Employees

In this, the UN Year for Volunteering, it's nice to have some evidence from employers which makes the business case for supporting employee engagement, whether offering time off, matching gifts or brokering opportunities. In the UK, some community affairs managers have struggled recently to cope with the growing share of their budgets taken up with supporting employee initiatives. Almost by definition, employee activity is unstrategic in that it follows the personal priorities of the individual, rather than the chosen themes of the firm's social investment policy (where the strong trend has been to move away from reactive scatter-gun charity). This does not diminish its value, merely reinforces the need for a business case argument, through meeting HR goals in staff development and motivation.

Outside the UK, especially in developing countries, employee involvement can be a very effective tool for making a really worthwhile contribution on issues which are highly relevant to the corporation. Often subsidiary companies are not big profit earners, so cash giving is limited, but they do contain skilled staff who can make a big difference. Good to see VSO is succeeding in adapting its normal placement model, to bridge the gap between developed and developing worlds - and making a business case for releasing key staff for a useful length of time.