An Open Letter to Chicago - Support the Small Non-Profits

Chicago is a wonderful city. The infamous winters help us appreciate the summertime, and the people that live here are friendly and welcoming. It shouldn't be a surprise, then, that it's known as a city that cares. What may surprise you, however, is that there is a lot of room for improvement in how companies and the everyday person give back their time.

Non-Profit Sector Overview

There are more than 1.5 million non-profits in the US. According to a 2018 report by the National Center for Charitable Statistics, volunteers give 8.8 billion hours annually, with an average of 137 hours per volunteer. Assigning an hourly wage of $22.13, the total value of volunteer time reaches $195 billion (1).

Breaking this down into Chicago terms, there are approximately 18,000 non-profit organizations in the city. That's about 1.2% of the non-profits in the nation and an estimated 105 million hours of volunteer time worth over $2.3 billion in the windy city alone.

The local volunteer initiatives can range from handing out groceries to hungry veterans, to building a home for the needy, to organizing and handing out books to children that could use them. There is no shortage of problems to be solved and there are plenty of individuals and organizations that want to make a difference.

The problem? Many of the root-issues go unnoticed or unresolved and the good ideas that could tackle these issues don't have their voice heard, so many problems never get fixed.

Small Companies Are Catching Up

In 2019, 66% of US companies offered paid volunteer time off (VTO), indicating a 5% increase over 2018 (3). In 2019, companies with 100,000+ employees witnessed a 43% growth in the average number of volunteer hours per employee. Employee engagement doubled in companies with less than 5,000 employees when compared to larger companies (4). In 2019, there were 118,955 (5) companies across the US with between 100 to 1000 employees. Downtown Chicago is home to approximately 600 companies with between 100 to 500 employees. Of these, it's estimated that around 400 companies offer paid volunteer time off.

In other words, it's great that larger companies are getting more engaged, but smaller companies are catching up, and quickly. This indicates a big opportunity in helping the smaller companies get involved - and we can start with companies in downtown Chicago.

The good news is that these companies want to help the smaller non-profits and recognize that those volunteer opportunities are better for everyone involved. The bad news is that while they have their heart in the right place, many of these companies are currently using stitched-together volunteer programs led and coordinated by employees that are already overworked. As a result, they often settle for manufactured volunteer opportunities just to engage their employees and check the box on volunteering (6).

If we just started with these 400 companies and helped connect them to a different small non-profit each quarter, 1,600 non-profits would get the help they need to get off the ground that they otherwise would not. If these companies were willing to volunteer monthly, that's almost 5,000 non-profits given an opportunity to solve a problem in the city. Meanwhile, 400 companies would be providing their employees with the coveted volunteer opportunities that they are looking for and reaping the benefits of a more engaged and happy workforce.

The Opportunity For Improvement

You can see that there are many small non-profits in Chicago (and abroad) that want to make a difference, but they don't always have access to the help they need in order to do so. On the other hand, there are many companies that are looking for these volunteer opportunities for their employees, but they may not have the time or the bandwidth to support them. The solution? A better way of connecting the two. This is where Givaly comes in.

Givaly provides Chicago companies with plug-and-play access to grassroots volunteer opportunities so they can spend less time searching and more time making a difference. Givaly supports volunteer projects at the grassroots level and empowers the companies that use Givaly's unique web platform.

If you are part of a company in Chicago that is interested in growing their employer brand, engaging their employees, and helping some of the smaller non-profits out, consider using Givaly as your volunteering solution - follow this link to learn more: www.givaly.com

Gary is a military veteran and Captain that volunteered to deploy to Iraq in 2011 and then volunteered to mentor Iraqi children while overseas. He has worked in finance and marketing leadership roles at Fortune 50 and Fortune 500 companies. Gary can bring people together, understands the importance of community, and is pursuing a vision for a world where it's easier for everyone to work together.

References

1) National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS), The Nonprofit Sector in Brief 2018

2) CSR Matters, The CSR SaaS Industry is Growing up – What does that mean for you?

3)  CECP, Giving in Numbers

4)  Blackbaud, Blackbaud and YourCause Release Comprehensive Global Report on Employee Engagement, Corporate Social Responsibility Trends

5)  North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)

6) Boston Globe, Corporate Volunteers Can be a Burden for Nonprofits