Forth Valley College: Why we joined Social Good Connect

Continuing our ‘Get to Know Us’ Friday blog series, we have been speaking to some of our newest business partners about their work and why right now is the perfect time to invest in employee volunteering.

First up is Ralph Burns from Forth Valley College.

What are Forth Valley College’s main reasons for joining Social Good Connect?

Forth Valley College joined mainly to motivate and engage our staff across three campuses and offer them a healthy distraction from work that appeals to their individual volunteering interests. In our college-wide Volunteering Planning Day, we’ll encourage people to think outside the box in the way they use the platform and not necessarily choose projects or offer skills that reflect their work roles.

We need Social Good Connect to act as our professional helping hand. Having that support means we won’t bogged down in the internal admin of trying to make volunteering happen. We hope too that once staff have done a local community project or two on paid time, they’ll be motivated contribute more in their own time as well. But we won’t be prescriptive, and we’ll all learn from this volunteering partnership.

Why have you decided that now is a good time for you to join?

Many charities are having a hard time, especially the smaller ones. We saw that Social Good Connect would offer our employees access to a vast array of smaller, less visible charities and not just the big players.

It’s important to us to enable our staff to connect with and give back to local causes that matter to them and that they can relate to personally. Forth Valley College want to do much more than donate and fundraise – it’s about connecting with our time, which is more complex, but Social Good Connect makes it simple! Until now we haven’t had a concerted effort as a whole organisation. Our Planning Day will change that.

Coming on board with Social Good Connect, what benefit or feature are you most excited about?

The ability to match individual profiles to personal areas of interest and to connect with charities and their communities by offering time and skills rather than just donating in more traditional ways.

How easy was it to sign up and get started with the digital volunteering platform?

Simple, intuitive and straightforward.

What would you say to other businesses who are thinking of joining?

Employer-supported volunteering is a Corporate Social Responsibility tool that’s about much more than the bottom line. It’s less corporate and impersonal than just giving donations and fundraising. It’s a motivational no-brainer to offer staff the opportunity to give back in ways that personally interest them.

Want to get involved?

If you want to find out more about how Social Good Connect can inject flexibility and tangible impact into your social responsibility strategy, just like Forth Valley College, then why not give us a call, or sign up to our mailing list for regular insights and advise on CSR and employee volunteering?