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Giving at Work: A Vital and Evolving Act By Steve Delfin President and CEO, America’s Charities
Nonprofit organizations play a vital role in today’s society; they provide support to thousands in need and fill voids left by the governmental services. In today’s harsh economic climate, nonprofits need to be more efficient and effective in delivering the services and generating financial support especially through workplace giving. Employees and employers alike benefit from workplace giving programs and are moving in a direction that offers greater choice and engagement. As the President & CEO of America’s Charities, I am passionate when it comes to employee workplace giving and employee engagement. I have seen, firsthand, how contributions made through the workplace help communities. Employee donations help fund medical research, give children in foster care a second chance at a family, preserve the environment, feed the hungry and ensure civil and human rights. The Vital Role Through this time of economic uncertainty, America’s Charities sees more and more employers embracing a commitment to employee engagement and giving and philanthropy. Workplace giving, in particular, is significant in its support of charitable causes in America and has historically been one of the highest-yielding and lowest-cost methods of fundraising for nonprofits. Workplace giving constitutes the single-largest pool of funds for the nonprofit sector, according to Boston University scholar, Emily Barmen. This is a $5 billion market that has evolved and continues to evolve as a younger generation workforce begins to outnumber the Baby Boomer generation. Workplace giving represents billions of unrestricted dollars distributed to nonprofits each year. As technology has evolved, new ways of online giving have emerged. While these newer ways are an excellent addition to the overall nonprofit funding cycle, these ways tend to be more episodic and much smaller — typically in the $25 to $50 range. With the workplace employee-giving model, because gifts given through payroll deduction are so easy to make and are ongoing, these gifts tend to be larger in size — typically in the $250 to $500 range annually — and that in essence is what it is all about. The Evolving Role The difference between what it used to be like in the 80’s and 90’s compared to what workplace giving is like now — it’s very clear there are a couple key elements that people (especially today’s younger generation of employees) absolutely demand from a contemporary workplace employeegiving program:
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1. The ability to choose: It used to be in the past that an employer would decide what cause to support and go around, in a rather coercive way, asking employees to contribute money. Coercion and giving cannot exist together. Not only is it important these days for the employer to be able to select which causes to support, but more importantly, it is about the employees being able to give to any bona fide, 501(c)(3) exempt charity that they choose. 2. The people strategy: More critical than ever and expanding into the future is how an organization connects the workplace employee-giving campaign to employee engagement, volunteerism, and the organization’s commitment to social responsibility. Companies want to know exactly what kind of impact their company and employee donations are having. Trends in technology are making this possible and are making it so companies can employ workplace employee-giving and volunteer programs more easily and in a more traceable fashion. This allows companies to compare their efforts to others in their industry and roll that up to their corporate responsibility reports. A large number of companies are looking for the choice and the ability to expand their workplace giving campaigns to provide undesignated, unrestricted funds for nonprofit organizations, which is the lifeblood of nonprofit organizations. It keeps it so money is not restricted to a certain activity or certain program. That is exactly what America’s Charities’ workplace employee-giving model offers and is committed to providing in the future to companies of all sizes — be it mid-size companies with 50 employees or large corporations with hundreds and thousands of employees. The Bottom Line When you choose to support your favorite charities at work, you provide critical, sustaining dollars to these organizations. These dollars help them keep the doors open and the lights on so that when our friends and neighbors need help, there is someplace to turn. So whether you want to help people around the corner, around the country, or around the world, make 2012 the year that you pledge all you can. We will be there for you helping you help others. Thank you!
www.charities.org