Corporate volunteerism is on the rise as employers recognize the importance of having a corporate social responsibility program in place. Not only do Millennial and Gen Z employees rank purpose at work as more important than a paycheck, making these programs essential to attracting talent, but giving back also benefits employers and their communities.
Employees value opportunities to volunteer during work hours through corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, as this allows them to give back to the community, strengthen relationships with coworkers, and take pride in their employer. Businesses benefit from increased employee retention and a stronger brand image. The community benefits from the contributions of time, talent, and treasure.
A well-designed volunteer training program helps ensure consistency, effectiveness, and alignment with company values—whether through an organized charitable CSR team building activity or a more informal, loosely coupled volunteer event.
Why Volunteer Training Is Important for Employee Engagement
A volunteer training program is a structured initiative designed to prepare employees to effectively engage in service activities as part of a company’s broader employee volunteer program. Training activities can range from short sessions on volunteer etiquette and expectations to in-depth instruction tailored to specific roles or nonprofit partnerships.
The purpose of these programs is to ensure employees are not only informed and ready to contribute meaningfully but also aligned with the company’s values and the mission of the partner organization. By investing in training, businesses demonstrate their commitment to responsible and impactful community engagement, rather than merely encouraging participation for the sake of appearances.
Providing thorough volunteer training empowers employees with the knowledge and skills they need to serve confidently and competently. Training also helps mitigate risks by covering essential safety protocols, particularly when working in hands-on environments. Most importantly, well-trained volunteers contribute to more impactful service, which directly benefits the partner organization. This leads to stronger relationships between companies and nonprofits, as well as more profound, more sustainable community impact.
The value of CSR programs can be measured in many ways. For example, 53% of workers say that “a job where I can make an impact” is vital to their happiness. And organizations that invest in a well-designed corporate responsibility program see:
- Employee engagement increases by up to 7.5%
- Productivity increases by 13%
- Turnover decreases by 50%
10 Tips for Creating an Employee Volunteer Program
Every successful employee volunteer training program begins with a solid, well-structured training plan. Start with the end in mind: determine the ultimate objectives you aim to achieve with the training, then work backwards to plan training structure and timing.
Here are ten tips for designing an employee volunteer training program that focuses on setting clear expectations, empowering teams, and preparing employees to represent the company and serve effectively.
1. Define the Goals and Scope of Your Program
Start by defining your training objectives. Setting clear goals gives structure and purpose to the volunteer training program. Examples of measurable goals include improving community impact, enhancing employee engagement, and increasing metrics related to workplace well-being.
Next, define the scope of your program, including who will participate (the size of the audience), the number and cadence of events, any required training materials, and the venue (unless the event is virtual).
2. Partner with Nonprofits That Align with Your Mission
Aligning your company values with specific nonprofit missions leads to more meaningful collaborations. For example:
- Food and beverage manufacturers may want to partner with nonprofits that support food banks or organizations that provide meals to unhoused populations.
- Businesses involved in products or services related to children or education may reach out to organizations that provide toys, bikes, or STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) kits for kids.
- Healthcare organizations may seek out partners who donate wheelchairs to individuals with mobility issues, or are involved in causes such as autism awareness, Alzheimer’s disease, or cancer care.
If there’s no obvious parallel for your organization, find out what your employees care most about. You can support multiple causes that mesh with your larger mission and employee concerns. The point is, when employees see a direct connection between the volunteer work they’re doing and the organization’s larger mission, participation feels more authentic and impactful.
Once you’ve identified causes or groups you’d like to help, coordinate with associated nonprofits to define volunteer roles and identify necessary and applicable training options. Set expectations with your chosen nonprofit(s) early to support long-term relationships that will benefit both your business and the nonprofit organization increasingly over time.
One great example is a custom CSR event developed by Best Corporate Events for Merck. The company sought a project that aligned with its charitable giving parameters and supported its overarching mission of advancing the prevention and treatment of disease through research. BEST helped Merck identify and partner with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a nonprofit whose work aligns seamlessly with Merck’s values.
The outcome was both tangible and inspiring: Merck employees collaborated to create and donate 400 care packages to pediatric patients at St. Jude’s. Beyond the immediate benefit to the children and families receiving the packages, the partnership reinforced employees’ sense of pride in working for an organization that actively contributes to health and wellness.
Just as important, BEST’s role in facilitating the connection between Merck and St. Jude’s highlights the critical importance of establishing the right nonprofit partnership. When a corporate training or volunteer program is supported by a nonprofit that authentically fits the company’s mission, the impact is more profound, employee engagement is higher, and the program has a stronger chance of long-term success.
