Employee supported volunteering
Employer Supported Volunteering (ESV) refers to businesses funding their staff to volunteer for local charitable organisations.
It is an excellent way of sharing skills and experience which is also accessible to smaller organisations that are not able to offer financial support but still want to contribute to the community.
Benefits of this scheme include:
- Personal development of staff - both the organisation's and the business' - through teaching or learning new skills
- Maximisation and effective use of skills, expertise and knowledge
- Improved relationships with businesses
- Capacity building for voluntary organisations
A toolkit to help volunteer centres to set up ESV schemes in available from Volunteering England.
Case study - Vertical Limits and Age Concern in Dacorum
Jane Hammond works as a personal trainer, her company is called Vertical Limits. As a one-woman enterprise, employing staff disadvantaged in the jobs market of giving money or gifts was out of the question.
With support from Jeoff Colls at Connect Dacorum (www.connectdacorum.org.uk) Jane teamed up with Age Concern in Dacorum to provide a half hour keep-fit session for the older visitors to the Cherry Tree Club in Hemel Hempstead. The visit was such a success that Jane is now giving up half an hour once a fortnight to take keep fit classes to other elderly care homes.
Employee Supported Volunteering Toolkit
