Employees Look to Workplace Programs to Ease Charitable Giving

Employees today are more likely to seek employment in socially responsible organizations, and one way that employers can commit to helping those in need is by offering a charitable giving program at work.

A recent survey of approximately 1,200 workers across the U.S. by Fidelity Investments, a provider of employee savings plans, found that:

• 66 percent of respondents said they feel it's important for companies to be philanthropic and to support different causes. Among Millennials, it was 75 percent.
  

• 42 percent of respondents said it was important for employers to match employees' charitable contributions through a workplace giving program. Among Millennials, it was 75 percent.
  

• While 66 percent of respondents said they'd be more likely to donate through their employers if offered a matching contribution, 24 percent didn't know if their employers offered matches.

The research showed employees already donate to charitable causes on their own, outside the workplace, said Shannon Bullock, marketing director for Fidelity Workplace Giving. "Any employer that offers a benefit that helps support [an employee's charitable contributions] wins favor in the eye of the employee," she said.

Harnessing Employee Interest

Jesse Moore, vice president of workplace giving and enablement at Fidelity, noted that 1 in 5 employees indicated they were increasing their giving this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"What came across clearly is that it's personal to the employee," he said. "Over 90 percent cite the fact that they wanted to give back to their communities."

For employers, Moore noted, "the challenge is going to be how to harness that energy among their employees in a way that allows them to lean into the charities and causes that are of interest to them."

Giving isn’t only about monetary contributions, Bullock noted. Employees are also interested in volunteerism. Companies can help support those interests even during the pandemic, she said, through virtual volunteer opportunities.

"A lot of volunteer activity has been reduced because of the stay-at-home orders, but there has been a major shift and interest in virtual volunteering," Bullock explained, including skills-based volunteering. "If you're a graphic designer, you have the ability to seek out nonprofits in need of that skill," she said. "People are looking for new ways they can offer their talent even if they can't go to a location physically."

Workplace programs can also put employees in contact with charities that need volunteers with specific skills, she noted.

Program Tips

A 2020 Fidelity study, Doing Well by Doing Good, drew on a 2019 survey of 138 U.S. companies of various sizes and industries by Fidelity and the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals. The study reported that:

• While many companies (60 percent) self-administer their workplace giving programs, fewer than half use a workplace giving platform. Bigger companies were almost twice as likely than smaller companies to use online tools to manage the program.
  

• Companies that robustly promoted their programs were more effective in getting strong participation among a wide range of employees.
  

• Incentives—such as paid time off for volunteer work or matching employee donations—also help promote employee participation in workplace giving programs.

Among best practices around charitable giving programs, the study advised that employers:

• Set goals for your workplace giving program. Whether you establish a goal for number of employees who participate, number of volunteer hours served, amount of match funds given or amount of in-kind goods donated, ensure you can track and report on your company's progress toward those goals.
  

• Use tools that measure program impact. These tools allow companies to track all aspects of their workplace giving programs, from employee donations to volunteer hours, match dollars and company contributions.
  

• Promote your program often and via many channels. E-mail, intranet, onsite signage and social media are all ways to tell employees about your workplace giving program.

According to Fidelity's Moore, there are two critical elements for employers to get the greatest benefit from and participation in their charitable giving programs:

• Providing personal choice and options.
  

• Making it easy to participate.

"If [employees] have to deal with too much paperwork or lots of forms, or anything that adds friction to the process, that becomes a deterrent," Moore said.

Lin Grensing-Pophal is a freelance writer in Chippewa Falls, Wis.