?

8. What changes are you considering for yourself?

The feedback will help you craft a better experience in the future, but it also gives volunteers a chance to express what they got from the day. Any good vibes can reinforce the volunteers’ positive experience and spark the desire to volunteer again.