Employees at Altamira Technologies Corporation recently packed 100 backpacks for a middle school in Fairfax County, VA. The competition-style event had 100% participation and made a lasting impact in the local community.
We asked Altamira employees to share some tips for starting a volunteer program:
6 Tips for Starting a Volunteer Program
- Contact Volunteer Manager Torrance Hucks at the United Way first of course!
- Establish a team made up of volunteers who wish to help their community or contribute to charitable causes. Send a powerful message of inspiration and motivation to the rest of the organization that there are co-workers that really do care and are willing to go above and beyond their daily work duties to help others.
- Involve HR who can help with the coordination and setup of activities.
- Involve Finance who can help understand what budget is available and their associated costs.
- Involve leadership. None of these opportunities would be possible without the support of our Executive team, in particular the CEO. And none of these programs would be sustainable unless the Executive team backed up their words with participation and active involvement. Their active involvement demonstrates to employees a commitment to the community and the employee’s/organization’s causes, leading by example.
- Celebrate the activities and let others know of the participation and fun via social media and internal web sites. It’s important to inspire others to action, but more important to recognize those who took the time to participate and lend a helping hand. They should be celebrated for their efforts and support.
Contribute $24 to Stuff the Bus to provide a backpack full of supplies to a middle schooler today or learn how to host your own collection drive.
