What Counts?
Points of Light’s formal definition of volunteerism is: An employee volunteer program (EVP) is a planned,
managed effort that seeks to motivate and enable employees to effectively volunteer under the official
sponsorship and leadership of the employer. But, that’s about as formal as we get… a more specific
definition relies on each company’s culture, business priorities, impact areas, employee interests and
motivations, and a myriad of other things.
EVPs can range dramatically from a company‐sponsored “day of volunteering” around a specific cause,
to a robust program where employees leverage their professional skills to support and build the capacity
of nonprofit organizations. Volunteer programs are as diverse as they are numerous and vary by size,
implementation model, structure, resourcing, not to mention the desired and actual impact on
beneficiaries and employee volunteers. No matter what kind of EVP you have or dream of having…
volunteer guidelines form the basis of your entire volunteer program, giving cohesion and consistency to
all the elements in your program that affect volunteers.
We believe it’s up to each company to further define what volunteerism means to them, so that
employees better understand which activities and which partners are eligible – and truly what they need
to be tracking and reporting back to the EVP manager. Simply, guidelines answer the question of who,
when, and how employees can volunteer. Why are they important?
• Creates a place for those interested to find information on the volunteer program.
• Sets precedence for future requests that you may need/want to say no to – those not in the best
interest of your company or employees’ time.
• Reinforces program tenets.
Most importantly, a written set of guidelines that showcases eligible participants, partners and activities
stops some of the questions you probably field daily.
You might be surprised to know that many companies never stop and write out a set of guidelines so
that employees better understand what is expected of them. Below we’ve compiled a list of questions
that EVP managers are frequently asked thanks to Roger Hancock, community affairs manager at CSAA
Insurance Group – a AAA insurer. They are all activities an EVP manager should consider as they build
out their program’s guidelines.
1. Do you have a policy or set of guidelines that supports your EVP?
a. Is it accessible by all employees?
b. Do you update it regularly?
2. Do the following activities count as ‘volunteering’ at your company?
a. Walking in a Walkathon such as Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Run, March of Dimes
Walk for Babies, or American Heart Walk? Does walking in a walkathon count as
volunteering?
b. What about walking/marching alongside of other employees, friends, and family in the
Pride Parade?
1
c. What about Team in Training for the Leukemia Society? (Background) Does the three
months of training time for your half-marathon… or training for three months to hike to
the bottom of the Grand Canyon count as volunteering?
i. What about the months it took for the employee to train for that charity race?
d. Coaching a town’s Little League team each spring?
e. Chaperoning your child’s classroom field trip to the local nonprofit arts museum?
f. Does chaperoning your kid’s elementary school field trip to the science museum count
as volunteering?
g. What about chaperoning an 8th grade field trip for a week to Washington DC? Does
chaperoning for a week on your kid’s Washington D.C. Field Trip count for volunteering?
(And, how many hours a day do you allow to be recorded? 8 to 10, 12 to 24 hours?)
h. Or, volunteering for the PTA at the school the employee’s children attend?
i. Do you count volunteer time for “Job Shadow Day” when a high school student follows
an employee around for an hour or two at the company headquarters?
j. Do you count time for volunteering with the Girl Scouts?
k. Okay, what about Boy Scouts? What if your company does not financially support the
Boys Scouts because of their past discriminatory practices? Do you count volunteer
hours for Boy Scouts?
l. Donating to a company-sponsored collection drive?
i. Or, shopping for that Toys for Tots gift?
m. Hours spent by employees or volunteer leaders to plan a volunteer project?
n. Time spent giving blood at a company-organized Red Cross blood drive?
o. Participating in a career fair that your Veterans’ employee resource network/affinity
group is sponsoring?
i. Would you count the volunteer hours if that employee asked a buddy to come
along with to help review resumes?
p. Do you count volunteer hours of friends and family? For example, at the conclusion of a
Food Bank donation sorting event, you have a few spouses at the event… and several
kids volunteering alongside their parents. Do you count the volunteer hours of the
family and kids?
q. What about attending a Fundraising Dinner? Those fancy chicken, steak, fish dinners to
raise money for cancer research or raise money for the new wing of the Children’s
Museum. Do you count eating at a charitable dinner as volunteering?
i. How about attending a gala dinner in support of one of your prominent
nonprofit partners?
r. Attending a bowl-a-thon or charity golf tournament?
s. What about faith-based volunteering – do you count organizing donations at a local
church’s food pantry?
i. Or, serving alongside the Mennonites as they help a disaster-stricken
community recover?
ii. Or, teaching Sunday School to a bunch of rabble-rousing toddlers one Sunday a
month?
2
t.
u.
v.
w.
x.
y.
z.
aa.
bb.
cc.
dd.
ee.
3
iii. What about the employee who goes on a Church mission trip to Haiti to
volunteer? Do you count the mission trip to Haiti?
Does on-site volunteering like assembling disaster kits for Red Cross or packaging meals
for Stop Hunger Now count as volunteering?
Does taking a CPR and First Aid course count as volunteering?
Does raising a puppy for Guide Dogs for the Blind count as volunteering? How much
time do you allow to be counted for Guide Dog Puppy Raising? 1 hour a day? 8 hours a
day? 12 hours? 24 hours?
What about fostering a dog? Taking in an animal from an over-crowded animal shelter
for a couple of weeks. Does that count as volunteering?
What about being a Foster Parent? Do you count volunteering for being a Foster
Parent?
What about counting volunteerism for an event cancelled on the day of the event due
to rain or snow? Do you count the volunteering for the people who show up at Habitat
for Humanity… but the event is rained out?
Do you count volunteer time for an employee who mows her elderly neighbors’ lawn
once a week?
Do you count volunteer time for those who serve on Homeowners Association - HOA
Board of Directors?
Do you count volunteer time for preparing a speech for Toastmasters? What if the
Toastmasters speech is a compelling speech on the benefits of volunteering in your
community?
Do you count volunteering at the registration table for an internal “Health Benefits
Fair?” The company needs employees to staff a table in the company cafeteria to
promote an employee health benefits fair? Do you count that as volunteering?
Do you count volunteer time for traveling to events? If I drive one hour to go to Special
Olympics, spend two hours at Special Olympics, and spend an hour driving home. Total
of four hours. Two hours is travel time. Do you count four hours of volunteering?
What’s the minimum time you count? Would you accept and count 1 hour of
volunteering? 10 minutes? Half-hour?