3. Provide Orientation and Role-Specific Training
Before employees begin volunteering, it’s important to provide a general orientation that sets the stage for a meaningful experience. This should include an overview of the nonprofit’s mission, the community it serves, and the impact employees’ efforts will have. Covering basic conduct expectations, such as professionalism, respect, and inclusivity, ensures that volunteers understand how to represent both the nonprofit and your company in a positive way.
Equally important is role-specific training. When employees know exactly what’s expected of them, whether that’s assembling care packages, mentoring students, or assisting at an event, they feel more prepared and confident. Training should also address logistics, safety considerations, and appropriate behavior for the setting. Providing this clarity up front not only empowers volunteers but also helps the program run smoothly and professionally.
4. Include DEI and Community Sensitivity Guidance
Just as diversity in the workplace delivers multiple benefits, it also strengthens nonprofit and charitable relationships and outcomes. It’s vital for your employees to understand the need for inclusive, respectful engagement in diverse community settings they may not regularly interact with.
To help ensure your team works effectively and professionally with your nonprofit partners, incorporate cultural awareness, accessibility, and inclusive language in training sessions. Include interactive elements as part of your employee volunteer training that promote empathy and reduce bias.
5. Use Team Building to Strengthen Collaboration
CSR team building exercises are a structured volunteer strategy. Companies provide their employees with a fun, rewarding experience while also making an impact on nonprofits aligned with the company’s mission. Professionally facilitated CSR programs enhance employee engagement and loyalty by creating emotionally powerful shared experiences that foster strong workplace bonds.
Examples of CSR team building activities that build trust, enhance communication, and develop problem-solving skills include:
Bike Build Donation: Participants team up to assemble bicycles destined for children in need, combining hands-on teamwork with a direct charitable outcome. The activity not only fosters collaboration and camaraderie but also delivers a memorable moment when the finished bikes are gifted to local kids, reinforcing purpose-driven engagement.
Donation Nation Care Packs: Teams engage in collaborative challenges to assemble care packages tailored for a charity of their choice, transforming coordination and communication into tangible impact as employees see firsthand the difference their collective effort can make.
Build-a-Wheelchair®: Groups work together to assemble, test, and donate wheelchairs for individuals with mobility challenges, combining structured tasks with meaningful contribution. The activity strengthens problem-solving and empathy, concluding with an uplifting moment when recipients receive their mobility devices.
Operation Military Care: Volunteers assemble care packages for military personnel, complete with personalized touches, facilitated through a team-based program framework. This activity encourages gratitude and national pride while offering tangible support to service members. The output is especially meaningful when items are decorated or assembled into community symbols like a large American flag.
Beyond CSR activities, professional development programs and workshops that reinforce collaboration and readiness can also be a valuable component of your employee volunteer training program. For example, Emotional Intelligence Training helps create a culture of trust, exceptional “internal customer” loyalty, and enhanced social awareness.
6. Train Volunteer Captains to Guide and Motivate Teams
Assigning volunteer captains provides structure and accountability during corporate volunteer events. These team leads serve as the primary point of contact for their groups, ensuring tasks are completed efficiently, questions are answered promptly, and participants remain focused on the activity’s goals. By designating captains, organizations establish a clear chain of responsibility that ensures events are organized and run on schedule.
To be effective, volunteer captains should receive basic training that prepares them for both logistical oversight and team support. This can include onboarding around the nonprofit’s mission, safety protocols, and event logistics. When being guided by peers, employees often feel more supported and engaged. Overall management workload is reduced, allowing facilitators and coordinators to focus on the bigger picture.
7. Incorporate Reflection Sessions and Debriefs
Scheduled reflection time powerfully helps reinforce key takeaways after volunteering. CSR experiences can create strong emotions, especially when disadvantaged children or disabled veterans accept contributions. Allowing participants time to reflect, discuss the experience, and wind down helps lock in positive memories and lessons learned.
Structuring debriefs doesn’t need to be complicated. You can encourage team discussion that reinforces both emotional and practical takeaways from the activity by using guided questions such as:
- What moment during today’s volunteer experience had the most significant impact on you personally?
- Did this experience change the way you think about the community we served? How so?
- How does giving back in this way connect with your personal values?
- What specific skills did you use today that you can also apply to your work role?
- How did your team collaborate to overcome challenges during the activity?
- What could we do differently next time to make our volunteer efforts even more effective?
These debrief and reflection sessions support continuous learning and team growth by allowing employees to process what they learned—both emotionally and practically—rather than letting the event fade into a feel-good memory.
8. Gather Feedback from Volunteers and Partners
To support continuous improvement and enhance the value of your employee volunteer training program, collect post-event feedback from both your employee volunteers and nonprofit partners through email surveys, as well as informal interviews when practical. Offering both anonymous and open-response options encourages honest feedback, while highlighting how input will shape future initiatives builds trust and engagement.
