There’s been a steady rise in the number of businesses in Los Angeles that are following a new model of corporate philanthropy. It’s a model that combines financial donations with the sweat equity of employee volunteers.

And everyone benefits.

Deserving communities gain much needed expertise, resources and attention. Company volunteers gain respect for their employer and a sense of pride and accomplishment for their efforts. And businesses get an efficient and effective means of addressing community needs and employee values while furthering key business goals and objectives and driving corporate value.

It’s no secret that corporate social responsibility programs can bring value to an organization. Here’s how.

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Benefiting ongoing operations: Most companies need a social license to operate and grow, which can require a long and costly process of regulatory and political review that is often scrutinized by the public and media. Companies with a solid history of making a positive impact in the local community have a far better chance of effectively expanding business and operations.

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Improving employee retention and recruitment: Corporate volunteer programs help increase employee pride and satisfaction, which translates into a greater employee commitment to the company, and the ability to attract the most talented people to your organization. In fact, given a choice between two equivalent job offers, 72 percent of employees would choose to work for the company with an active philanthropy program, according to a recent Deloitte Research study.

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Consumer choices: Increasing evidence shows that shoppers often choose a product or service based on the company’s reputation for ethics and responsibility.

When it comes to energizing employees to volunteer, the best corporate programs do the following:

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Acknowledge that volunteering in the community contributes to achieving the company’s business goals.

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Commit to establish, support and promote an employee volunteer program that encourages the involvement of every employee from the top down.

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Target serious social problems in the community.

It may be easy to get your employees geared up to donate their time, but it’s not always clear where to focus their efforts and corporate dollars out in the local community. That’s where L. A. Works comes in.

Day of action


As the largest non-profit, volunteer action center in Los Angeles County, we help our corporate partners set up and manage employee volunteer programs, train employees to become volunteer leaders, and direct financial and volunteer investments toward the greatest community need in the city.

There are several ways for corporate teams to volunteer. Businesses can sponsor L.A. Works Day, which is the city’s largest day of corporate service. This year corporate teams will fan out June 3 across the city to refurbish inner city schools, historic landmarks and homes for relocated Katrina survivors.

Corporate teams can also volunteer for any of the hundreds of projects we arrange every day of the year. In fact, there are up to 125 service projects each month.

Bottom line, this is a trend worthy of Los Angeles that we can all embrace.

Ann Burroughs is executive director of L.A. Works.