Firms not holding enough volunteer activities: NVPC

Employees here are keen to take part in volunteer work organised by their companies, but firms are not doing enough to hold such activities, a survey by the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) has found.

At a dialogue session yesterday, the NVPC shared the findings of its biannual poll conducted last year on corporate giving. It found that half of the 968 employees polled said they would be interested in volunteering in activities conducted by their employers.

However, only one in five said their employers had organised such events, a smaller proportion compared with the previous survey in 2012, in which 27 per cent said their employers did so.

The findings prompted the NVPC to partner Points of Light, a United States-based international non-profit organisation, to develop a framework for corporate giving.

Under the collaboration, which was inked yesterday, Points of Light will share its expertise, while the NVPC will lead consultative sessions with businesses and other stakeholders to create a corporate giving road map, which will be ready by the end of this year.

Speaking at the dialogue session, which was jointly organised by the NVPC, the National Council of Social Service and Community Chest, Culture, Community and Youth Minister Lawrence Wong noted that over the past decade, donations by companies to charities have doubled from S$325 million in 2004 to S$644 million in 2013.

“Corporate giving in Singapore is not yet widespread, but it is on the rise,” he said. “While various organisations have identified some best practices for corporate social responsibility programmes, we do not have a formal, national framework to guide our corporate giving efforts. The road map will establish indicators that allow corporate social responsibility programmes.”

At the session, Ms Lee Woei Shiuan of Standard Chartered Bank’s Asia governance department shared her company’s experience in organising volunteer activities for its staff. She noted that such activities help in staff retention.

Among other things, the bank runs a portal on which staff can log in to find out details of upcoming volunteer projects. Volunteers are given briefing packs prior to the events, which provide them with information on the charity that will benefit from their efforts, as well as the rationale behind the volunteer work involved.

“Discussions among my colleagues show that they want to contribute to the community and the company … The volunteer work also helps build team cohesiveness when we do it during office hours,” said Ms Lee, who has done volunteer work through the bank for 13 years.

-Today