Gathering feedback after a CSR event ensures that both employees and nonprofit partners feel heard and that future programs can improve. For employees, ask about what they enjoyed, challenges they faced, and how the experience influenced their sense of teamwork and purpose. For partners, ask about the impact of the support, whether the logistics ran smoothly, and what could be done differently next time.
9. Recognize and Celebrate Volunteer Contributions
When employees participate in CSR programs or other community service activities, give them public recognition through shout-outs, internal awards, company-wide emails, or even a free lunch for volunteer groups.
Recognizing and rewarding volunteerism reinforces community engagement and encourages workers to participate in additional service activities and opportunities to give back. To build the case for ongoing or repeat CSR program participation, measure the impact of volunteer appreciation on broader employee satisfaction (as measured by surveys and employee well-being check-ins) and retention goals.
10. Integrate Training into New Hire Onboarding
Consider incorporating employee volunteer training into new employee orientation and onboarding. This powerfully reinforces the decision by employees to join your company and sets a positive tone by showing your commitment to brand purpose and community service.
Key elements to cover in volunteer training during onboarding include:
- Explaining your brand values and how those tie into community service
- Signup instructions—the practical nuts and bolts of joining company CSR programs and other volunteer opportunities
- Event expectations such as timeliness, effort, etiquette, and attire
Position your employee volunteer training program as a core component of company culture from the start. According to Forbes, “Nearly 40 percent of employees quit within their first year, around 31% within six months.” Among the top reasons for that are an ineffective onboarding process and misaligned expectations. Creating an organized onboarding process, including coverage of company culture and volunteer training, can help keep your new employees from becoming part of those statistics.
Use Team Building to Prepare Volunteers for Real-World Impact
Immersive, hands-on activities simulate the challenges of volunteering as a group, even when not explicitly tied to community service. For example, Bridge to the Future builds collaboration skills and commitment to the corporate vision as teams partner to assemble a bridge using only cardboard and duct tape, which will support the weight of the entire group.
Team building activities help build trust within and across teams while giving participants the opportunity to play different roles as part of the exercise. High-functioning teams, whether in the workplace or at volunteer events, require communication, leadership, and adaptability—skills developed through team building experiences. Business performance is closely tied to the effectiveness of corporate training.
Elements of a Scalable Volunteer Program Framework
Building a scalable volunteer program starts with creating templates, processes, and documentation that standardize how events are run. This consistency makes it easier to replicate successful programs across departments, locations, or new initiatives without having to reinvent the wheel each time. Clearly defined volunteer roles are equally important, as they provide employees with a clear understanding of expectations and responsibilities from the outset, enabling them to step into their assignments with confidence.
Written guidelines around safety, conduct, and communication ensure professionalism and protect both your employees and the nonprofit partners you serve. Orientation materials, event checklists, and scheduling tools further streamline planning, reduce training time, and make it simple for new participants to get up to speed.
Finally, incorporating a recurring program review (monthly, quarterly, or annually) provides an opportunity to evaluate effectiveness, update resources, and continuously refine the program. Together, these elements create a framework that is sustainable and adaptable as your volunteer initiatives grow.
Tools and Resources to Streamline Volunteer Training
Use technology to maximize the impact of both your employee volunteer training program and community service initiatives. First, project management tools like Teamwork, ClickUp, Basecamp, and Monday.com can help you assign tasks to volunteers and trainers, monitor progress, track deadlines, and improve communication to keep everyone on the same page.
Second, volunteer coordination platforms like Timecounts, Plan Hero, and Volgistics support recruiting, sign-ups, scheduling, and reminders to streamline how enterprises organize and engage volunteers. They act as centralized hubs that save time for coordinators, make volunteering easier for participants, and provide data to demonstrate impact.
Finally, a centralized LMS solution can be used to host training materials and monitor course completions. Storing all training content in a single, shared location simplifies management, helps keep materials up to date, ensures consistency in training, and minimizes acquisition and support costs.
Ready to Launch Your Volunteer Training Program?
If your organization already has an employee volunteer training program in place, use the guidance in this post to help audit your efforts for completeness and effectiveness. If not, use the 10 tips outlined above to start from scratch and build your program.
Structured training supports employees’ desire for purpose, boosts outcomes, and assures that volunteer activities reflect your company’s values. It ensures consistency in your organization’s efforts to give back to the community, build strong relationships with nonprofits, and enhance your brand image.
Looking for expert help with employee training and charitable CSR team building that benefits your company, your employees, and your community? Connect with Best Corporate Events to explore how we can support your program with customized, high-impact team building experiences that make a difference and create strong employee bonds.
