Corporate Volunteering

What do John Lewis, HSBC, Mettle and Expedia have in common?

They all run regular Corporate Volunteering here at The Grassmarket Community Project.

** Our Corporate Volunteering programme is full at the moment BUT there are many other ways your organisation can help **

Corporate Volunteering at The Grassmarket Community Project

Corporate Volunteering with us

Corporate volunteering or Employer-Supported Volunteering (ESV) benefits everyone. It is fast-becoming the go-to approach for companies who know their future success lies in attracting and retaining the next generation of workers.

The Chartered Institute of Personal and Development note in their report on Employer-Supported Volunteering that 70% of UK FTSE100 companies, 33% of public sector organisations and 23% of private sector organisations already operate active ESV schemes. ESV continues to create a buzz in the business sector. This buzz is only likely to get louder as 60% of 18–24 year-olds, who will make up the next generation of workers, want to volunteer more.  Furthermore, as Sage.com note in their 2020 report:

‘Those that align to the values of the new working majority – who place a greater emphasis on their personal time, flexibility and making a difference in the world will attract the best minds and do the best work and this will ultimately have an impact on their organisation’s bottom line’.

The Grassmarket Community Project has a fantastic track record as we design a custom-made programme to fit your organisational and employees’ specific goals. Contact Kevin Radzynski, Volunteering Coordinator to find out more.

Employer- supported volunteering is a Win, Win, Win

There are clear and proven benefits, not only to employers, but to employee volunteers as well as the community projects they support:

Employer benefits

  • Continuing professional development
  • Boost individual employee morale and productivity
  • Improves employee recruitment and retention
  • employee pride in their organisation
  • employee confidence and empowerment
  • Stronger, more connected teams
  • Develops new and transferable skills
  • Identifies future leaders
  • Can build networks with broader stakeholder involvement, eg retirees, suppliers
  • Supports company vision and corporate responsibility strategies
  • Give back to the community in which they work

Employee benefits

  • Community awareness
  • fostering a sense of helping improve things
  • Core working skills improved
  • Builds communication skills
  • Confidence building
  • Coaching and mentoring opportunities
  • Resilience
  • Networking (internally and externally)
  • Develops team building skills
  • Improved well-being and sense of purpose
  • Overall fulfilment
  • Give back to the community in which they work

Community project benefits

  • Learn from others and developing a range of business skill sets
  • Flexibility to meet needs: micro-volunteering to long term projects
  • Building longer term partnerships
  • Networking in the community they serve
  • Increased awareness and empathy for the cause
  • Enthusiastic range of volunteers: manual and specialist labour, skills and experience
  • Helps priorities internal resources and funds elsewhere, offsets low budgets
  • Improve awareness, empathy and understanding
HSBC Corporate Volunteering The Grassmarket Community Project

Join our community

The Grassmarket Community Project and employer-supported volunteering

The Grassmarket Community Project is a thriving hub in the Centre of Edinburgh, which is open to everyone, but especially vulnerable people as they transition through life, with a mixed educational program, drop-in service, two social enterprises and social integration activities, all in a safe place.

We are always keen to work with like-minded organisations looking to build ESV schemes. We have staff experienced at working in ESV and the corporate sector and this makes it easier for HR teams to find opportunities which meet their corporate and employee goals whilst fulfilling our requirements as a small and passionate charity.

Want to find out more?

To find out more about employee volunteering opportunities at Grassmarket Community Project, or to design a custom-made programme to fit your organisational and employees’ specific goals, contact Kevin, Volunteering Coordinator.

Our regular Corporate Volunteering friends include:

HSBC logo
John Lewis Logo
Mettle Bank logo
Expedia Logo