Reports

Below you can acess the latest research and findings about ESV from a wide range of contributors. These reports provide useful evidence and benchmarking for any developing ESV programme and offer an indication of current rates of activity.

Overview of ESV trends and value

Volunteering is the Business: Employers' and employees' attitudes to workplace based volunteering (YouGov, December 2010, commissioned by v)

A research project to better understand attitudes of employees and employers towards employee volunteering schemes1. Research compared and contrasted the perspectives of over 500 managers and over 1,000 other employees from a representative cross-section of private, public and charity sectors and size of organisation.

Engaging business in the community –not a quick fix (The Smith Institute, 2008)

This review clearly demonstrates that business engagement with the community is no longer an afterthought. It has moved rapidly in recent years to the corporate mainstream. There are important lessons to be learned from past experience and the insights provided by the review including recommendations for action.

Steps to Sustainable Success (Corporate Citizenship, 2011)

Based on detailed research among FTSE100 and Fortune 500 companies, the ten core elements of an effective sustainability plan are identified in this report which also includes an assessment tool to map evolution across five steps, ranging from very basic to leading edge.

Caring Companies engagement in ESV (Institute of Volunteering Research Bulletin, 2008)

One of a series published by IVR to explore aspects of Helping Out: a national survey of volunteering and charitable giving (2007).

Transforming Business, Transforming Communities (Business in The Community, 2010)

The results of a consultation with BITC members into the role the corporate sector could play to help achieve a 'Big Society'. The views of business leaders - the barriers and opportunities for business to build stronger communities.

ESV by sector

More than just Giving: analysis of corporate responsibility across UK firms (Deloitte, 2011)

This study shows the CR trends in some of the U's largest business sectors including financial services; professional and legal services; technology; media and communications; energy, infrastructure and utilities, consumer and retail businesses and pharmaceuticals.

Retail in Society: serving our Communities [PDF] (British Retail Consortium, 2011)

Working with communities is fundamental to retail. The British Retail Consortium has brought together the best examples of voluntary and community work the sector has to offer.

Employer Supported Volunteering in the Civil Service [PDF] (Nuberger, 2009)

A review of the role of employee volunteering in the civil service. Focused on central Government, but also relevant to local government, non-departmental public bodies, and other agencies of government such as PCTs.

Volunteering in the Civil Service (Civil Service Live, 2011)

A one page graphical summary of the finding of the 2011 research across the Civil Service.

MP's Toolkit for Responsible Business (Business in the Community, 2011)

The MP's Toolkit for Responsible Business has been developed to inform MPs about what responsible business is, why it is important for your constituency and how you can encourage business engagement.

Skills based ESV

More than CV points? The Benefits of Employee Volunteering for Business and Individuals [PDF] (The Social Market Foundation, March 2010)

Commissioned by The Scout Association. An edited collection by leading experts in the field of skills based volunteering to offer development opportunities to employees.

Volunteering: The most cost effective way to train and develop your staff (The City of London Corporation, May 2010)

A report which shows that corporate volunteering offers significant financial benefits for business. The report tracks the learning and development of almost 550 employees from 16 major City firms volunteering in schools and colleges across the UK. These firms include Aviva, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Ernst & Young, Nomura and Santander.

Volunteering - A great way to learn real executive leadership (Forbes, 2012)

The skills needed to manage volunteers are those of future business leaders – persuasion and communicating a vision.

Corporate skills based volunteering (129.3Kb) (Corporate Citizenhsip & VSO)

This study combines desk-based research into the latest thinking on volunteering and skills-based initiatives with the practical experiences of five businesses.

Tax incentives for community involvement

A Guide to Giving for Business [PDF] (HMRC, 2009)

This Guide provides an overview of the range of tax incentives available for corporate community involvement. Aimed primarily at the business community, it will also be of interest to fundraising organisations and charities that seek to develop stronger partnerships with the business sector.

Measuring Impact

Measuring corporate community investment [PDF] (London Benchmarking Group, 2011)

Corporate community investment strategies are becoming more sophisticated, strategic and targeted. The Annual review of LBG members measures the contribution made to the community in terms of terms of employee volunteering, cash donations, and in-kind investments, such as product and service donations.

Corporate Community Partnerships

C&E Corporate–NGO Partnerships Barometer

Cross-sector partnerships are important to businesses and NGOs and will become more important and will command greater investment over the next 3 years. This report highlights some of the most respected partnerships along with the motivations, drivers, current practice, expectations, key trends and changing practices in cross-sector partnerships.

Collaborative Commitments: A think-piece by Professor David Grayson [PDF] (Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility at the Cranfield School of Management, 2008)

Challenging times demand new approaches. CoSA members developed the concept of 'collaborative commitments'; agreements made voluntarily between individuals and organisations from business, public sector and civil society, to achieve positive social impacts which would not be possible for one sector acting alone, to obtain.

Building Stronger Communities, Business and the third sector: Innovation in tough times (Business in the Community, 2009)

Recommendations and examples of innovative cross-sector partnerships.

Other

Volunteering in Civic Roles - Information for employers and employees (Business in the Community, 2011)

An information pack on business support for employees serving in lesser known civic roles. The guide contains an explanation of each of the 10 roles including charity trustees and tenant management associations, case studies, myth busters and sources for further information.